Captain's Comments

[Bert]

OS

I'm sure I speak on behalf of all the players when I say that we are delighted Rob Kelly has been given the managership of the club until the end of the season.

Together with Mike Stowell, he has carried out a magnificent job and you can't do any better than get maximum points from three Championship fixtures.

All season I have spoken about how I felt our previous manager Craig Levein had assembled a very talented group of players here at the Walkers Stadium.

For whatever reason we were not able to produce the results to match the talents the squad had at its disposal.

But in a very quiet and efficient way the new manager has set about a difficult job and produced instant results.

This is a sort of run, in truth, we should have been producing much earlier in the season.

But three wins from three games have given everyone a great deal more confidence and the whole place is buzzing.

As a group of players, we asked to make our views known to the board of directors after the 1-0 victory over Wolves last Saturday.

Our view was that Rob knew about the players, was producing results and we felt could be given a longer shot at the job until the end of the season.

Rob gave us the good news at the training ground on Monday morning and we were all delighted for him and for the club.

As he has consistently stressed to us, we're a long, long way away yet from setting out what we have to achieve.

Nothing has been done yet but those three wins have lifted us out of the bottom three and given a whole new buzz to the place.

What's important now is that we continue to build on this platform we have manufactured for ourselves.

Our aim this season is to preserve our Championship status and with 13 games remaining we know we need quite a few more points yet.

Football has always been a game of intense ups and downs. Just a couple of weeks ago the club had slipped to six successive defeats in the Championship.

Now we've won three on the spin it puts a totally different complexion on our situation.

But there can be no let-up. The next game is always the most important. But given Derby County's own position and the fact that it's a local derby adds even more spice to the occasion.

Earlier this season we had to settle for a 1-1 draw at Pride Park after taking a late lead only to concede an even later goal.

We have been very disciplined in the way we have maintained leads in recent weeks.

At Brighton the lads had to withstand some tough pressure in the closing stages. And against Wolves seven days earlier we were very professional in closing the game out after Matty Fryatt's goal.

We'll need all those levels of concentration again tonight. Local derbies are always fiercely-contested affairs and we'll be scrapping for every ball again.

On the personal front, I'm continuing to make progress. I've done some light training now and hope to be stepping that up later this week.

With so many of the squad having been laid low by a virus going through the training ground, it's only made my own situation feel even more frustrating.

However, with a reserve game under my belt, I hope to be pushing for contention back into the squad quite soon now.

As players, we're delighted we've finally been able to give you something to cheer about in recent games.

Wolves, I felt was an excellent performance against a strong team. We all know how much it means to our fans tonight to beat our local rivals.

And I know that everyone pulling on a Leicester shirt will be giving it their all.

As always, get behind the lads, give them every encouragement and enjoy the game.

[Kingy]

Thanks Danny, but from now on please call yourself the assistant captain as Super Paddy should now be crowned CLUB CAPTAIN !

[Dr The Singh]

From the captain that never was!!!!

[IDEA OR IKEA]

From the captain that never was!!!!

JOKER

[linekers tactical side]

paddy mac is our captain get rid of tiatto he is useless

[Bluefoxtim]

Tiatto 'captain'. Yeah.

[Jyry]

Oooh, What a column, by Il Capitano, of course!!!