Ipswich Town on 5 April. He was fined £1,000 and given a one match ban, which he served during Derby's final match of the campaign at home to Cardiff City. Clough also gave himself some game time during the course of the season, coming on as a late substitute for the reserve side in their 2–1 victory over West Bromwich Albion reserves in their Central League Central Section clash. Derby suffered a major shock in the FA Cup, losing to Crawley Town 2–1. The result saw Clough's job at the club reportedly come under threat, as he issued an apology to the club's supporters, many of whom responded with demands for his dismissal. Derby's Chief Executive Tom Glick answered fan's concerns by reiterating the club's support for Clough, saying: "Nigel is absolutely our guy. We have been clear about that continuously." During Derby's post-November struggles Clough came under focus for his consistent criticism of individual players, which came to a head when he strongly criticised Tomasz Cywka after his mistake led to a late Portsmouth equaliser in a 1–1 draw at Fratton Park. Of Cywka, Clough said: "He's an extremely inexperienced and not very bright footballer... he can go back to Wigan or wherever he came from – I'm not really bothered – until he learns the game." These incidents led PFA Chief Gordon Taylor to criticise Clough, saying: "It cannot be appropriate to criticise your team in such a way in public. We'll sort things out... otherwise it looks an untenable situation." Ultimately, nothing came of the incident but the outbursts, coupled with Derby's poor results on the pitch, led to some unrest among supporters. Clough's players were booed at the end of a 3–1 home defeat against Doncaster Rovers on 1 March 2011. Clough's continuing stay at the club was rewarded by overseeing Derby's best start to the season in 106 years as they opened the season with four victories from four and earned a Championship Manager of the Month nomination. A 1–1 draw with Barnsley on 28 September 2011 took Derby into second place and the automatic promotion spots for the first time in over a year. The results came during discussions over Clough's contract – which was due to expire at the end of the season with Forest allegedly interested in securing their former-player's services. Despite these reports however, there was no evidence that Clough and