Derby veteran Robbie Savage says new gaffer Nigel Clough reminds him of Aston Villa boss Martin O'Neill.

Savage worked with O'Neill at Leicester City and said: "He reminds me very much of Martin O'Neill.

"He's very big on togetherness and he's an old-school boss. Martin used to walk out on to the training pitch with a stop watch and say: 'That tree, that car and back to me - 35 seconds.' And we'd all hare off. At Blackburn, Mark Hughes was very much into his statistics. It was just a different approach.

"The new gaffer has given me a chance. I felt worthless here under Paul Jewell. He made me train with the kids and didn't give me an explanation. I half-admired him for that because at least he stuck to his guns. I ended up shopping on most Saturday afternoons.

"I don't think Jewell could have carried on. It's a results-driven business and we are fifth from bottom and in quite a lot of trouble.

"But if you'd have seen the first game against Man Utd, you'd have wondered which team was in the Premier League. They were poor by their lofty standards and we played at our peak. But it papered over a lot of cracks. Saturday made people realise we are in a dogfight."