| Synopsis: |
This is a selection of the most memorable highs and lows of derby county's matches through the eventful decade of the 1990s. It is illustrated throughout with colour photographs, snippets from matchday programmes, tickets, drawings and many other types of memorabilia from the authors own archive and various other sources. Compiled from "Derby County Season Reviews", "Derby Telegraph", "The Ram", "National newspapers" and VHS video footage from back in the day. The 1990s was an eventful decade for Derby County, which began in Division One under the ownership of Robert Maxwell. His unwillingness to fund the football club after finishing fifth the previous season soon had a detrimental effect on the club as there were to be no more incoming transfers and, despite local businessman Lionel Pickering being willing and able to buy the club, they could not reach agreement on the price. The reduction in the club's value allowed Pickering to take control and, fortunately, the management team of Arthur Cox and Roy McFarland provided some continuity and could start the rebuilding process.Mr Pickering funded the large-scale rebuilding of the team that saw many multi-million pound transfers, but they rarely gelled into a consistent force. Arthur Cox was forced to resign his post due to ill health, and his natural successor was Roy McFarland who was in charge of the team that made it to the Divisional Play-off Final in 1994, unluckily being beaten by Leicester City. Jim Smith, 'The Bald Eagle', was brought in as manager to bring some new ideas, players and new life into the club. He brought with him Oxford United reserve-team manager and former Derby player Steve McClaren as his assistant and first-team coach. Together they, along with some clever, inspired signings such as the Croatian international captain Igor Stimac, Robbie van der Laan and Ron Willems, saw promotion to the Premier League, which was achieved at the first attempt. The move to the new Pride Park stadium in 1997 was a superb setting for Premier League football, and Jim Smith was able to attract further foreign stars - Stefano Eranio, Jacob Laursen, Franceso Baiano, Aljosa Asanovic and Paulo Wanchope all pushed Derby up to eighth position in the Premier League by end of the 1998-99 season.In 10 years between 1990 and 2000 they had come a long way, and selecting 30 of the 546 matches played during the decade is not an easy task. Matches can be memorable for many reasons - the occasion, the match or the result - and some of those included in this selection did not always result in a win for Derby. Some are obvious selections, such as the two Wembley appearances, the last game at the Baseball Ground and promotion to the Premier League; others may not be so obvious, or immediately memorable. When the reader looks at some of the games, hopefully they will recall the incidents here and bring their own memories of those particular games. |