Nigel Clough will set about trimming down Derby's squad when he officially begins his job as the Rams' new manager on Thursday.

Clough inherits a first-team squad consisting of 34 players in total, 19 of which were brought in by predecessor Paul Jewell, and the son of former Derby legend Brian admits he must cut down that figure despite victory over Manchester United in the Carling Cup on Wednesday.

"We will get down to business on Thursday. I will have a look at the squad and see what we need to do. We are going to try and trim the squad because it has got quite large in number over the last few months," Clough said.

"It is very difficult to keep that sort of sized squad happy as only 11 can play on a Saturday. It's horrible when you are a footballer not to be playing on a Saturday afternoon, everybody wants to do that.

"But you have to have a healthy-sized squad to cope with injuries and suspension and the like. However, there is a fine line between that and having lads sitting in the stands who really should be out playing football."

Clough hopes to assemble his backroom team as soon as possible. He plans to bring Gary Crosby, Andy Garner and Martin Taylor with him from Burton Albion and hopes the trio could be in place in time for his first league game in charge against Cardiff at Ninian Park on Saturday.

"We are going to sort the staff over the next few days. Three of them are hopefully coming this week and then we will sit down and assess the rest of the staff over the next few months and the remainder of the season and see what we need in the summer," said Clough.

"I have worked with them for 10 years and I think it is essential to get people that you trust, and I trust all of them. Not just that, I feel we can all do a good job here as well."