The Derbyshire evening telegraph summed up the season as being one in which "with a few exceptions, (Derby) have competed in all the games and yet too often they have come out on the wrong end of the result having been the architects of their own downfall.

[7] The new home kit for the 2010–11 season was revealed at 6pm on 16 July 2010, the day before the club's first pre-season friendly, at a specially arranged Catwalk Show at Pride Park Stadium, with Nigel Clough and his Derby County first team squad all in attendance.

[23] Rumours resurfaced two weeks later, suggesting Derby were planning a £1m joint bid for Brayford and teammate James Bailey, who was seen as a long-term replacement for Robbie Savage.

[31] After sealing five signings within a month of the end of the 2010–11 season, the club stated that the playing staff was "shaping up more for how we would like it"[32] Additionally, the club tied down five of its academy squad to professional deals on 8 July 2010, with goalkeeper James Severn, defender Kallum Keane, midfielders Jeff Hendrick and Graham Kelly and attacker Ryan Connolly all signing deals to become part of Nigel Clough's first team squad.

"[52] Temporary exits came when Lee Croft, who had made just one appearance in the last 8 months at the club, moved on a six-month loan deal to Football League One side Huddersfield Town.

Despite being the sole forward fully fit and available, Varney was left out of the trip to Coventry City, to prevent a risk of injury ahead of a proposed loan move to an unidentified club.

The club's owners faced recriminations from supporters over the sale of Rob Hulse (top scorer over the last two season) on transfer deadline day leaving no time to recruit an adequate replacement,[80] leading Executive Chairman Tom Glick to defend the club's actions, stating "We presented the offer to the manager and staff and they made the judgement from a footballing standpoint that this is an offer that was right to accept.

"[81] The squad was again suffering from injuries – Chris Porter (hip), Russell Anderson (groin), Stephen Pearson (knee) were all short term casualties, with Steve Davies (cruciate ligaments) and Miles Addison (foot) out for the season.

Kris Commons also scored in the Palace rout and took his tally to five with a double in a 3–1 win over Middlesbrough three days later, also missing a penalty, as Derby claimed their first consecutive victories of the season and lifted themselves up to 15th with 11 points from their first 9 games.

[92] With injuries continuing to bite into the squad, with five centrebacks in Dean Leacock, Russell Anderson, Jake Buxton, Miles Addison and Mitchell Hanson unavailable, forcing rightback John Brayford to deputise at centrehalf and midfielder Paul Green to move rightback, Derby revealed they had made a loan approach for an unnamed 21-year-old Premier League defender ahead of the trip to Swansea City.

[100] The promise of the imminent return of the defensive trio was dampened by the news first-choice goalkeeper Stephen Bywater has been ruled out for four weeks with a wrist injury sustained in training.

[101] The club moved to bring in a loan keeper, as they had the previous campaign while Bywater was suspended, and were linked with former number one Lee Grant and former target, Blackburn Rovers stopper Frank Fielding.

[103] Fielding kept a clean sheet on his debut, a 3–0 victory over Preston North End and then helped The Rams to a second consecutive win as they beat Doncaster Rovers 3–2 at Keepmoat Stadium to reach 7th in the table, the club's highest league position since the opening day of the 2009–10 season.

[111] In terms of playing staff, Stephen Bywater and Saul Deeney returned to availability after six weeks out, though Frank Fielding's loan from Blackburn Rovers was still extended after his seven appearances had reaped three clean sheet and 15 points from a possible 21.

The Forest result saw Clough's patience snap with his playing staff, singling out Dean Leacock and Paul Green as "offering nothing", saying "We get to the stage where we give the players every opportunity but at some point you have to move on to the next group.

Dean Leacock, heavily criticised as "offering nothing"[120] the previous game, was dropped to the bench, and Stephen Pearson, Conor Doyle and a returning Robbie Savage introduced into the midfield.

Going into the January transfer window, Clough stated his desire to add three players, saying "in an absolute ideal world a defender, a midfielder and a forward would bolster the squad at the moment.

"[133] Over the month club's principal targets were revealed as Liverpool defender Daniel Ayala, Notts County midfielder Ben Davies, Leicester City striker Martyn Waghorn and Kilmarnock forward Conor Sammon.

Of the set, only long term target Davies joined the club before the closing of the transfer window, in a deal worth £350,000 after two lower bids were initially rejected.

[137] New one-year contract extensions were awarded to young duo Ryan Connolly and Jeff Hendrick[138] and Lee Croft returned from his loan spell at Huddersfield Town, after just three appearances in five months.

[152] With the January exits of Kris Commons and Dean Moxey, coupled with the suspension of Dean Leacock, Clough made four changes from the defeat by Nottingham Forest for a home visit from Ipswich Town but the result remained the same – despite Alberto Bueno opening the scoring in the seventh minute, with his first goal in four months, Ipswich claimed a 2–1 victory at Pride Park to make it four consecutive home defeats for Derby.

[159][160] They were also unsuccessful loan bids for Swansea City forward Craig Beattie, Ipswich Town defender Damien Delaney, Blackpool's Rob Edwards, who had spent half-a-season at Pride Park in the 2003–04 season, and Preston North End's Paul Hayes.

The Club's ownership group has responded in writing and has had no subsequent contact with either Mr Gadsby or this third party, prior to today's public comments made through the media.

[170] Derby went into a their re-arranged home fixture against Doncaster Rovers with renewed confidence following their victory at Sheffield United, but turned out a performance described as captain Robbie Savage as "absolute disgrace"[171] as they crashed to a 3–1 defeat.

The figures showed the club's debt reduced from £22.3m to £19.1m, with Glick stating it currently stood at £15m after season ticket income was used to pay back part of the sum in June 2010.

Despite losing their next two games (Burnley and Norwich City) safety was confirmed on Easter Monday 2011, when results elsewhere assured The Rams could not be caught by their relegation rivals in the bottom three.

With safety assured, Shaun Barker had surgery on a knee problem which had been an issue throughout most of his two years at Derby and had prevented him from training for the majority of the end of the 2010–11 season.

Goalkeeping trio Saul Deeney, Ross Atkins and James Severn were all given new deals to their expiring contracts, while Callum Ball, Alex Witham, Aaron Cole and Chris Jones become first-year professionals after completing their scholarship programmes.

[187] The club also quickly entered into the transfer market, tying up permanent deals for loanees Frank Fielding, Jamie Ward and Theo Robinson within 48 hours of the end of the season, with the three signing for undisclosed fees, rumoured to total £900k.

[178] ^ II Duke was originally signed on loan until the end of the 2010–11 season (nine weeks), but was later recalled by parent club Hull City, effective from 31 March.