Derby County F.C.: Difference between revisions
| Line 113: | Line 113: | ||
==Local rivals== |
==Local rivals== |
||
Derby County's fierce rivals are [[Nottingham Forest F.C.|Nottingham Forest]], who are based in [[Nottingham]], a city a few miles north-east of Derby. Whenever the clubs play each other, the winners are awarded the [[Brian Clough Trophy]]. [[Leicester City F.C.|Leicester City]], also based in the East Midlands, are also local rivals. |
Derby County's fierce rivals are [[Nottingham Forest F.C.|Nottingham Forest]], who are based in [[Nottingham]], a city a few miles north-east of Derby. Whenever the clubs play each other, the winners are awarded the [[Brian Clough Trophy]]. Even though The Rams are now in the premiership, they will always feel that they carry a huge shadow over them after the success that Forest had in past years.[[Leicester City F.C.|Leicester City]], also based in the East Midlands, are also local rivals. |
||
There is also a significant amount of rivalry with [[Leeds United F.C.|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]]. |
There is also a significant amount of rivalry with [[Leeds United F.C.|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]]. |
||
Revision as of 15:24, 6 July 2007
| Badge of Derby County FC | |||
| 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 | Premier League | ||
| 2006–07 | Football League Championship, 3rd (promoted via play-offs) | ||
|
| |||
Derby County Football Club are an English football club based in Derby, who play in the Premier League.
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 16 April 1898, Derby appeared in their first FA Cup final at Crystal Palace, but unfortunately lost 3-1.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' of himself, ('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. With their season ended, Clough traveled to the Scilly Islands with his family while his Derby side flew to Majorca. Back home, Leeds United and Liverpool failed to get the results necessary in their last games and the Rams clinched the title on May 8, 1972.
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.
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 mid-table finish. 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.
Premier Rams and Pride Park Stadium
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 and Jacob Laursen.
The club moved into the new 30,000-seat (later upgraded to 33,597-seat) Pride Park Stadium for the 1997-1998 season and was able to attract quality signings like Stefano Eranio and Francesco Baiano.
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.
Back in The Football League
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. 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 United. Terry Westley, the academy coach at the time, took over first team duties until the end of the season and saved Derby from relegaton.
Recent times
Derby's Chairman, John Sleightholme, resigned in April 2006, saying his position had become untenable. 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, reducing its 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. In his first season, Davies took Derby to the Championship play-offs, where they beat Southampton on penalties in the semi-finals before defeating West Bromwich Albion 1-0 with a second-half Stephen Pearson goal (his first for the club) at the new Wembley Stadium to secure a return to the Premier League and the £60m windfall that achievement is reputed to bring.
Despite Derby's promotion however, there were persistent rumours of a row between Davies and the Managing Director Mike Horton over the appointment of an assistant for Davies. On 5 June 2007 Horton resigned from his position on the board, and he was followed shortly afterwards by Jill Marples and her husband Peter Marples. Horton claimed at the time that his departure was for family and business reasons however, and he has since been replaced on the board by experienced football executive Trevor Birch[1].
On June 11 2007, the club also announced plans to expand the capacity of Pride Park Stadium from 33,957 to 44,000 for the start of the 2008-2009 season[2].
Derby began their summer signings by buying Robert Earnshaw from Norwich for £3.5 million, breaking the club's transfer fee record.[3] Derby have now appointed Colin Miller as assistant manager and Craig Brown as footballing consultant. Billy Davies also signed a 12 month contract extension until 2010. Derby then signed Tye Mears for £1 million, after a successful second half of the season on loan at Pride Park from West Ham United. They followed this up on July 6 2007, with the signing of Sheffield United defender Claude Davis, on a £3 million deal with terms agreed on a four year contract, the clubs are waiting for a work permit, which is due to be given sometime next week.
Local rivals
Derby County's fierce rivals are Nottingham Forest, who are based in Nottingham, a city a few miles north-east of Derby. Whenever the clubs play each other, the winners are awarded the Brian Clough Trophy. Even though The Rams are now in the premiership, they will always feel that they carry a huge shadow over them after the success that Forest had in past years.Leicester City, also based in the East Midlands, are also local rivals.
