Derby County F.C.
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| Full name | Derby County Football Club | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | The Rams | ||
| Founded | 1884 | ||
| Ground | Pride Park Stadium, Derby | ||
| Capacity | 33,597 | ||
| Chairman |  Peter Gadsby | ||
| Manager |  Billy Davies | ||
| League | Football League Championship | ||
| 2005-2006 | Football League Championship, 20th | ||
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Derby County Football Club are a football club based in Derby, who are currently playing in the Football League Championship.
History
Early years
The club was formed in 1884 as an offshoot of Derbyshire County Cricket Club. They originally wanted to name themselves directly after the cricket club as Derbyshire County FC, but objections from the local football association (who thought the name was too long) led them to choose Derby County FC.
The Rams, as Derby County are known, initially played at the Racecourse Ground, like their parent cricket club. As well as competing in a number of friendly matches and informally competitions, Derby County also entered the premier British football competition of the time: the FA Cup.
Derby County were founder members of The Football League when it was launched in 1888. In 1891, they absorbed another Derby club, Derby Midland F.C., who had been members of the Midland League. Steve Bloomer, generally considered to be Derby County's best-ever player, joined the club in 1892. In 1895 the club moved to a new stadium, The Baseball Ground (so called because it was previously used for baseball), which became their home for the next 102 years, and adopted their traditional colours of black and white.
On April 16, 1898, Derby appeared in their first FA Cup final at Crystal Palace, but unfortunately lost 3-1 against Nottingham Forest. They were losing finalists again on April 15, 1899 (4-1 to Sheffield United) and April 18, 1903 (6-0 to Bury). Derby's luck didn't get any better and they were relegated to the Football League's Second Division for the first time in 1907, but under Jimmy Methven's management they re-signed Steve Bloomer and regained their First Division place in 1911. Bloomer's captaincy of the side that contained 'The 5 Bs' ('Major' Frank Buckley, Tommy Barbour, Horace Barnes, Jimmy Bauchop) was a feature just before World War I.
In 1914 they were relegated again, but instantly won the Second Division to get promoted (though World War I meant that they had to wait until 1919 to play First Division football again). After just two seasons, they were relegated yet again in 1921.
However, more successful times lay ahead, instigated by Derby's promotion in 1926. Despite not winning anything, the club became a formidable force, with constantly high finishes, from the late 1920s and all the way through the 1939-1940 season, which was abandoned due to World War II. For example, in the 1929-1930 season Derby County finished in second place in the First Division with 50 points behind Sheffield Wednesday on 60 points.
FA Cup triumph
The FA Cup restarted in the 1945-1946 season. Derby got to the final again, but this time managed to go all the way and win by beating Charlton Athletic 4-1 after extra time. (Derby's previous lack of success in the FA Cup — they also regularly lost at the semi-final stage — gave rise to a superstition that the club was subject to a gypsy curse, supposedly because of Gypsy anger that the Baseball Ground was built on a Gypsy camping ground. Prior to the 1946 final, Derby County players went so far as to ask the Gypsies to lift the curse.)
The Football League restarted the following season and, despite the Cup win, Derby could not reproduce their pre-War form and were eventually relegated in 1953. Things went from bad to worse and in 1955 they were relegated to the Third Division North for the first time in their history. The third tier proved easy for Derby, though: they finished second at the first attempt and then bettered it by finishing first (and gaining promotion) the following season.
The Brian Clough years
In 1967, the now-legendary Brian Clough took over Derby County (in partnership with assistant manager Peter Taylor) and led them to their greatest glories. When Clough took over the team, the Rams were treading water in the Second Division and the club's only honour, the 1946 FA Cup win, was becoming a distant memory. There was little expectation that the young manager was going to lead his team to the club's first League Championship.
With Clough having clinched the influential signing of Dave Mackay, Derby were promoted to the First Division in 1969, finished fourth in 1970, got banned from competing in Europe due to financial irregularities in 1971, and won their first ever Football League Championship in 1972. On May 8, 1972, Clough was on holiday in Spain with his Derby side as they were crowned champions with their season having already ended. Back home Leeds United and Liverpool failed to get the results necessary in their last games and the Rams clinched the title.
Though Derby did not retain their title the following season, they did reach the semi-finals of the European Cup, eventually losing to Italian side Juventus in a controversial match which was subject to subsequent allegations that the Italian club had bribed the match officials, leading Clough to call the Italians "cheating bastards".
Clough's frequent outspoken comments against football's establishment (which had led to Derby being threatened with expulsion from the Football League) eventually led to him falling out with the board of directors at the club, and Clough and Taylor both left in 1973, to widespread uproar from Rams fans, who demanded the board resign and Clough be reinstated.
