The Exiled Robin

A well-planned, increasingly well-executed and intensive summer of player recruitment continued today with the signing of one-time England squad goalkeeper Frankie Fielding, from Derby County.  Fielding's signing is undoubtedly a huge relief for head coach Sean O'Driscoll, who having let understudy Dean Gerken and youngster Lewis Carey leave in May, was facing returning to pre-season and having Sam Baldock, Steven Davies and others slotting the ball into an empty net in training.  A number two must still follow, but Fielding will undoubtedly be SOD's first choice come August 3rd, assuming he is fit. On the face of it Fielding is the headline capture of the summer.  It is hard to imagine Fabio Capello spent many minutes watching lower-league football, but saw enough in Fielding to pluck him from almost total obscuity, having only ever turned out for Wycombe Wanderers, Northampton Town and Rochdale whilst on loan from Blackburn.  Yes, he had Paul Robinson to oust ...

The signing of Steven Davies seems an awful long time ago already.  Tuesday night's excitement - a win, four goals and another new signing - makes it seem like a distant memory but Davies' signing was, is, exciting and ambitious in equal measure. Coming off the back of a narrow and mildly encouraging defeat at one of the favourites for promotion, Nottingham Forest, many fans were discussing the need for some extra potency up front and, lo and behold, we finally land one of our main summer targets. I'm delighted that Ollie Wright of The Derby County Blog , who penned this piece for The Exiled Robin back in November upon the signing of another Stephen, Pearson, from Pride Park, has returned to these pages to offer a view on City's (penultimate) latest signing. " If the fact that Nigel Clough had been publicly challenging Steve Davies to step up and become a 20-goal striker this season is anything to go by, it's fair to say that the striker's decision ...

The signing of Stephen Pearson seems like a marker for new manager Derek McInnes.  An experienced campaigner of the type he has already identified we need to get out of the relegation scrap.  A Scottish international with 10 caps and more than 250 games under his belt he is relatively well-known, but I asked Ollie (follow him on Twitter here ), from the excellent " The Derby County Blog " to give his views on our newest loan signing - and it sounds largely encouraging. And with a goal, an assist and a Man of the Match on his debut in our 3-1 home win against Burnley things have certainly started brightly! "Stephen Pearson was brought to Derby from Celtic in January 2007, as the club surged towards promotion under Billy Davies. Pearson commanded relatively big wages and Davies claimed that his energy in midfield would make him a huge asset.  And of course, he scored the goal that got us promoted.  In the play-off final against West Brom, he converted a Gil...