I think Billy has a bit of magic about him, something I think our current manager at Derby, Nigel Clough doesn't have. I also think he has a self-destruct mechanism, or maybe a mischief making mechanism. It's hard to know what his motivation is, but a little bit of humility, and a lot of 'getting on with it' might have seen a lot more success in Billy's career.

Given his stellar record of managerial success, why wouldn't anyone offer him a job for 20 months?

It's odd Vidal. Possibly he was offered jobs but turned them down. He was never going to get a Prem job so maybe the Champ jobs that cam eup weren't suited to him. I can imagine him turning down Blackpool, Burnely, Barnsley, Bristol City (all the Bs!), Ipswich etc. I would have thought he would take the Blackburn and Wolves jobs though. He wouldn't have been in the frame for Watford or Birmingham as they had their preferred targets.

King Jacko - while your stats can't really be argued with, does it not worry you that every club he leaves goes into some kind of freefall? Do you know think it could be anything to do with the way he leaves the clubs, and the parts of the club that get ignored while he's manager?

Think you could be onto something there Stillhate!

Yep, I think so too. But he's not a long-term manager is he? He's a 'get you into the play-offs' manager and see where that leads you.

not sure he places much value in the long term. Certainly Preston had nothing of an academy to speak of after he left, and he affected our academy so badly that Jewell had to withdraw from the reserves league and it took us 4 years to recover and reap any academy reward (Hendrick, OBrien & Hughes). Not sure about your lot, I know you had a cracking academy under Hart a few years back, not heard of any players breaking through in ages. Not saying it's Davies fault, but he certainly seems to be very short-termist.

I don't think he really cares about players, either. I think you see that some players really go backwards under him, or don'r fulfill potential because he misuses them. And I know he gets the best out of other players, too. But I'm thinking of Ando and McLeary in particular - two players who really should've been better under Billy, but who he played in odd positions or not at all and didn't get the best out of.

I think it's unfair to say that he doesn't get the best out of his players, especially since the likes of Lee Camp and Luke Chambers, even Lewis to a degree, all performed at their best during BD's reign. All 3 have been poor at best since he was sacked by ND.

It's all down to personal preference when chairmen choose who they want running their club. There are plenty of managers that have and continue to be out of work.