Second Football League Championship
With the high profile signings of Francis Lee and Bruce Rioch, Derby's League success was repeated in 1974-1975 season when they won the title again, this time under Dave Mackay. Before the 1975-1976 season the Rams made another big name signing in Charlie George and that season saw the Rams face mighty Real Madrid in the European Cup. In one of the greatest games at the Baseball Ground, Charlie George scored a hat-trick as Derby ran out 4-1 winners. Progress in the competition was halted by a 1-5 loss in the second leg at Madrid's Santiago Bernabéu Stadium.
Declining fortunes
Derby's form declined towards the end of the 1970s and they went down to the Second Division in 1980.
Though they challenged well in their first season, Derby's stay in the Second Division was not a happy one and they were relegated to the now-national Third Division in 1984, their centenary year and just nine years after their last Championship.
Return to the top
After the relegation, the club appointed former Newcastle United manager Arthur Cox to stop the rot — and stop it he did. After a two year stint in the Third Division, Cox's emerging side were promoted to the Second Division and won it at the first attempt, returning to the old First Division in 1987.
The club finished fifth in the 1988-1989 season, with the team now containing stars like Peter Shilton, Mark Wright, Dean Saunders and Ted McMinn. However, English clubs were banned from European competition at the time, so the Rams missed out on a place in the UEFA Cup that their high finish otherwise would have earned.
This was Cox's team at its peak; a lack of further investment from controversial chairman Robert Maxwell lead to a decline shortly after. With Maxwell soon dead from suspected suicide, the club was relegated back to the Second Division in 1991 (which became the "new" First Division a year later when the old First Division clubs broke away to form the FA Premier League). At this time, local newspaper businessman Lionel Pickering became the majority shareholder of the club.
Derby's hopes of earning immediate promotion to the new FA Premier League in 1992 were ended when they lost to eventual winners Blackburn Rovers in the playoff semi-finals. The same year, Derby paid £2.5 million for Notts County's central defender Craig Short. At the time — and for five years afterwards — he was the most expensive player to be signed by a club outside the top flight.
Premier Rams and Pride Park Stadium
The FA Premier League (or, more precisely, the money it brought) made it even more difficult for Derby to gain promotion to the Premier League, let alone stay there. Cox resigned in late 1993 citing health problems, and Roy McFarland returned as manager. Despite big spending, however, McFarland failed to get the side anywhere near the top of the division apart from a defeat at the hands of Leicester City in the 1993-1994 playoff final and was sacked in 1995 after a pair of mid-table finishes. Jim Smith was appointed as the club's new manager. Although the season started slowly, the hugely influential signing of sweeper Igor Stimac proved pivotal. Throwing his brief of 'a top-half finish' out the window, Smith guided the Rams to a second-place finish and, more importantly, the Premier League.
Derby County made an excellent Premiership debut in the 1996-1997 season, finishing 12th in the final table with a side containing quality players like Paulo Wanchope, Aljosa Asanovic, Igor Stimac, Jacob Laursen, Stefano Eranio and Francesco Baiano. The club moved into the new 30,000-seat (later upgraded to 33,597-seat) Pride Park Stadium for the 1997-1998 season.
Progress continued in the next two seasons. The Rams finishing ninth and eighth places before a decline in form saw the club finish 16th at the end of the 1999-2000 Premiership campaign. Another relegation battle followed in 2000-2001 when Derby narrowly avoided the drop by finished 17th in the Premiership — one place clear of relegation.
Jim Smith resigned as manager in October 2001 after rejecting an offer to become the club's director of football. He was replaced by assistant manager and former player Colin Todd. Todd remained in charge for just three months before he was sacked in the aftermath of a humiliating FA Cup Third Round home defeat against Third Division strugglers Bristol Rovers.
At the end of January 2002, John Gregory was appointed Derby manager less than a week after walking out on Aston Villa. Derby won their first two games under Gregory's management and also held title chasing Manchester United to a draw, suggesting that Gregory might be able to save Derby from relegation. But seven defeats from their final eight fixtures condemned Derby to relegation from the Premiership after six successive seasons of top division football.
Post-Premiership plight
Derby County's relegation back to The Football League saw the club enter a serious financial crisis, which forced them to sell many key players and build a team mostly of home-grown youngsters like Tom Huddlestone and Lee Grant. Gregory was suspended from his managerial duties over alleged misconduct and former Ipswich Town boss George Burley was drafted in as a temporary manager. An 18th place finish was secured. At the end of the season Gregory's contract was terminated and Burley received the job on a permanent basis.
