Derby County striker Chris Martin has admitted that the club's change of head coach caught him by surprise.

The Rams sacked Steve McClaren following their failure to reach the Championship playoffs last season and replaced him with former Real Madrid assistant coach Paul Clement.

Martin says that he is looking forward to life under his new boss.

"I suppose I was a little bit surprised about the way it came around. There's not really too much the players can do about that sort of thing – it's all over our heads," the frontman told the Derby Telegraph.

"They're not our decisions to make and we just need to look forward now. A lot of people will still be talking about last season because the new season is not upon us yet.

"But I think we need to look forward and focus on what's to come, while obviously learning the lessons of what went wrong last time and see where we can improve. We need to look forward to a new regime under the new manager and a fresh start with a new season. Hopefully, we can make it a good one."

Clement has taken up his first role in management at Derby.