For all the talk of an exciting new era at Leeds United, it was tempting to turn thoughts back to yesteryear as the Yorkshire club's season spluttered to an unsatisfactory start.
First to the Don Revie era after a statue to Billy Bremner was unveiled outside Elland Road in tribute to his unstinting service. Then, more recently and far less palatable, to Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, whose path to Spain has seen him go from hero to zero in the space of a week.
For here was the indisputable evidence, if any had been required, that when Hasselbaink went in search of a few more shillings at Atletico Madrid, a gaping hole was blown into the school of thought that Leeds are capable of mountaining a sustained title challenge.
Beforehand, there had been a united show of defiance from Hasselbaink's former employers. The Leeds manager David O'Leary had been at pains to emphasise that nothing would affect the team spirit within his camp.
Yet there was no denying that Hasselbaink's bullish forward play would have made a substantial difference to this lacklustre performance.
Afterwards, O'Leary admitted "we missed a presence in attack." In Hasselbaink's place the debutant Michael Bridges, signed from Sunderland for £Stg4 million was a willing competitor who displayed signs that there is much to come, but the greatest disappointment for the home side must have been the near anonymity of his young accomplice Alan Smith.
The England manager Kevin Keegan certainly chose a bad day for a watching brief on O'Leary's youthful side, with the exception of midfielder Lee Bowyer. The young Australian spurned the game's clearest opportunity late on when he pounced upon Rory Delap's under-strength back pass only to dither too long in front of Derby's grateful goalkeeper Mart Poom.
Another spectator, Alex Ferguson, would have left with fewer worries about Leeds becoming champions of England.
LEEDS: Martyn, Mills, Woodgate, Radebe, Harte, Hopkin, Batty, Bowyer, Kewell, Smith (McPhail 52), Bridges. Subs Not Used: Haaland, Hiden, Duberry, Robinson. Booked: Batty, Kewell, Bowyer.
DERBY: Poom, Prior, Carbonari, Laursen, Delap, Eranio (Borbokis 77), Powell, Johnson, Dorigo, Baiano (Beck 67), Sturridge (Burton 46). Subs Not Used: Schnoor, Hoult. Booked: Dorigo, Eranio, Johnson, Delap, Powell.
Attendance: 40,118
Referee: G Barber (Tring).
