Derby County Greatest Games

Gareth Davis

Description

From the thousands of matches ever played by Derby County, stretching from the foundation of the Football League across more than 120 years to the Premier League era, here are 50 of the club's most glorious, epochal and thrilling games of all! Expertly presented in evocative historical context, and described incident-by-incident in atmospheric detail, Derby County Greatest Games offers a terrace ticket back in time, taking in the curse-breaking FA Cup victory of 1946 and the glory days of the Rams' championship seasons. An irresistible cast list of club legends - Steve Bloomer and Dave Mackay, Igor Stimac, Steve Howard and Brian Clough - springs to life in a thrilling selection of promotion parties, 1970s European giant-killing nights and clashes with the old enemy from along the A52. In all, a journey through the highlights of Rams history which is guaranteed to make any fan's heart swell with pride.

Sujets

• Derbyshire

Informations

• Publié par: Pitch Publishing Ltd
• Date de parution: 01 septembre 2013
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781909626126
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Pitch Publishing A2 Yeoman Gate Yeoman Way Durrington BN13 3QZ
www.pitchpublishing.co.uk
Gareth Davis and Phil Matthews 2013
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the Publisher.
First published and printed in 2013 First published in eBook format in 2013
eISBN: 978-1-909626-12-6 (Printed edition: 978-1-90917-869-4)
eBook Conversion by www.ebookpartnership.com
Contents
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Foreword by Roger Davies
1) Derby County 4 Charlton Athletic 1
2) Derby County 4 Huddersfield Town 3
3) Derby County 3 Chelsea 1
4) Derby County 5 Bristol City 0
5) Derby County 5 Tottenham Hotspur 0
6) Derby County 4 Manchester United 4
7) Derby County 4 Nottingham Forest 0
8) Derby County 1 Liverpool 0
9) Derby County 3 Benfica 0
10) Derby County 5 Arsenal 0
11) Tottenham Hotspur 3 Derby County 5
12) Derby County 0 Juventus 0
13) Atletico Madrid 2 Derby County 2
14) Manchester City 1 Derby County 2
15) Derby County 5 Luton Town 0
16) Derby County 4 Real Madrid 1
17) Derby County 3 Leeds United 2
18) Derby County 4 Newcastle United 2
19) Ipswich Town 2 Derby County 6
20) Derby County 12 Finn Harps 0
21) Derby County 8 Tottenham Hotspur 2
22) Derby County 4 Nottingham Forest 1
23) Derby County 3 Watford 2
24) Derby County 2 Nottingham Forest 0
25) Derby County 1 Fulham 0
26) Derby County 2 Rotherham United 1
27) Derby County 4 Plymouth Argyle 2
28) Newcastle United 0 Derby County 0
29) Arsenal 1 Derby County 2
30) Derby County 2 Nottingham Forest 1
31) Derby County 3 Sheffield Wednesday 3
32) Derby County 1 Cremonese 3
33) Millwall 1 Derby County 3
34) Derby County 2 Crystal Palace 1
35) Derby County 3 Leeds United 3
36) Manchester United 2 Derby County 3
37) Derby County 3 Arsenal 0
38) Liverpool 1 Derby County 2
39) Bradford City 4 Derby County 4
40) Derby 3 Reading 0
41) Derby County 4 Nottingham Forest 2
42) Derby County 3 Nottingham Forest 0
43) Derby County 2 Southampton 3
44) Derby County 1 West Bromwich Albion 0
45) Derby County 1 Newcastle United 0
46) Forest Green Rovers 3 Derby County 4
47) Derby County 1 Manchester United 0
48) Nottingham Forest 2 Derby County 3
49) Leeds United 1 Derby County 2
50) Nottingham Forest 1 Derby County 2
Photographs
Acknowledgements
P ULLING together a book like Derby County Greatest Games is not a straightforward process and it is far more than a two-man job. Gareth and Phil have consultedso many sources and publications in search of material, and spoken to so manyindividuals and organisations, that they all deserve credit for the part they have played.
The authors would like to thank Andy Ellis at the Derby County Collection ( www.derbycountycollection.org.uk ) for his help with sourcing match reports and pictures; the team at Pitch Publishing for allowing this book to happen; Roger Davies for writing the foreword; David Moore for dealing superbly with a late call for information; the Local Studies Library in Derby and its vast archive of old Derby Telegraph editions; the staff at the Thomas Leaper in Derby for many fine breakfasts served during planning meetings; and the supporters who have given their feedback on their own favourite matches and memories.
They have also acquired information from the official website of Derby County at www.dcfc.co.uk; the Derby Telegraph website at www.derbytelegraph.co.uk; www.soccerbase.com; Derby County On This Day (Pitch Publishing); Derby County Miscellany (Pitch Publishing); Derby’s Days The Rams’ Rivalry With Nottingham Forest (DB Publishing); The Derby County Story (Breedon Books); Derby County A Complete Record (Breedon Books); other editions of Pitch’s Greatest Games series; archives of the Mirror ; and old editions of The Ram , Derby County’s match programme and its newspaper predecessor.
Dedication
THE authors would like to dedicate this book to their families, who have supported them through the writing process; to Derby County Football Club for all those great matches to write about; and to the fans who make writing a book like this worthwhile.
Introduction
