Season Preview - Derby County

Vital QPR takes a look at Championship side Derby County

FACTS & FIGURES

Founded: 1884

Nickname: The Rams

Ground: Pride Park (33,597)

Manager: Nigel Clough

SELECTED HONOURS

Football League First Division - Champions: 1972, 1975
Football League First Division - Runners Up: 1896, 1930, 1936

Football League Second Division - Champions: 1912, 1915, 1969, 1987
Football League Second Division - Runners Up: 1926
Football League Division One - Runners Up: 1996
Football League Championship - Playoff Winners: 2007

FA Cup - Winners: 1946
FA Cup - Runners Up: 1898, 1899, 1903

RECORDS

Record Attendance: 41,826 v Tottenham Hotspur (First Division, 1969)

Record victory: 12-0 v Finn Harps (Uefa Cup, 1976)

Record defeat: 2-11 v Everton (FA Cup, 1890)

Record Buy: £3,500,000 - Robert Earnshaw from Norwich City

Record Sale: £7,000,000 - Seth Johnson to Leeds United

Record Appearances: Kevin Hector - 581 - 1966-78, 1980-82

Record Goals: Steve Bloomer - 332 - 1892-1906, 1910-14

PREVIEW

Things haven't gone as planned for Derby under Nigel Clough as he continues to pick up the pieces of a traumatic era for the Rams.

Their Premier League foray has proven counter-productive as had the appointment of Paul Jewell with the squad flooded with expensive but ultimately fruitless talent.

Clough has overseen a steady process at Pride Park without truly pulling up many trees, but they struggled to gain that consistency where it mattered most, and it made for a frustrating campaign.

Prediction: 18

Unless Derby can keep key players like Rob Hulse, they are, in my opinion, destined to underachieve once more.

Clough picked up County at a time of upheavel and while trying to steady the ship, his Rams are proving a frustrating prospect for supporters.

There were few too many clean sheets and not enough goals, and without a great deal of change in the transfer market it seems County could be in for more mediocrity.




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