Steve McClaren has been appointed as Derby Countys new manager, 17 months after being sacked by the club. Red Auerbach Jersey . Nigel Pearson departed as the boss by mutual consent last weekend after less than five months in charge.Sky sources reported the 55-year-old McClaren was having positive discussions on Wednesday morning and in the afternoon the return of the former England boss was confirmed. McClaren in quotes Steve McClarens managerial highs and lows in quotes Chris Powell, who has been in temporary charge and played for McClaren when he was assistant to Jim Smith at Derby in the mid-1990s, has been named as assistant manager.The first test on the pitch for the new management team will be welcoming Leeds United on October 15. The first time McClarens team will be seen live on Sky Sports will be their visit to Wolves on November 5.I am excited to be back at Derby County as the clubs manager, McClaren told the clubs official website. Highlights of the 1-1 draw between Reading and Derby in the Championship on October 1 I have a great affiliation with the club, having been here on three previous occasions, and I am really delighted at the prospect of finishing what we started back in September 2013.I regret how my time at Derby ended back in 2015 and I am very motivated to put things right for the club and our supporters.My ultimate aspiration remains exactly what it was before, to take Derby County back to the Premier League.This football club has fantastic ambition, brilliant supporters and wonderful backing from the Chairman Mel Morris. I am looking forward to working alongside Mel, as well as Sam Rush who initially brought me back here in 2013. Sam and I worked very well together previously and I am certain we can pick up where we left off. Watch NOW TV Watch Sky Sports for just ￡6.99 - no contract For me, it was vitally important that Chris Powell and the existing team remained on the coaching staff. When I was assistant to Jim Smith in the 1990s, Chris was part of the squad and a key player for us.He had a fine playing career, being capped by England as well as enjoying many years in the Premier League, so to have someone as talented as him as my assistant is really important.Derby have had a miserable start to the Championship season and are currently in 20th spot, having picked up just 10 points from 11 games including two wins.We are delighted that Steve McClaren has agreed to re-join us as our manager, Derby president and chief executive Sam Rush added. McClaren will link up with Chris Powell at Derby We enjoyed some fantastic and memorable moments under Steve during his previous tenure in charge.Steves arrival and subsequent work helped transform how we played our football. Steves time at Derby came to a premature end and I know he regrets that greatly. He values hugely his relationship with our supporters and I know that he will work very hard to ensure that the special connection returns.When we sat down as a board to begin the process of appointing a new manager it was apparent, as the architect of our style of football, that Steve was a prime candidate. Mel Morris, our Chairman, is clear about the plan for Derby County and we strongly believe that with Chris Powell, alongside Steve, we can ensure a successful future ahead.McClaren was dismissed at the iPro Stadium in May last year after the club failed to reach the Championship play-offs, despite spending most of the season in the top six.His return may not sit too comfortably with some Derby fans who still blame McClaren for the teams late failure to win promotion, saying his refusal to rule out a move to Newcastle United was a distraction.McClaren went on to become Newcastles head coach, three weeks after leaving Derby. His reign at the Magpies lasted less than a year and he was sacked in March, 2016.McClaren spent much of his playing career at Derby, and after a brief coaching spell at Oxford United he returned to work under Jim Smith in 1995. He then worked with Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United while assisting England boss Sven-Goran Eriksson.His first managerial job was at Middlesbrough, winning the League Cup and got them to the Europa League final.He then moved to the Netherlands and won the Eredivisie with FC Twente, but ill-fated spells with Wolfsburg, Nottingham Forest and Twente again followed, before he took the Derby job in September 2013.You can watch Englands tour of Bangladesh, plus Premier League football and the British Masters on Sky Sports. Upgrade now and enjoy three months at half price! Also See: Pearson situation strange Pearson suspended by Derby Newcastle sack McClaren Derby fixtures Dennis Johnson Jersey . The Mets made the announcement Sunday night. Parnell blew a save on opening day against Washington and the next day it was revealed he had partially torn right elbow ligament. Robert Williams