Derby County Retro Football Shirts

Derby County Football Club were formed in 1884 by William Morley who saw the club as a way for Derbyshire Cricket Club fans to have a winter interest when cricket wasn’t being played. The club played a number of friendlies after it’s formation and became one of the founder members of the Football League in 1888. Despite coming back from 3-0 down to beat Bolton Wanderers 6-3 on the opening day, Derby finished 10th out of 12 clubs in their first Football League season. This was mainly down to a club record, which still stands today, of eight consecutive defeats during the campaign. Several mediocre seasons followed but in 1892 the emergence of Derby legend Steve Bloomer saw Derby become a bigger force in England throughout the late 19th century despite the failure to win any silverware.

The sale of Bloomer against his wishes in 1906 saw Derby plummet to their first relegation in their history. Several steady but unsuccessful seasons followed but Bloomer’s return at the age of 35 in 1910 eventually saw the club promoted back to division one in 1912. Another relegation and promotion followed before the Football League was suspended for the breakout of the First World War.

The end of the war saw Derby barely avoiding relegation in the first season back before eventually getting relegated in 1921. Several seasons of poor performances followed before George Jobey was tempted out of retirement and led the Rams back to the first division in 1926. Jobey stayed with the club for 16 years where he firmly established them as a top half division one team but that elusive piece of silverware unfortunately eluded Derby despite a couple of 2nd place finishes and FA Cup semi final appearances. Following the break for the Second World War, new manager Ted Magner led the club through the 1945/46 FA Cup campaign in a season that did not include a league programme due to the late finishing of the war. However, Derby managed to win the competition for their first major trophy in the club’s history with a 4-1 victory over Charlton after extra time in the final. Unfortunately the team went into decline after this and by the 1954/55 season, Derby had been relegated from the second division.

The club secured promotion back to the second division after two seasons in 1957 but the next ten years were spent producing average mid table finishes in the division. However, in 1967, Brian Clough arrived as the club’s manager and soon turned their fortunes around with the second division title in 1969. Their first season back in the top tier of english football saw a steady 9th place finish. However, 1971/72 saw Derby crowned the Champions of England for the first time in their history after an almighty tussle with Liverpool and Leeds. The following season saw the team make their european debut where they reached the semi finals only to be defeated 3-1 on aggregate by Juventus in controversial circumstances. However, Clough resigned in 1973 to uproar from the Derby County supporters.

Despite Clough’s departure, the club won their second league title in 1975 under Dave Mackay. Nevertheless, the club’s fortunes declined dramatically afterwards and they had been relegated to division three by 1984. Nevertheless, new manager Arthur Cox managed to win back to back promotions between 1985-87. The club finished 5th in their first season back but this was to be their peak under Cox before relegation in 1991. The first half of the 1990’s saw Derby attempting to break into the Premiership. They finally made it under Jim Smith in 1996 with a second place finish before a debut Premier League campaign in 1997 brought a 12th place finish. The following two seasons saw more progress with 9th and 8th place finishes but this was to be the height of the club’s achievements and they were eventually relegated back to the Football League in 2002. The club had a mixed time in the first division and looked consigned to becoming a solid second tier side. Nevertheless, against the odds, Billy Davies guided Derby back to the Premier League in 2007 but they only lasted one season and were relegated again in 2008. After an unsuccessful spell from Paul Jewell, the club has recently turned to Nigel Clough, the son of former club hero Brian Clough, to lead them for the 09/10 campaign.