A SK 50 Derby County supporters to give you their 50 greatest matches and you can almost guarantee that you will not get two identical lists. That is because the Rams have such a rich and storied history that their list of ‘great’ games does not stop at a mere half-century – it goes well beyond that, just as you would expect for a club that has been in existence since 1884 and was a founder member of the Football League just four years later.
The Rams had their moments in the early days of English football, helped by a squad that included giants of the game at that time such as John Goodall and Steve Bloomer, and their first real triumph arrived in 1946 when they won the first post-war FA Cup Final. There was something of a wilderness period following that success, although there were still some occasions to savour, then the club really took off following the arrival of Brian Clough and Peter Taylor in 1967.
Glory at home and progress in Europe followed and the success continued under Dave Mackay before, in true Derby County style, famine followed feast and by 1984 there very nearly was no club at all.
The renaissance began under Arthur Cox as he returned the Rams to the upper-reaches of the top flight but things soon unravelled, then the Jim Smith era came along and encompassed great names such as Igor Stimac and Stefano Eranio along with a move from the famous old Baseball Ground to the purpose-built Pride Park Stadium.
Life after Smith was tough but George Burley later returned some of the flair to Derby’s performances with his shrewd signings and flowing football, then there was promotion to the Premier League in 2007.
What happened in the year immediately after that is best forgotten but even after relegation came the run to the League Cup semi-finals and the arrival of Nigel Clough in January 2009 has also coincided with some fantastic results, not least against Nottingham Forest.
So try picking out just 50 matches from all of the above – it really is not a straightforward task!
We found it tough to reduce our initial list down to just 50 and spent a lot of time debating it before we settled on the final selection, which did not ultimately come until May 2013 when we decided on the last match to include having previously agreed on the other 49.
The important thing for us to say at this stage is that we do not believe this is the definitive list of Derby County’s greatest matches.
Something like that would be impossible to argue as it is such a subjective discussion point, and we know that not everyone will agree with our choices.
And neither have we organised the matches in order of greatness as, again, trying to do that would be pretty much impossible, so they are listed in date order.
There are some games and occasions that pick themselves but what we have tried to do with the rest is give a variety and include matches that are also significant for having fascinating stories surrounding them and not just being an exciting 90 minutes.
We have gone into the background of each encounter and taken them all in the wider context of seasons and social landscapes too, including plenty of pre-game build-up and post-match reaction comments from those involved.
With our research we have also uncovered some curious and off-beat stories that have formed part of the chapters, ranging from a player being offered the chance to move into boxing to recounting some iconic commentaries.
And we have also added personal memories on occasions too, including Phil becoming a mobile phone ringtone and Gareth passing out at Wembley.
The matches range from eye-catching victories at home and in Europe to ones that were less outstanding in terms of scoreline but vital in terms of the bigger picture; from matches on memorable occasions to those that stood out but were ultimately false dawns.
The matches start with the 1946 FA Cup Final and that is a deliberate choice because while there were some big matches in the early days, the scarcity of information about them is a hindrance and we also want the games in this book to trigger supporters’ memories.
There cannot be many fans alive who were at Wembley in 1946, let alone who can remember matches prior to that, so we have focused on a time period that will reach the highest amount of the Rams’ faithful.
It has been an enjoyable process to put everything together and we hope that you get just as much from reading this book as we did from writing it.
Gareth Davis and Phil Matthews, July 2013
Foreword
W HEN I joined Derby County in 1971, if someone had told me that I would go on to play in games that would be viewed as some of the greatest in the club’s history I would not have believed them.
The club was definitely on the up when I signed for Brian Clough and Peter Taylor and I think everyone knew something special was about to happen – but nobody knew just how special the next few years would go on to be.
Those few years in the 1970s were a wonderful time to be around Derby County Football Club as we achieved some quite remarkable feats.
I knew about Derby’s history when I signed and I knew that, apart from the FA Cup in 1946, the club was yet to win a major honour.
Brian and Peter were confident that they could, and would, change that, and they were proven right before Dave Mackay continued their