THE first-team squads of the Premiership's leading clubs read like a Who's Who of international football: Schmeichel, Giggs and Cantona at Old Trafford; Albert, Shearer and Asprilla at Newcastle; Seaman, Adams and Bergkamp at Arsenal.
Look at the Derby County squad, though, and it's more like a Who's That? of the Premiership.
Hoult, Rowett, Powell D. and Powell C., Sturridge, Ward . . . the names hardly roll off the tongue, do they? 'No, we're not exactly household names,' admits Darryl Powell, a combative midfield player who joined The Rams for GBP750,000 from Portsmouth in the summer of 1995.
'As far as the players and staff are concerned, we have a hell of a lot of belief in ourselves.
'There are a lot of good players here and maybe in a year's time people will know our names.
'We are getting respect from other teams and other managers and we find it a challenge when we come up against a club like Newcastle, who have spent GBP60 million to build their team.' Powell and his teammates face their biggest day of the season so far tomorrow, when they make the short journey to the City Ground for the East Midlands derby against Nottingham Forest.