There is also a significant amount of rivalry 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.
Honours
Note: the leagues and divisions of English football have changed somewhat over time, so here they are grouped into their relative levels on the English football league system at the time they were won to allow easy comparison of the achievement
- Premier League and predecessors (level 1 of the English football league system)
- Football League Championship and predecessors (level 2 of the English football league system)
- Football League Second Division Champions, 1911-1912, 1914-1915, 1968-1969, 1986-1987
- Football League Second Division Runners-Up, 1925-1926
- Football League First Division Runners-Up, 1995-1996
- Football League Championship Play-Offs Winners, 2006-2007
- Football League One and predecessors (level 3 of the English football league system)
- Football League Third Division North Champions, 1956-1957
- Football League Third Division North Runners-Up, 1955-1956
- Charity Shield
- Winners, 1975-1976
- Texaco Cup
- Winners, 1971-1972
- Watney Cup
- Winners, 1970-1971
- Anglo-Italian Cup
- Runners-up, 1992-1993
Managers
|
|
Famous 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 (The Jack Stamps Trophy)
|
|
|
Current squad
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
|
|
Board of directors
- Peter Gadsby (Chairman)
- Mike Horton (Vice Chairman)
- John Kirkland (President)
- Trevor Birch (Chief Executive Officer)
- Mel Morris (Director)
- Don Amott (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 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 underneath 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. From 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. The design was changed again in 1997 (see right): the ram faced now left and the golden banner now simply read 'Derby County'; the diamond and year of formation were removed. A decade later, in 2007, the badge was modified again (to the one seen at top of this article), with the ram (still facing left) and the text 'Est. 1884' now in the middle of a circular frame featuring 'Derby County Football Club' in gold lettering.
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.
Club academy
Derby County has a great reputation for producing young stars of the future. The Moor Farm 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. This has provided some exciting young players from the likes of Tom Huddlestone, Lee Camp and Giles Barnes.
Kit
Derby County's original colours (right) were amber, chocolate and blue, though by the 1890s the club had adopted its now traditional colours of black and white, still in use today. The colours of away kits have varied widely, though they are usually yellow/gold or blue.
Kit manufacturers
- c. 1973-1979: Umbro
- 1979-1982: Le Coq Sportif
- 1981-1984: Patrick (also shirt sponsors)
- 1984-1985: Admiral
- 1985-1987: OSCA
- 1987-1993: Umbro
- 1993-1994: Bukta
- 1994-1995: Rams Pro Wear
- 1995-2001: Puma (also shirt sponsors from 1995-1998)
- 2001-2005: Erreà
- 2005-2007: Joma
- 2007-2012: Adidas
Shirt sponsors
- 1884-1980: No sponsor
- 1980-1981: British Midland
- 1981-1984: Patrick (also kit manufacturers)
- 1984-1986: Bass Brewers
- 1986-1987: Sportsweek
- 1987-1992: Maxwell Communications Corporation (known by its former name, BPCC in 1987-1988)
- 1992: No sponsor
- 1992-1995: Auto Windscreens
- 1995-1998: Puma (also kit manufacturers from 1995-2001)
- 1998-2001: EDS
- 2001-2005: Marston's Pedigree
- 2005-2008: Derbyshire Building Society
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 home attendance: 41,826 against Tottenham Hotspur, Football League First Division, September 20th 1969 at the Baseball Ground
- 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: Claude Davis (Jamaica, 47 caps)
- Record Transfer Fee: £3.5 Million to Norwich City F.C. for Robert Earnshaw
- Record Fee Received: £7m from Leeds United F.C. for Seth Johnson
External links
- Official site
- Derby Evening Telegraph Rams Site by the Derby Evening Telegraph
- RamZone
- Derby County Goal Highlights
- 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
- Derby County History
- Derby County Shirt History
- Brunswick Family Parlour - Derby County News Blog
- Midlands Football Forum
- Recorded Derby County Songs and Chants
