STEPHEN Warnock is hoping his experience will prove valuable to Derby County’s Championship promotion push after becoming the Rams' latest signing of the January window.

The 33-year-old former Wanderers left-back has signed an 18-month contract after swapping the White shirt of Leeds for Derby.

And the former England international, who played 15 times on loan at the Macron Stadium at the start of the 2012-13 campaign, hopes working under Rams boss Steve McClaren will prove fruitful.

He told the Derby County website: "I am very pleased to get the deal over line and I’m glad to be joining such a great club.

“I found out quite quickly that the club wanted me and from there, it was really an easy decision.

“With the way the team is playing, the style of football that they play and what they are trying to do to get out of this division made it very appealing.

“The facilities are first class, but probably the biggest pull out of the lot was the head coach.

“I have spoken to a lot of people about him and they only praise him for how good a coach he is.

"It’s a great opportunity to work with someone like that.

“Everybody has got nothing but praise for him for how he approaches the game and his man-management skills.

“At this stage of my career, it’s a move that gives me the chance to learn off new people and continue to improve and, potentially, take that into coaching or management in the future.”

Meanwhile, another ex-Wanderers loanee, Benik Afobe, is also excited about his future after signing for Wolves on a permanent deal from Arsenal.

Afobe, who has spent the first half of this campaign on loan at MK Dons, could make his debut against Blackpool today.

And he believes his experience at Wanderers will help him at Molineux.

Afobe said: "People have often said ‘you’ve done well in League One, but can you handle the Championship?

“I can more than handle the Championship. Not in an arrogant way, but I’ve come from Arsenal and played with a lot of top players.

“And when I’ve been out on loan in the Championship, the managers have been playing me for five or 10 minutes – and then on the stats that counts as a whole game. And I was playing on the wing, and I was still a teenager.

“But if you add up the minutes, I probably have one of the better strike rates.

“I’m hungry now to prove a point. I believe Wolves is a great club and should be a Premier League club. Hopefully I can get there with Wolves.”