Derby County 1, West Bromwich Albio 0.

Billy Davies refused to bring an end to speculation about his long-term future despite guiding Derby to the Barclays Premiership with a 1-0 Coca-Cola Championship play-off final win over West Brom at Wembley.

Stephen Pearson scored the crucial goal for the Rams, stabbing home Giles Barnes' cross on the hour to take Derby back to the top flight after five seasons.

Reports of a strained relationship between Davies and managing director Mike Horton have refused to go away.

And the Scot, set for talks with the club's hierarchy in the coming weeks, chose not to dampen talk that he may not be around to lead the Rams next term.

He said: ''I don't think there's anything guaranteed 100 per cent in life. I want to have discussions for sure and there's lots of talking to be done.

''I'm not saying I don't want to be Derby manager, I'm saying that I don't think in life anything is guaranteed. Now we'll sit down, have a chat and see what happens. I'm not prepared to discuss it at the moment and I'm not prepared to go into specifics.''

Davies revealed he predicted Pearson would be his match-winner.

The 24-year-old struggled for weeks with a foot problem after joining from Celtic for £650,000 in January but repaid Davies' faith with the decisive goal - his first for the club.

Davies added: ''I told the chairman last week that Pearson would score the winning goal and I was delighted when it was Pearson. It was always about the first goal and it was important for us to defend and be organised.

''I just had a funny feeling and I said it to Pearson for a week or so. He's a fantastic young player, with great athleticism and great at getting into the box, and I just felt he would be the match-winner.''

The Baggies, for whom Kevin Phillips hit the bar in the first half, failed in their attempt to make an immediate return to the Premiership.

Manager Tony Mowbray felt his team created enough to win the game only to pay the price for failing to take their chances.

He said: ''The bottom line is we lost the football match. We were OK today.

''In a one-off spectacle, we were the team forcing the issue for the majority of the game but the bottom line is it is all about winning and they got the goal.

''Our keeper made one good save, they scored a goal and we had numerous opportunities.

''Did we create enough? Yes, we did but we didn't score a goal and it wasn't our day.

''We more than matched them in every aspect of the game but we didn't put it in the net.''

Derby: Bywater, Mears, Leacock, Moore, McEveley, Fagan (Edworthy 83), Oakley, Seth Johnson (Jones 87), Pearson, Howard, Peschisolido (Barnes 58). Subs (not used): Camp, Macken.

West Brom: Kiely, McShane (Ellington 71), Perry, Sodje (Clement 81), Robinson, Koumas, Greening, Gera (Carter 71), Koren, Kamara, Phillips. Subs (not used): Daniels, Chaplow. Booked: Sodje, McShane, Perry.

Attendance: 74,993.