The Rams defender sits down with DerbyshireLive to discuss the Rams, what the players call him and why the club already feels like home
Derby County’s Dion Sanderson has been excellent this season.
It is early on Tuesday morning at Derby County’s training ground when Dion Sanderson bounces into the media room at Moor Farm.
There is much to talk about with the centre-back not least his move earlier this month when his loan move from Birmingham City was turned into a permanent deal.
Derby paid a six-figure fee to sign the 26-year-old after a hugely impressive first half of the season, a move that, given his performances, represents a considerable bargain.
It is the fifth time Derby’s head coach, John Eustace, has signed him, in a relationship that has spanned QPR, Birmingham City (twice), Blackburn Rovers, and now Derby.
The respect for each other is clear, but Sanderson jokes that it does not bank him exceptional treatment.
“Definitely not,” he laughs. “The lads do call me the teacher’s pet or whatnot. But I still get a rollocking, and I’m the same as everyone else.
“It is the manager in my eyes, and I’ve just got to do my job at the end of the day.
“But he has always been quick with the one-liners, or we’ll have a little laugh and joke here and there. Don’t get me wrong, it’s very serious too. It’s all about work, do you know what I mean?
“He does have a good sense of humour, to be fair, and it’s just about how far you can push that sense of humour. I’ve not tried, and I am going to stay away from that side!
“Obviously, you have the working side and then there is the relaxed side. All the players enjoy working under him.”
It speaks volumes for Eustace’s man-management that players like Sanderson, Danny Batth, Andi Weimann and Lewis Travis were all eager to rejoin him at Pride Park when Derby reshaped their squad last summer.
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He has currently led the team to a position where they are closer to the top six than the relegation zone, helped by several players that he knows and, more importantly, trusts to handle what he wants on the pitch, but off it too.
Eustace has often spoken of the Derby family, and it’s clear from listening to Sanderson that it involves everybody, not just those who make his team-sheet on a Saturday afternoon.
“We both understand each other as people first,” he says. “Obviously, I understand him as a manager; he understands me as a player.
“I know what he wants from his teams, and it’s just easy to get on with, and it’s easy to understand. He’s a great man manager, which always helps. There have been a few games where I haven’t been involved, but I still feel involved if that makes sense.
“It’s the same for everyone else and you can ask any other player. They will want to do their bit to help, whether it’s playing well, training hard, or anything off the pitch. You want be a part of Derby, and it’s a great feeling to have.
“All the boys respect him, the staff respect him, and he makes them feel important. You could be an assistant, you could be doing the dinner for the lads, you could be a cleaner, it really doesn’t matter. You’re all part of Derby, and one massive family, and that’s why it is such a good environment.”
As with all families, however, there are trials and tribulations. Sanderson has already experienced his when, by his own admission, a summer without a pre-season left him playing catch-up with his match fitness.
That was a result of Birmingham City telling him that he no longer featured in their journey and while he was training every day, he did not feature in the club’s pre-season tour.
Given Derby’s injury problems at the start of the season, however, his first appearance on the opening day at Stoke ended in a mistake that led to a late goal after he had come on as a substitute.
He then conceded a penalty against Coventry, which is always a hazard of a job as a centre-back which predictably led to some writing him off after two games.
But what Sanderson has taught is that making snap decisions on players, as is so often the case these days, is foolish. Since that awkward start, Sanderson’s fitness improved and his performances have been excellent.
“I’ve got no bad blood with Birmingham,” he continues.
“It’s a great club, great people, and they have great fans there. But it was time for me to just move on and kick on with my career.
“I couldn’t think of a better place for it to be than Derby. It’s a massive club, they’ve got a great fan base here, and the team has gelled really well.
“But at the start, obviously, it was a struggle. Looking back, I think it would have been that way wherever I went; it wouldn’t have really mattered.
“I didn’t have a pre-season, and no matter how much training I had done by myself, you can’t get up to that sharpness that matches give you.
“At the time, I understood the fans not being happy or the pressure that was on me. I had to get up to speed, and when I did, I got them back on my side.
“Things settled down. I didn’t worry because I kind of knew it was going to be a struggle, just because you can’t get match fitness just by training.
“I get that if you’re a fan, you’d just expect them to come in and perform, but it just felt like no matter what I tried, I just couldn’t get myself up to where I needed to.
“But I settled, and our fans have been amazing to me so far. I just want to keep giving back to them and performing.
“It does feel like home if I’m being honest. It might be a bit early, but it’s just how I feel, and it’s how the club have made me feel.
“We’ve got good quality, we’re very ambitious, and hopefully we can prove it this season and have a good outcome.”