The club's parent company went briefly into liquidation in October 2003 and the majority shareholder Lionel Pickering gave way to a new board of John Sleightholme, Jeremy Keith and Steve Harding, who bought the club for £3. The police are currently investigating whether any illegal payments were made at this time. Derby finished 20th in the 2003-2004 First Division campaign, but improved dramatically in the 2004-2005 season and finished 4th in the Football League Championship (the new name for the Football League First Division) and qualified for a promotion play-off spot, though lost in the semi-finals to Preston North End.
Soon afterwards, Burley resigned citing differences between himself and the board. He was replaced by Phil Brown. Brown failed to find much success in the job, however, and was sacked in January 2006, after a bad run of results, including a 6-1 hammering at Coventry City and an embarrassing 3-1 FA Cup exit to League One side Colchester. Terry Westley, the academy coach at the time, took over first team duties until the end of the season, when Derby finished 20th in the Championship - just two places above the relegation zone.
New chairman, new manager, new era?
Derby's Chairman, John Sleightholme, resigned in April 2006, saying his position had become untenable. The board did not replace him. The rest of the board followed him later that month. A popular consortium of local businessmen led by former vice-chairman Peter Gadsby bought the club to huge popular acclaim, reducing the club's debt and returning Pride Park Stadium to the club's ownership in the process. In June 2006, former Preston North End boss Billy Davies was appointed Derby County's new permanent manager, with Julian Darby as his first-team coach.
 | This article documents a current event. Information may change rapidly as the event progresses, and initial news reports may be unreliable. The latest updates to this article may not reflect the most current information. (April 2007) |
The Rams have so far performed fantastically under Davies, and as of April 24 2007 they are third in the Championship with 81 points, one point point behind Sunderland and two behind Birmingham. With only two games left, the battle for the two automatic promotion spots promises to go right down to the wire, though Derby will most likely face the Playoffs.
The club have also announced that current kit suppliers Joma will be replaced by Adidas on a 5 year deal beginning in August 2007.
Local rivals
Derby County's fierce rivals are Nottingham Forest F.C., a team in League One, who are based in Nottingham, a city 15 miles east of Derby; the rivalry was ignited over former Derby boss Brian Clough, who moved on to Nottingham several years after being sacked from Derby, and their collective status as top English teams in the 1970s. The two clubs and their fans, however, united in mourning following Clough's death in 2004.
There is also a significant amount of distaste with Leeds United, despite Leeds not being geographically close to Derby; the rivalry is due to Derby and Leeds being two of the top English teams in the early 1970s. Today Derby and Leeds are both Championship teams; in the 2006-07 season, Derby is pushing for promotion while Leeds is facing relegation.
There is also a local rivalry with Leicester City, as the two teams play within 20 or so miles of each other and have been in the same divisions for much of their existence.
Also there is rivalry with West Midland teams such as Aston Villa, Birmingham City, Coventry City,Stoke City, West Brom and Wolves , particularly as these clubs have faced each other many times. The matches are known simply as Midland derbies.
Honours
- Football League First Division (now FA Premier League)
- Football League Second Division (now The Championship)
- Football League Third Division North
- FA Cup
- Charity Shield
- Winners, 1975-1976
- Texaco Cup
- Winners, 1971-1972
- Watney Cup
- Winners, 1970-1971
- Anglo-Italian Cup
- Runners-up, 1992-1993
Managers
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see also Category:Derby County F.C. managers
Selected former players
see also Category:Derby County F.C. players
- A complete list of all the Club's former players can be found here
Player of the Year Award - The Jack Stamps Trophy
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Current squad
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Players out on loan
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Board of directors
- John Kirkland, OBE (President)
- Peter Gadsby (Chairman)
- Mike Horton (Managing Director)
- Jill Marples (Company Secretary)
- Mel Morris
- Don Amott
- Peter Marples (Associate Director)
Club badge
Like most old football clubs, Derby County did not initially have any badge displayed on their shirts. Their first badge was introduced in 1924. The badge consisted of a circular shield spilt into three equally-sized sections, representing the club, its fans and the area, in three equally-sized sections, all containing items traditionally associated with the city of Derby: a Tudor rose and a crown in one section, a buck in a park in the second and a ram's head in the final section. The badge was worn on the players' shirts for just two seasons before they reverted to plain shirts.
By 1934, another badge had been introduced. This time it was a traditionally-shaped shield, again with three sections. The buck in the park had been removed and the rose and the crown had been split up and now occupied a section each. The ram's head also remained and was now given the largest section of the shield. The badge never appeared on the players' shirts.
