2007–08 Derby County F.C. season

The 2007–08 season was Derby County's 109th season in the Football League, their 65th season in the top division of English football and their first season in the top flight since the 2001-02 season. They were promoted after beating West Bromwich Albion 1-0 in the 2007 Championship play-off final.

After a very poor start to the season, manager Billy Davies left the club on 26 November to be replaced by former Wigan Athletic manager Paul Jewell. Jewell failed to turn things around for Derby and the club spent most of the season at the foot of the table, recording a club and top-flight record run of 32 league games without a win.

Derby were officially relegated on 29 March after their 2-2 home draw with fellow strugglers Fulham and Birmingham City's 3-1 victory over Manchester City left them 19 points away from safety with only 6 games left. This made Derby the first club in Premiership history to be relegated in March and only the second in post-war English Football league history.^[1] They also accumulated the league's lowest points total since the introduction of 3 points for a win.

Review

Despite producing a reasonably good performance in a 2-2 draw against Portsmouth on the opening day of the season, followed by a narrow 1-0 defeat away to Sven Goran Eriksson's Manchester City (the only two games which Derby spent outside the bottom three), Derby made an overall disastrous start to the Premier League season. Following their 6-0 defeat to Liverpool on 1 September, Irish bookmakers Paddy Power decided to pay out on the club to be relegated after just five games of the new season.^[2] The poor start saw fans accuse Gadsby and the board of failing to invest properly in players for the club. The repercussions of this saw Trevor Birch leave his position as Chief Executive on October 19^[3] and, on October 29, Gadsby stepped down as chairman to be replaced by former Hull City owner Adam Pearson.^[4] Meanwhile, results on the pitch weren't improving, with another poor performance away to Aston Villa followed up by a 5-0 home defeat against a West Ham United side ravaged by injuries. After taking just 6 points from 14 matches, with their only win being a 1-0 victory over future strugglers Newcastle United, Davies left by mutual consent after a meeting with Adam Pearson, taking nearly all of his newly assembled backroom staff with him.^[5] The move was seen to be more as a result of Davies publicly questioning Adam Pearson's chairmanship of the club in a post-match interview following a 2-0 home defeat by Chelsea than actual results (as Pearson publicly gave Davies his backing a few weeks previously), with some supporters suggesting Davies engineered his dismissal as he was unable to turn the club around. Within two days of Davies's dismissal, on November 26, Derby appointed highly-rated former Wigan manager Paul Jewell.^[6] He initially appointed Stan Ternent as his assistant but, when Ternant left to become Huddersfield Town manager in April, Jewell moved to appoint Chris Hutchings^[7] who had been his assistant at both Bradford City and Wigan.

Jewell was busy in the January transfer window, selling several players and bringing eight new players in, namely Everton defender Alan Stubbs,^[8] Argentine striker Emanuel Villa,^[9] ex-England international defender Danny Mills on loan from Manchester City, Blackburn midfielder Robbie Savage,^[10] French winger Laurent Robert, Tottenham's Egyptian midfielder Hossam Ghaly on loan,^[11] Genclerbirligi's Mile Sterjovski^[12] and Rangers goalkeeper Roy Carroll.^[13] Although performances improved, results didn't, with many at the club already accepting relegation by the end of December.

On January 28, it was announced that Derby had been purchased by American group General Sports and Entertainment, with Tom Glick taking the role of new President and Chief Executive.^[14] Derby's relegation was confirmed on March 29, the first time a club had been relegated from the division before April^[1] and sealing the club's first immediate relegation following promotion in its history. Poor results continued: a 6-0 home defeat at the hands of Aston Villa on 12 April is the biggest defeat at Pride Park and, by the season's end, Derby had recorded the Premier League's lowest points total^[15] and equalled Loughborough's 108-year Football League record of going through an entire season with only one win.

Playing squad

Squad at end of season

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

Left club during season

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

Starting 11

Only considering Premiership starts

• GK: #43, Stephen Bywater, 18
• RB: #24, Tyrone Mears, 22
• CB: #23, Darren Moore, 29
• CB: #5, Dean Leacock, 22
• LB: #4, Jay McEveley, 21
• RM: #25, Stephen Pearson, 23
• CM: #8, Matt Oakley, 19
• CM: #44, Robbie Savage, 16
• LM: #15, Eddie Lewis, 22
• CF: #14, Kenny Miller, 30
• CF: #11, Craig Fagan, 17

Transfers

In

• Danny Mills - on loan from Manchester City
• Laurent Robert - free transfer
• Robbie Savage - £1.5m, from Blackburn Rovers
• Emanuel Villa - £2m, from Tecos UAG
• Hossam Ghaly - on loan from Tottenham Hotspur
• Mile Sterjovski - undisclosed, from Genclerbirligi
• Roy Carroll - free transfer from Rangers
• Alan Stubbs - free transfer from Everton
• Ruben Zadkovich - free transfer from Sydney FC

Out

• Steve Howard - £1.25m, to Leicester City
• Matt Oakley - £500k, to Leicester City
• Andy Griffin - £300k, to Stoke City
• Jon Macken - £200k, to Barnsley
• Michael Johnson - loan to Notts County
• Bob Malcolm - free transfer, to Motherwell
• Laurent Robert - free transfer, to Toronto

Results

Premier League

FA Cup

Football League Cup

References

External links

• Derby County FC official site
• Derby County FC on Soccerbase