Derby County has announced that Billy Davies has left by “mutual consent” (the most over-used and illogical phrase since “weapons of mass destruction.”)

In other words, Derby sacked Davies due to the club’s poor run of form this season (with just one win and that was at home against Newcastle). After Saturday’s loss to Chelsea, Davies was interviewed by phone on Sky Sports where he said that his club need six new players in the transfer window to help avoid the drop.

Whether it was those words that put a final nail in the coffin for Davies is unclear. But maybe it was cemented by Saturday’s horrible first half performance against Chelsea where Derby looked like they belonged in Division One (not the Championship) with a woeful performance against the Blues. Thankfully, Derby looked much stronger in the second half and caused Chelsea quite a few headaches. Kenny Miller’s disallowed goal was a cruel blow for Derby and Billy Davies especially since he was definitely onside.

What is it about Chelsea and their effect on teams? For example after Wigan lost to Chelsea at home, Chris Hutchings was sacked. Now the same thing has happened to Davies.

Whatever the final reason was for Davies getting the heave-ho, it’s the correct decision by Derby County. The club’s performances have been getting worse not better, and a more experienced manager would be able to get more out of his players (not that much, mind you, the side is weak in so many areas).

Derby’s defensive weaknesses were ripped apart during a recent match where Setanta Sports’s Pat Dolan and Paul Dempsey pinpointed a big mistake in the back four for Derby, and that’s Davies’s insistance that the players man-mark instead of playing zonal marketing.

The other weakness for Davies was his resistance to put players on the pitch such as Robbie Earnshaw and Benny Feilhaber. Both are experienced international players. However they spend most of their time warming the benches for Derby County.

Derby needs a miracle worker to help the side. Even if they do go down, hopefully they can go down fighting with a boss who will get them to play a much improved brand of football.

In the manager-go-round world of the Premier League, let’s see who the next Derby boss will be. Paul Jewell, Alex McLeish, Chris Coleman or someone else.