Although domestic cup progress was limited (only reaching the third round of the League Cup and the fifth round of the FA Cup), Derby's UEFA Cup debut proved relatively fruitful. Derby ( Republican Party) ran for election to the U.S. House to represent Oklahoma's 2nd Congressional District. The club endured three unsuccessful play-off campaigns, failing in the semi-finals twice and losing in the 2019 final to Aston Villa. The 1971-72 season was Derby County 's 72nd in the Football League and their 45th season in the top flight. Mistakes, individually and collectively, carelessness and a lack of concentration have all proved costly. days of Brian Clough in the late 1960s and . Unlike the flair of Burley's playoff team, Davies side was built on a strong defence with more than 1 goal conceded in a match on just 4 occasions as a tightly knit defence of Marc Edworthy, Dean Leacock, Darren Moore and Mo Camara helped Bywater to keep 12 clean sheets, including 5 on the trot through January. The 198485 season was one of transition and, although the club only managed a 7th-placed finish the lowest league placing in the club's history the foundations for the next five years of success were being laid, with Rob Hindmarch, Charlie Palmer and Eric Steele were bought in for free whilst the sale of Kevin Wilson for 150,000 to Ipswich Town helped fund moves for Trevor Christie, Gary Micklewhite and Geraint Williams. He eventually put the club up for sale in September 1990, putting it into limbo as it was unable to buy players or even bring any in on loan. The following season Davison was again top scorer and, alongside new signings such as Jeff Chandler, Ross McLaren and future-England manager Steve McLaren and John Gregory, helped the club earn promotion for the third tier at the second attempt, setting the club record of 84 points in a season from 3 points for a win, as they finished third in the 198586 Third Division, recording some big wins along the way; a 70 win over Lincoln City was the club's biggest league win since before World War I. Derby's summer signings had mixed fortunes with Craig Bryson, Jason Shackell & Frank Fielding all being in contention for the Player of the Year award. However, this proved a false dawn and a 10 defeat away to Gillingham in the next game signalled what was to come as the club won just 10 of its opening 29 fixtures and suffered embarrassing cup exits to lower league teams Brentford (FA Cup) and Oldham Athletic (League Cup). Entry into the European Cup in 1972 compelled the installation of new floodlights to match UEFA specifications. At one stage touted as a future England manager, Gregory had been in place at Aston Villa but his relationship with Villa chairman Doug Ellis led him to walk out to take charge at Derby. 's existence had been relatively consistent, the era covered here saw the club experience five promotions and five relegations as it rose dramatically to its peak and back. [9] George made his competitive debut in the 1975 FA Charity Shield at Wembley Stadium as Derby overcame FA Cup winners West Ham United 20 under the Twin Towers to claim the shield for the only time in their history. They beat Manchester United 4-1 in the final of the competition on August 8 1970. [58] Derby City Council's Planning Control Committee gave planning permission for The Plaza @ Pride Pride Park development in January 2012,[59] with chief executive Tom Glick stating the club had started looking for a development company to build the plaza.[59]. One of the innovations Clough and Taylor brought about was a simplification of what was now considered a very old fashioned club crest. John Gregory, was Todd's replacement, signing a three-and-a-half-year contract and becoming Derby's third manager of an increasingly troubled campaign, and initial seemed to have the force of personality to keep the Rams up. A chartered accountant by profession, he became chairman of the finance committee, a role he energetically embraced and to which he made positive contributions. Gates dropped to just over 11,000 from an opening match crowd of 18,011 against Sheffield United and the team looked a shadow of the one that had finished fifth two years before as they were relegated in bottom place with just 5 wins and 24 points from 38 games, a massive 13 points from safety. It was also higher than the average gate of seven Premier League clubs. "[20] A group of local businessmen, dubbed "The League of Gentlemen" by the local press, and led by former board member Peter Gadsby, emerged