Sky Sports exclusive: Derby boss Paul Warne discusses his decision to leave Rotherham to take on the job at Pride Park, and his hopes for taking the Rams forward after winning the Sky Bet League One Manager of the Month award for January.
Tuesday 21 February 2023 13:22, UK
Even after all his exceptional work at Rotherham, Paul Warne knew it was going to be a challenge to win over a Derby fan base that had been through the mill in recent years.
"We went down to 10 men in our first home game and lost," Warne tells Sky Sports. "I've come in and I know I've got to win over the dressing room and the 30,000 who turn up every week. I'm sure there were a few that day thinking, 'Wow, who are these guys?'."
Warne won his opener then lost his first game that day at Pride Park in early October. It was their first league meeting with Port Vale since 1996, which serves to highlight where Derby currently are.
But things have improved dramatically since, with just two defeats in their last 18. Six wins on the spin - including four in January - saw Warne pick up the Sky Bet Championship Manager of the Month award.
It helped ease some of his personal tensions in taking the job. It was a big leap from Rotherham, where he had spent the best part of his career at since 1999 as a player, backroom staff member and the manager, to take over at one of the EFL's behemoths.
"I can't lie the first time I walked in and addressed the team you do have those insecurities," Warne admits. "I'd been in an environment where everyone knew and trusted me. I signed all the players and all the staff. In that regard it's been a big change. But it's no different to changing any job. It would be the same if I was a headmaster moving schools.
"I wouldn't go as far as to say I'm Marmite, but I know I'm not an instant hit. Myself and my staff are slow burners. I'm a relationships guy, and it takes time to build trust."
At Rotherham that was something he had in abundance, which is no surprise considering he led them to three promotions in six years.
On three occasions he also took them back into League One. But things were looking brighter on this occasion, as the Millers begun their latest Championship campaign with just one defeat from their opening nine games.
Then, with his side comfortably in the top half, Derby came calling. It was too big a chance for Warne to turn down - even if it meant dropping back into League One.
It wasn't an easy decision, but one he knows he had to make, and certainly doesn't regret.
"We had started the season really well," he says. "We had a good team who had been together for a couple of years. They didn't need a load of coaching and they knew what we wanted.
"Emotionally I was tied to the club. I'd been there for 20 years. But I wanted to leave on a bit of a high. It's my club and I never wanted to get sacked. I wanted to walk out of the front door, and not have to leave through the back.
"It seemed like an ideal time to go. We had done the double the season before and started this season really well.
"It was an opportunity that really suited me at Derby. To come in and build the club on and off the pitch with a new culture. It was something I couldn't turn down.
"But it wasn't an easy decision. I changed my mind about four times. I'm not that good at changing houses, let alone changing jobs!
"But I don't regret it. Rotherham are flourishing without us, and hopefully we can help Derby to get back in the direction they want to go in."
Warne now has the chance to lead a club that has been in the mire for years back in a positive direction. It is near enough as free a hit as he might get at such a symbol of the English game, with Derby fans mostly just enjoying following the club again, relieved as much as anything that they have continued to exist.
"It is a bigger beast here and the training facilities are incredible," Warne says. "But fundamentally the job is the same. You motivate and care for the players, you create a learning environment and try to keep them on their toes and make it enjoyable.
"I've got to manage 24 players, and that isn't easy if you've got 30,000 or just 300 watching you every week. The only difference is I've done my apprenticeship, so to speak, at Rotherham. We've made mistakes and now we're better versions of ourselves.
"People ask me if there's more pressure here. But there's pressure everywhere. It's just there's a bigger following. Like away from home when we take 6,000. Those are the main differences.
"So maybe the problems I get here now don't seem as big. We're allowed to manage, and I've got really good people around me."
Warne has stepped into one of the most competitive third tiers in years. Sheffield Wednesday and Plymouth are currently setting the pace - and Argyle are the only side in the current top six who haven't been in the Premier League this century. Three of the top half, including Portsmouth in 10th, have even played in Europe in that time.
Derby, currently, fifth, would be far closer to the top two in a normal season with their points tally. But Warne has nothing but praise for the frontrunners and their achievements.
"In fairness to the current top three [including Ipswich] their standards have been a joke," says Warne. "But the teams in the top six will keep playing each other and there should be plenty of change. The key is to be able to bounce back when a bad result comes.
"We had been on a good run for a long time, and if other teams weren't on such amazing runs it might look even better. But it's such a tough league this year. There are probably 12 teams competing for the top six.
"I'm pleased with how it's gone. But, as always in football, you can't help but be greedy and you always want more."
The goal is, of course, to return to the Championship as quickly as possible. Warne knows that, and he is an expert at escaping this league by hook or by crook.
For now, though, Warne knows how vital it is to just keep building a club that were, until recently, in a dire state of affairs.
"I'd like to think if we could get into the Championship we could build a squad and be competitive there," says Warne.
"Then, one day, whether I'm at the helm or not, this club should be back in the Premier League. I just want to help them along that journey.
"But first you've got to get out of this league. You've seen Sheffield Wednesday, Sheffield United and Sunderland in this league recently, it's hard to bounce straight out of it.
"I'm here for four years supposedly, but I'm not naive enough to think I'll be here for that long if things don't go well. We just want to try and put things in place to try and make the club healthy, improve in any way we can and if we are fortunate enough to go up we'll have the cutting edge to go again.
"If not, we'll have everything in place to go again next year. I know I'm not being original in saying this, but we just want to take the club as far as we can.
"We're trying to get the club back to greatness, really. I know it sounds a bit American, but that's what we're trying to do."
And when he says it you believe he will. Warne is that type of a manager.
