Our weekly fans' panel gives Derby County supporters the chance to air their views. Here, Robbie Duncanson shares his thoughts on the Rams
HOW refreshing it is, all of a sudden, to have that buzz back around Derby County.
Just a few months back, the team was displaying defensive frailties that showed no improvement on the previous season under Nigel Clough.
While the side was playing good football and solid foundations had been put together, silly errors were costing valuable points and those same errors made Derby look destined for another season of mid-table obscurity.
Fast forward to now and Derby fans are beginning to get excited again, for the first time in many a season.
While Clough steadied the ship and did what the club needed, the improvement season on season was just too little.
Now the Rams have secured five wins on the bounce, a run not seen since the Billy Davies promotion season.
Steve McClaren has come in and, with a few tweaks, he has the side playing football worthy of promotion contenders.
Derby County have now built that reputation for playing football the way it should be played, a philosophy instilled by Clough and continued by McClaren, which will have played a big part in attracting top young players such as Andre Wisdom and, more recently, Michael Keane.
Also, the signing of Simon Dawkins has proved a masterstroke. Who would have thought a player with only 68 senior appearances at the age of 26 could be so effective?
In just a short amount of time, McClaren has Derby playing confident, free-flowing football, with January on the horizon.
The question is, what will McClaren do with the window approaching?
Dawkins on a permanent deal has already been mentioned but does the side need much more tweaking?
Under Billy Davies, Derby were top of the league going into the January window, at which point he decided to bring in the likes of Fagan, Teale, McEveley and Pearson.
While Derby still made it over the line, the football and results were not as good as they were before the window.
But now we head into one of the more exciting months that Derby will have experienced in a while.
The next four games are against Charlton Athletic, Doncaster Rovers, Huddersfield Town and Barnsley.
Three of those four sides are in the lower reaches of the table and present a very good opportunity for Derby to really kick on and show their credentials as a side capable of mixing it with the other promotion contenders.
But, without a doubt, the buzz is back around the newly-named iPro Stadium.
And when Chelsea and their host of talent visit the iPro in the first week in January, we'll see just where Derby stand, as well as cheering on the team as they bid to cause a big upset in the third round of the FA Cup.