to take over the club at the end of April 2006, although Jeremy Keith, with the back of London venture capital company SISU, fought hard to retain control. Derby opened the 197071 season with a pre-season participation in the inaugural Watney Cup, an invitational tournament in which the top two scorers from all divisions of the Football League who had not earned promotion or European football, took part. and Burnley 52 and Luton Town 50 (with Davies becoming the first Derby player to hit 5 goals in a match since Hughie Gallacher in 1934) to finish the season as the league's leading scorers. Derby County's former chairman expressed his frustration with Brian Clough in the unseen letter. Several of these players left during the 199495 season, Kitson joining Newcastle United for 2.25m, Charles and Johnson moving to Aston Villa for a combined 2.9m and Pembridge moving to Sheffield Wednesday. After an opening day home defeat by Oldham Athletic the club went unbeaten at The Baseball Ground in the league for the rest of the season. [52] Derby picked up form in December and January, losing only twice in 9 games, picking up 17 points as Derby ended the month 12th peaking at 8th in mid-January. In October 2011, Derby County announced that they had submitted plans to Derby City Council for a 7 million development of land outside the stadium, which the club named "The Plaza @ Pride Park". In front of a sellout 18,287 crowd, the largest of the season, the match was preceded by a minutes silence as fans reflected on the memories of Derby's 102 years at the old stadium. A run of three consecutive defeats in mid April meant that survival wasn't guaranteed until the penultimate game of the season when Player of the Year Rob Hulse scored the winner in a 10 win over Charlton Athletic at Pride Park. After a 11 draw at The Baseball Ground, Derby found themselves 31 down with 10 minutes to go in the replay at White Hart Lane, before Roger Davies grabbed a brace to take the game to extra time, before completing his hat-trick as Derby ran out 53 winners. [46] In the event of the season, after a slow start The Rams spent five fixtures in the play-off positions after a run of 8 wins from 11 fixtures before collapsing spectacularly post-November and recording just four wins from their remaining 28 fixtures, with Championship safety not guaranteed until the 44th fixture when, despite losing 32 at Norwich City other results left the bottom three unable to overtake them. Financial circumstances were worsening as the debt spiralled to 30m plus, despite Burley building success on the pitch without using any transfer funds. Wayne Rooney's valiant attempt to keep Derby County in the Championship despite a 21-point deduction came to an end on Monday as a 1-0 defeat at QPR saw the Rams relegated.. Derby also reached the final of the Central League Cup final against Manchester City Elite Development squad. Behind the scenes circumstances were deteriorating, and Burley left his position, citing interference from football agent turned Director of Football Murdo Mackay, and the sale of Huddlestone, to Tottenham Hotspur, against his wishes. Tom Naylor also earned praise from Nigel Clough for his development and impressed when standing in for John Brayford at right-back. Derby had budgeted for a fourth bottom finish (i.e. [72] Derby started poorly under Pearson, with only one win in the opening nine games. A return of 10 points from a possible 12 in November saw the club peak at 9th in the league and showed that the club had the ability and wherewithal to stay in the Premiership although a crippling injury list contributed to a ten match winless streak mid-season[9] which made sure safety was never a foregone conclusion, Derby finished the season in 12th, 6 points clear of relegation. Clough was sacked nine games into the 201314 season, after defeat to local rivals Nottingham Forest, and was replaced by former Derby player and assistant manager Steve McClaren. Derby went from being financially stricken to one of the richest clubs outside the top flight. Mon 28 Jan 2008 08.20 EST. With Derby back in the top flight, Robert Maxwell took over from his son as chairman, who took the position of vice-chairman, and showed a clear desire to make his mark, with two England internationals being brought into the club in the guise of new club record signing Mark Wright, at a cost of 760,000, and Peter Shilton from Southampton. Although shorn of the star names of the previous decade, Derby had the ever consistent Steve