Jersey . The midfielder had an operation on Saturday, and is set to miss seven Premier League games, the third round of the FA Cup and the semifinals of the League Cup. http://www.celticssale.com/kids-bill-russell-celtics-jersey/ . Infante hit a three-run homer in the sixth inning and had an RBI single in a four-run fifth against former teammate Justin Verlander, helping the Kansas City Royals beat the Tigers 11-8 Monday night.Pittsburgh, PA (SportsNetwork.com) - The San Francisco Giants walked into a stadium filled with rally towels and threw a wet blanket on the whole thing. It was a familiar October script. Madison Bumgarner pitched a four-hit shutout, Brandon Crawford hit the fourth playoff grand slam in team history and the Giants beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 8-0 in the National League wild-card game Wednesday night. The Giants have won seven straight playoff elimination games, including five on the road. Bumgarner (1-0) kept them out of trouble in this one, scattering four hits and a walk while striking out 10, and giving the Pirates little hope of scoring a rally against him. So when Crawford homered with no outs in the fourth inning off Edinson Volquez (0-1), it cast a pall over the crowd of 40,629 -- a PNC Park record -- that lasted the rest of the game. Indeed, it had none of the drama of Tuesdays instant-classic AL wild-card game between Kansas City and Oakland, which the Royals won in the bottom of the 12th inning. The Giants are OK with that. They will face the NL East-champion Nationals in a division series with Game 1 scheduled for Friday in Washington. I think that experience really came into play today, said Giants manager Bruce Bochy. The guys threw out some good at bats. They looked very quiet up there. You want to create those chances and get guys on base, and they were relentless doing that until we got, of course, a big hit from Crawford. The Pirates were eliminated after making the playoffs for the second season in a row. They hosted the NL wild-card game last year, beating Cincinnati 6-2 in their first playoff game since 1992. Pittsburgh manager Clint Hurdle stuck with Volquez after the Giants loaded the bases with no outs on singles by Pablo Sandoval and Hunter Pence and a walk by Brandon Belt. He didnt call the bullpen until after Crawford lined a two-strike curveball into the right-field seats. Those three guys ahead of me getting on was huge. It set up the whole inning, said Crawford. You get a little confidence when those three guys get on. I only wanted to get one (run). Fortunately I got four. When someone like (Bumgarner) gets four runs, its lights-out. Volquez looked shell-shocked. The right-handder hadnt given up more than three runs in any of his last 12 starts, going 5-0 with 15 earned runs allowed and 64 strikeouts in 76 innings since his last loss July 21 to the Dodgers. Gordon Hayward Jersey. . Big swipe. Four-run swipe right there, said Hurdle. We havent run one of those with Edinson on the mound the second half of the season. That one put us in the hole that eventually just got bigger. The last Giants grand slam in the playoffs was hit by Buster Posey in Game 5 of the 2012 NLDS against Cincinnati, San Franciscos third straight win facing elimination in that series. They went on to beat St. Louis in three straight elimination games in the NL Championship Series that year before sweeping Detroit for their second World Series title in three years. Volquez stayed in the game until walking Pence to lead off the sixth inning. Pence went to second base on Justin Wilsons wild pitch and scored on Belts single to make it 5-0. Belt added a two-run single off Jared Hughes in the seventh and Posey had an RBI hit off Bobby LaFromboise in the eighth. Bumgarner, making his seventh postseason start at the age of 25, was perfect in four of his nine innings. The four his he gave up were all singles, including two to Josh Harrison. He threw 109 pitches, including 79 strikes. Hurdle said Bumgarner pitched a different game ... than what we scouted and threw all his pitches, in particular a changeup he said he used to keep the Pirates off-balance. He had it all working tonight, Hurdle said. Absolutely a very professional and well-pitched game by him tonight. It was the second postseason start for Volquez, who has been overshadowed both times. The first one was Game 1 of the 2010 NLDS against Philadelphia when Roy Halladay threw the second no-hitter in postseason history. Game Notes The other playoff grand slams in Giants history came from Will Clark in the 1989 NL Championship Series and Chuck Hiller in the 1962 World Series ... The Pirates, one of the NLs better home teams in the regular season, finished two games behind St. Louis in the NL Central this season in a race that came down to the final weekend ... The Giants finished six games behind the Dodgers in the NL West. ' ' '