Derby had been brought out of administration by owner Clowes less than three months before Warne was appointed head coach.
He took charge of a side hastily rebuilt for their first season back in the third tier for more than three decades with loan signings and free transfers.
Having successfully guided Rotherham to promotion from the division in each of the three seasons he managed at that level, Warne was ushered into Pride Park as the ‘King of League One’.
And while Warne’s side failed to even reach the play-offs in the 2022-23 campaign, he oversaw automatic promotion 12 months later.
For Warne, a fourth promotion from League One was not a coronation but vindication.
For all the success he had at Rotherham, he also never managed to keep the Millers in the Championship in his three attempts to do so.
A solid start to the current campaign had the Rams 11th in late November, but their wretched form since – which includes an FA Cup exit against League One side Leyton Orient – has them in danger of making an immediate return to the third tier.
Their losing run, Warne’s record in the second tier, and his comments in December about his Derby side being a “League One team with a bit of sugar on top” have made him the subject of derision from the terraces in recent months.
If Derby lose at Norwich on Saturday, it would be only the third time in their 141-year history they have lost eight league matches in succession during a single season – with the record first set in 1888 when league football came into existence.