Buckley in the ranks, alongside a striking combination of Alan Biley and Dave Swindlehurst, who both broke double figures for the season, as well as the experience of McFarland and Steve Powell. The club also finished League runners-up twice in the 1930s, and won the FA Cup in 1946 . Within two days of Davies's dismissal, on 26 November 2007, Derby appointed highly rated former Wigan manager Paul Jewell. | Sports Memorabilia, Football Programmes, League Fixtures | eBay! Although Steve Bruce, Gary Rowett and Powell were linked with the manager's position, Morris instead re-appointed Steve McClaren as manager on 12 October, less than 18-months after having sacked him. "[29] The day after the game, thousands of Derby County supporters lined the streets of the city as the club's staff and players took part in an open top bus tour.[30]. Smith became the first man to earn promotion at the first attempt in the club's history and had managed it with very little outlay, using his knowledge and experience to shape an attacking outfit which played football the right way. However, Brown was unable to match Burley's ability to bring in quality players on a restricted budget, and was further weakened when Grzegorz Rasiak was sold under his nose to Tottenham Hotspur on the last day of the August Transfer Window, not giving him time to bring in a replacement. With the team of Taylor and McFarland leading the team to an impressive second half of the season, hopes were raised for the 198384 campaign. To maintain the momentum of winning the Championship, Mackay added more firepower to his side with the 100,000 capture of Charlie George from Arsenal. A poor start, just 3 wins from 20 matches, put any hopes of a repeat of the previous campaign to bed and Brown was under intense pressure almost straight away. Burley achieved safety against a background of boardroom uncertainty Chairman Lionel Pickering, after putting temporary faith in former Coventry City chairman Bryan Richardson and a notional 30m bond, was removed from the chair after the club temporarily entered receivership by The Co-operative Bank, who instantly installed a new board composed of John Sleightholme, Jeremy Keith and Steve Harding, for the cost of 1 each. He assumed office in 2006. With chairman Lionel Pickering's increased frustration at no return on his investment, the purse strings were tightened and McFarland was unable to buy suitable replacements, instead blooding youth products such as Dean Sturridge, Russell Hoult and Lee Carsley to fill the gaps created by the departures. In mid-October, Nigel Clough and his backroom staff signed new .mw-parser-output .frac{white-space:nowrap}.mw-parser-output .frac .num,.mw-parser-output .frac .den{font-size:80%;line-height:0;vertical-align:super}.mw-parser-output .frac .den{vertical-align:sub}.mw-parser-output .sr-only{border:0;clip:rect(0,0,0,0);height:1px;margin:-1px;overflow:hidden;padding:0;position:absolute;width:1px}3+12-year contracts. [27] opened the scoring in the opening ten minutes before Arsenal took over to win 31 with Ian Wright grabbing the last ever first team goal at the ground in the 90th minute.[11]. However, the signing of Swindon Town's Rod Thomas and Aston Villa's Bruce Rioch turned the club's season around and they lost only four of their last 18 fixtures to grab a third place finish and a return to European football; a fine achievement considering the tumultuous nature of the campaign. A club record 40 players represented the club, with only 6 players making 30 or more league starts. They also won the Derbyshire Senior Cup, scoring 24 goals in their four fixtures including a 141 win over Shirebrook Town. One of these matches, a 52 victory over Sheffield Wednesday in which Baiano scored twice, was the club's first victory at Hillsborough since September 1936. Between December 1990 and April 1991 the club went a club record 20 games without a win and equalled the worst ever home league defeat when they crashed 71 at home to Liverpool. During this period the Rams did secure their biggest ever victory, with a 120 home demolition of Finn Harps on 15 September 1976, with Kevin Hector grabbing 5 and Leighton James, a club record 310,000 capture from Burnley, and Charlie George each grabbing hat-tricks (Rioch scored the other). Derby's home since 1894, The Baseball Ground had been reduced to just 18,000 seat due to the legal requirement for all seater stadia, and the club's revenue opportunities were held back by limited attendances and the move to a purpose