The shield was modified in 1946 when the rose and crown were removed and replaced with the letters DC (Derby County) and FC (Football Club) respectively. The badge, right, was featured on to the player's shirts from its introduction onwards, though the ram's head on its own was used from the late 1960s (the full shield, however, remained the club's official logo).
A new club badge was introduced in 1971, featuring a more modern design that, with minor modifications, is still in use today. The badge was initially consisted of a stylised white ram facing left. The badge was first modified slightly in 1979 to include the text 'Derby County FC' under the ram (though the ram remained on its own on away kits). In 1982 the ram turned to face to the right and the text under it was removed. The ram was surrounded by a wreath of laurel and the text 'Centenary 1984-1985' was printed under it for the club's centenary season. The laurel was removed and the text reading 'Derby County FC' returned from the next season. In 1993, the ram faced left again and the text was removed once more. In 1995, the ram faced right and was enclosed in a diamond, with a gold banner reading 'Derby County FC' underneath and the text '1884' (the year of the club's foundation) underneath that. This design lasted only two years and was modified in 1997 to the design still in use today (seen at the top of this article): the ram now faces left above the gold banner, which has been slightly modified to read simply 'Derby County'; the diamond and the foundation year have been removed.
Club mascot
The club's mascot is a ram named Rammie. He takes children onto the pitch and tells them to lift the crowd and get behind the team. Also at half-time staff of Derby County Football In The Community get small goal nets out and he goes in goal to act as goal keeper and people take penalties at him.
The Academy
Derby County has a great reputation for producing young stars of the future. The training complex at the club is one of the best in the country, with world class training facilities. The purpose-built complex in Oakwood was built at a cost of £5 million and it covers fifty acres and features six full-sized training pitches plus a state of the art indoor pitch. It also boasts a gym and a restaurant.
Shirt sponsors
- 1884-1980: No sponsor
- 1980-1981: British Midland
- 1981-1984: Patrick
- 1984-1986: Bass Brewers
- 1986-1987: Sportsweek
- 1987-1991: Maxwell Communications Corporation
- 1991-1995: Auto Windscreens
- 1995-1998: PUMA
- 1998-2001: EDS
- 2001-2005: Marston's Pedigree
- 2005-2008: Derbyshire Building Society
Famous fans
- Kevin Lloyd - Actor
- Christopher Biggins - Actor
- Tim Brooke-Taylor - Formerly of The Goodies
- Timothy Dalton - Two-time James Bond
- Ross Davenport - 2006 Commonwealth Games gold medallist swimmer
- Geoff Hoon - MP for Ashfield, current Minister of State for Europe and former Secretary of State for Defence
- Robert Lindsay - Actor
- Simon Singh - Science author
- Ben Ottewell - guitarist/vocallist with Gomez
- Tracy Shaw - Actress
- Trevor East - Tiswas (Saturday morning children's show)
- David Lloyd - Former England Cricketer; current Sky TV Cricket pundit
- Rory O'Kane - Ballerin gaelic footballer and Irish sports personality
- Nicholas Burns - Actor, Benidorm (ITV)
- Gareth Icke - Musician & England Beach Soccer Goalkeeper, Son of former TV personality David Icke
Club records
- Record Victory: 12-0 (at home to Finn Harps F.C. UEFA Cup First Round, First Leg, September 15th 1976)
- Record Defeat: 2-11 (away to Everton, FA Cup, First Round, January 18th 1890)
- Record Attendance: Baseball Ground 41,826 against Tottenham Hotspur, Football League First Division, September 20th 1969
- Record Attendance: Pride Park Stadium 33,475 Derby County Legends v Rangers Legends, Ted McMinn Benefit Match, May 1st, 2006
- Record Appearances: Kevin Hector (486 league matches, 589 total matches)
- Record Goal-Scorer: Steve Bloomer (293 league goals, 332 total goals)
- Youngest Player: Lee Holmes (15 years, 268 days v Grimsby Town, 26 December 2002)
- Most Capped Player: Deon Burton (Jamaica, 42 caps)
External links
- Official site
- Unofficial site by the Derby Evening Telegraph
- dcfcForum
- Therams.co.uk Official Forum
- Popside
- Ramsportal links you to Derby County
- 1946 FA Cup Final - Complete match programme online
- Derby County F.C. on BBC Sport: Club news – Recent results and fixtures
- Derby County-Mad
- We are the Rams (Unoffical Fan site
- RamZone
- RamsTrust (supporters' trust)
- Derby County History
- Derby County Shirt History
- Brunswick Family Parlour - Derby County News Blog
- Midlands Football Forum