Prep and authenticity key when appearing on national radio - as Rams fan Kerry demonstrated

IT is a big weekend for Derby County. Victory at Cambridge United will take them one step closer to a return to the Championship, writes Kerry Ganly .

But, as every football fan will tell you there will, no doubt, be more twists and turns until Paul Warne’s side can finally pop open the champagne and the manager can finally 'do the bounce' with the Rams faithful (although Shrewsbury Town's 2-2 draw with rivals Bolton Wanderers in midweek did Derby a huge favour).

Last week I was asked to appear on BBC Radio 5 Live Sport to talk about Derby’s season in their evening programme ‘Sleeping Giants/Thriving Minnows’.

If you haven’t heard it – here’s a link to the show – then I'll explain. It's where host Gordon Smart (or in my case, stand-in presenter Nick Bright) chat to two football fans about their club’s season, and a little about the history. I was on the show with a Barnet FC supporter.

Fans state the case for their club being the ‘winner’ and co-host Aaron Paul chooses who he thinks is the better team, with brighter prospects.

Before my big moment, the producer emailed over a few questions and asked me to prepare for my appearance by answering them.

The script included simple questions such as what is the club nickname, its most famous fans (I listed former One Direction singer Niall Horan and actor Jack O'Connell - who can be credited with introducing Hollywood star George Clooney and modal Cara Delevingne to the Rams) and the calibre of food on offer in the concourse at Pride Park Stadium.

It also included questions about the most memorable match and the best player to have played in the famous black and white.

Now there was much debate about this in our house.

My husband, who has been watching Derby since he was a boy, spoke of the FA Cup victory in 1946 and winning two league titles - all milestones in the club's history but events that occurred way before he was born.

And this brings me to my point. Whilst preparation is key when talking to the media - whether you're chatting about your business, charity or the football team you support - you also need to be authentic.

I could have babbled on about the Rams beating Real Madrid 4-1 in front of a packed house at the Baseball Ground. I could have talked about the Brian Clough and Peter Taylor era in the 1970s - the club's most successful period in the Football League - or record-goalscorer Steve Bloomer.

But for me, there are two matches that are etched in my memory.

One is the 3-2 defeat of Manchester United at Old Trafford; a game in which a certain Costa Rican striker made his debut.

Little was known about Paulo Wanchope when he made his debut alongside Estonian goalkeeper Mart Poom in April 1997.

Manager Jim Smith - affectionately known as the Bald Eagle by supporters and the man who masterminded some incredible signings for the Rams (Stefano Eranio from AC Milan to Derby; Igor Stimac from Croatian side Hajduk Split to the Baseball Ground and Francesco Baiano from Fiorentina) - took a gamble on signing Wanchope and Poom, but the former went on to repay the debt with a stunning solo goal that surprised pretty much everyone.

I wasn't lucky enough to be at Old Trafford that day; I was listening to the match in my parents' conservatory. But the commentary from BBC Radio Derby's Graham Richards made it feel like we were.

The second most memorable match was the incredible comeback at Leeds United, in the second leg of the Championship play-off semi-final in 2019.

I had been at the home leg with my mum and daughter, and remember sitting in Burger King watching the buses packed with Leeds United fans returning to Yorkshire after beating us at Pride Park, drive by after they had beaten us.

They looked smug. And rightly so; they were one step closer to the big-money match at Wembley Stadium.

It had been a funny week in which their then-manager Marco Bielsa had sent spies up to Derby County's training ground to take in what the Rams were practising ahead of the crunch clash.

Dubbed 'Spygate', there was an EFL investigation and the media lapped up every fine detail about the incident so, coming back to beat a strong Leeds United side 4-3 on aggregate in an epic match that had more drama than an episode of Eastenders, made the victory even sweeter.

I was able to talk about why those matches were important to me, bringing in little personal details about how the players celebrated the Leeds victory in the changing room with a rendition of the Oasis song 'Stop Crying Your Eyes Out' (with the words changed, thoughtfully by the Leeds fans, to 'Stop Crying Frank Lampard' post-Spygate).

I also argued the case that Derby County have a huge following - the best home and away support in League One and with attendances at Pride Park bigger than their Premier League rivals down the A52 - and had spent more years in the top flight of English football (65 over 125 years) than some of the current Premier League hotshots.

I thought it also important to mention just how much of a community the club has created; that was evident when thousands took to the streets in support of Derby County when they were on the brink of extinction less than two years ago.

Did I put up a good enough case for the presenters to choose the Rams over National League promotion hopefuls Barnet? Well, you'll just have to listen again on BBC Sounds and find out...