built, 30,000 seater stadium, later name Pride Park Stadium, on the Pride Park business park just outside Derby city centre, was born more of necessity then desire. Despite interest from Westley in taking the position of manager, former Preston North End boss Billy Davies was appointed Derby County's new permanent manager, having taken Preston North End into the playoffs in the previous two seasons. However, despite a promising middle part of the season, the club fell away badly in the final third and recorded just 4 wins from its last 15 fixtures to finish the season in 6th, 22 points behind Champions West Ham United. Smith's eye for capturing players such as Rowett and Flynn in part exchange deals, as well as the fact that most of Cox's big money buys had held a large percentage of their value, meant that his transfer dealings did not hit the red until the signing of Ashley Ward for 1m from Norwich City in March 1996..mw-parser-output .quotebox{background-color:#F9F9F9;border:1px solid #aaa;box-sizing:border-box;padding:10px;font-size:88%;max-width:100%}.mw-parser-output .quotebox.floatleft{margin:.5em 1.4em .8em 0}.mw-parser-output .quotebox.floatright{margin:.5em 0 .8em 1.4em}.mw-parser-output .quotebox.centered{overflow:hidden;position:relative;margin:.5em auto .8em auto}.mw-parser-output .quotebox.floatleft span,.mw-parser-output .quotebox.floatright span{font-style:inherit}.mw-parser-output .quotebox>blockquote{margin:0;padding:0;border-left:0;font-family:inherit;font-size:inherit}.mw-parser-output .quotebox-title{background-color:#F9F9F9;text-align:center;font-size:110%;font-weight:bold}.mw-parser-output .quotebox-quote>:first-child{margin-top:0}.mw-parser-output .quotebox-quote:last-child>:last-child{margin-bottom:0}.mw-parser-output .quotebox-quote.quoted:before{font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;font-weight:bold;font-size:large;color:gray;content:" ";vertical-align:-45%;line-height:0}.mw-parser-output .quotebox-quote.quoted:after{font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;font-weight:bold;font-size:large;color:gray;content:" ";line-height:0}.mw-parser-output .quotebox .left-aligned{text-align:left}.mw-parser-output .quotebox .right-aligned{text-align:right}.mw-parser-output .quotebox .center-aligned{text-align:center}.mw-parser-output .quotebox .quote-title,.mw-parser-output .quotebox .quotebox-quote{display:block}.mw-parser-output .quotebox cite{display:block;font-style:normal}@media screen and (max-width:640px){.mw-parser-output .quotebox{width:100%!important;margin:0 0 .8em!important;float:none!important}}, "My brief was to reduce the wage bill and get some money in. From the start of April to mid march, Derby picked up 14 points out a possible 21 which lifted Derby to 11th in the table, 5 points off the play-offs with 4 games remaining, Derby manager Nigel Clough however ruled out a play-off place, wishing there was more the 4 games left as the club were showing great form. The Baseball Ground's location in residential area meant that after all alternatives had been explored, including the renovating the Baseball Ground to a 26,000 all-seater arena, it was decided it would be of more benefit for the club to move instead, with it being announced that the stadium would be completed for the start of the 19971998 season. In the event of the match Ashley Ward, who finished the season with 9 goals, 2 behind leading scorer Dean Sturridge. His remit was simple: avoid relegation. The season started in worrying fashion, with just one win in the club's opening seven fixtures, and despite a brief rally of 6 wins in 10 over September to November, a 01 defeat at Luton Town on 21 December 1974 left the idea of a title charge as the last things on the club's mind. [49][50], In the 201112 season Derby started the season well, winning their first 4 league games in August, which was also the club's best league start since the 190506 season. When Derbyshire Constabulary received allegations of financial irregularities, Sleightholme resigned his position as chairman in April 2006, stating "My position has been made untenable. [55] Striker Theo Robinson was joint top scorer with Steve Davies on 12 goals and Jamie Ward's form impressed enough to earn him a new contract. Following the game at Old Trafford a director called Jack Kirkland demanded to know what Taylor's role within the club and the pair, feeling undermined, left their role after six and a half years in charge. Carlin, brought from Sheffield United for 60,000 as the final piece