Derby County Memories

Having finished runners-up to title winners Sunderland the previous season, Derby had entered the new season as one of half a dozen clubs expected to challenge for honours and had started off in great form, having won three of their opening four games and scoring 13 goals in doing so. That included a four-goal haul for Jack Bowers in a 5-4 Baseball Ground success against Manchester United where the Rams had fought back from two goals down. On September 14th,…

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After 11 games of the 1938/1939 season, George Jobey’s Derby County side were flying high in Division One, sitting second with 16 points. They were level on points with leaders Everton, though the Toffees had a game in hand. On Saturday 22 October, the Rams hosted Manchester United at the Baseball Ground. United had endured a tough start to the season, winning just twice and languishing in 16th place on 8 points. The match marked the debut of Derby’s new…

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The 1930s had begun with an air of optimism around the club with George Jobey’s team lying in third place in the table, five points behind leaders Sheffield Wednesday, and on a run of 7 wins from their last 10 games. Adding to all the optimism, the Rams had coasted into the fourth round of the FA Cup with a comfortable 5-1 home win over Second Division opponent Bristol City. The draw for the fourth round handed Derby another home…

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In late October of the 1945/1946 season, Ted Magner’s Derby County team made the journey to Somerton Park in South Wales to face Newport County in the Football League South. Just a week earlier, the Rams had comfortably triumphed 4-1 at the Baseball Ground, with Duncan (two), Doherty, and Powell all on the scoresheet. The Derby Evening Telegraph’s match report was headlined, “Newport Was a ‘Piece of Cake’ for the Rams,” penned by journalist Mark Eaton. He continued the culinary…

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Just under seven years (2,555 days, to be precise) since the outbreak of war put an abortive end to the 1939/40 Football League season, August 31, 1946, saw the resumption of the competition. There was much anticipation from the public as, though football had continued to be played throughout the war years, it had been on a regional basis, teams often filled with ‘guest players’ and often in grounds which had been damaged by enemy aircraft strikes (as the Osmaston…

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Derby County concluded the 1911/12 season as Division Two champions with 54 points, edging out Chelsea on goal average after both teams finished level on points. After spending four years at Middlesbrough, the legendary Steve Bloomer returned to Derby in 1910 and played a pivotal role in their promotion campaign, finishing as top scorer with 18 league goals (19 in all competitions) as well as scoring his 300th goal for the Rams against Huddersfield Town in September. After a mixed…

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George Jobey’s Rams suffered three consecutive away defeats at the start of the 1926/1927 season against Arsenal, Leeds, and Sheffield United. Their only victory came in the second game of the new campaign – a 2-1 win at home against Liverpool – leaving Derby second bottom of the league as they prepared to face Newcastle United at the Baseball Ground. The official 12 page programme is mostly advertising with the cover featuring a footballer standing next to a shield listing…

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The mid-50s saw Derby drop to the third tier of the game for the first time in their history. Despite scoring 110 goals and recording 18 home wins, the fact that only one promotion place was available meant finishing second, five points behind title-winners Grimsby, condemned the Rams to another season at this level. For season 1956/57, manager Harry Storer stuck with the players who had come so close the previous season with no major signings announced. Initial results were…

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The winter of 1947 was one of the coldest on record in British history, with February the coldest month since 1895. Snowfall led to widespread disruption across the UK including the postponement of Derby County’s match against Arsenal at the Baseball Ground on Wednesday, February 5. On the day of the postponement the Derby Evening Telegraph reported that: ‘One look at the Baseball Ground this morning satisfied Referee W. E. Wood, of Luton, that it would be impossible for Derby…

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Take any club in the country and ask a representative section of its adult supporters to list that club’s “Ten Top Players of All Time” and you would probably end up with many players who would receive a mention, a smaller group of players who would be in multiple responses and, finally, a handful of players who would stand head and shoulders above the rest. Any club legend’s career, however, has to start somewhere and so this article looks back…

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