Sky Sports.com

Paul Jewell described his Derby side as 'light years away from a so-called Premier League team' after returning to face former club Wigan.

Although it took The Latics an hour to open the scoring, Derby never looked good enough in the 2-0 defeat and Jewell - who has already accepted the team will be relegated - insists his current squad is not even good enough for the Championship.

"I'm embarrassed," he told Sky Sports. "Not because it's at Wigan, but because of the way we played.

"Nobody likes losing - you can accept losing, but not on a performance like that. It was a disgrace.

"Today is a million, million miles away - light years away - from a so-called Premier League team.

"That performance wouldn't win any game at any level of football and the sooner we get this season out of the way the better."

'Not worthy'

Jewell has vowed to 'ship out' the players who do not have the right attitude before the start of next season.

"If they don't want to be here, that's fine - this is a great football club and some of the players are not worthy of being here.

"It's a fact - I'm not saying that because we lost today. I've been here 13 league games and some of them are not good enough."

He added: "This reminds me of the first time I came to Wigan, with players who think they're good enough but they're nowhere near good enough, and it takes a while to ship them out.

"It's a tough time for me and a tough time for everybody connected with Derby.

"I'll defend any team that goes out there and tries their best - I'm not saying they're not trying, but they're so far away from where I expect them to be it's not even funny."

Investment

Derby's new owners are set to invest some money in the squad when the transfer window reopens and, while Jewell has played down the amount he will be able to invest, he is confident he can make sufficient changes to challenge for promotion.

"There's not going to be lots and lots of money to spend but it's going to give us a better chance.

"We need to strengthen in the right areas to have a campaign that's going to get us back in the Premiership.

"That team won't be anywhere near good enough, that's for sure, so we've got to do a lot of work between now and the start of next season."