of Clough's jigsaw, made his debut in the fifth game of the season, a 22 home draw with Hull City and from there the club lost just three of its remaining 37 fixtures, including winning the final 9, a club record. [68] Results started to falter after a 22 draw with Leeds United and, following a 11 draw with Reading, Chairman Mel Morris entered the changing room to criticise the players' performance and cancel a training camp in Saudi Arabia, telling the players "You're not training in the sun, you're training in the mud." However, neither the club nor Clough would back down and, after being turned down by Ipswich Town boss Bobby Robson, the club approached former player Dave Mackay, then Nottingham Forest manager, who took over at the end of October 1973. Whilst Derby were now under the control of the Maxwell family, with Ian as chairman whilst Robert remained in charge at Oxford United, Cox entered a club finally run with backroom stability if not exactly limitless funds. A hard-running midfielder with perceptive passing ability, Gemmill joined Derby in September 1970 from Preston North End for a bargain 60,000. [10] An extended FA Cup saw The Baseball Ground hold its final three FA Cup fixtures ending with a 02 defeat by Middlesbrough in the quarter finals before The Baseball Ground held its final ever match, against Arsenal, on 11 May 1996. The match was dubbed "The 60m Final" (in reference to what the winning club would expect to earn as a result of competing in the Premiership[28]) and, after three failed attempts, Derby finally won promotion via the playoffs thanks to Stephen Pearson's 61st-minute goal, his first for the club, proving the decisive moment in a 10 victory. Paul Simpson also came in from big money (800k from Oxford United) as did Marco Gabbiadini (1.3m from Sunderland) and even Bobby Davison (who had left for Leeds United three years earlier), returned for a spell on loan and reached a century of goals for Derby, only the 7th player and most recent to do so, when he netted in a 22 draw with Newcastle United. Derby County, champions of England twice in the 1970s, Championship play-off finalists in 2014 and 2019, the club of Brian Clough, Dave Mackay and Roy McFarland, have gone into. Overview; News; Fixtures & Results; Record against. [69] Derby finished fifth in the league, qualifying for the play-offs, but lost 32 on aggregate to eventual winners Hull in semi finals. The Anglo Italian cup run, coupled with extended interest in the Coca-Cola Cup (where they took Arsenal to a third round replay) and reaching the FA Cup Quarter-finals for the first time in 9 years, taking Sheffield Wednesday to a replay after a 33 draw at The Baseball Ground meant the cup took part in 64 matches between 15 August 1992 and 8 May 1993, a new club record with Paul Kitson taking part in 61 of them and finishing the season as leading scorer, with 24 goals in all competitions. Enter your search keyword. Derby died on August 24, 2021. "[48] The club's reserves proved more successful. The league was unusually close throughout the campaign and the final table saw Champions Derby just one point of the teams in 2nd (Leeds), 3rd (Liverpool) and 4th (Manchester City). When the European Cup was launched in 1955, Derby had been in the Third Division and now stood as English football's sole representatives in Europe's premiere club competition. Many of the departing players were high-wage earning flops from the Billy Davies/Paul Jewell-era, (such as Claude Davis, Roy Carroll and Martin Albrechtsen) many of whose contracts were cancelled by mutual consent as the club tried to reign in its spiraling wage bill. Wayne Rooney's valiant attempt to keep Derby County in the Championship despite a 21-point deduction came to an end on Monday as a 1-0 defeat at QPR saw the Rams relegated.. more 28.02.2022 18:24 Newman managed just 5 wins during the remainder of the campaign as Derby finished a lowly 16th and where only saved from relegation by the return of the mercurial Charlie George on non-contract terms from Bournemouth. [26] A resounding 51 win against Colchester United (by far the biggest win of a campaign which saw victory by a two-goal or above margin on just 6 occasions) looked to have put the club back on track but after taking just 12 points from the next 10 fixtures, the club slipped out of the automatic promotion places altogether and a 02 defeat at Crystal Palace in the penultimate game of the season confirmed a 3rd-placed finish and entry into the 200607 Championship playoffs.