2007–08 Derby County F.C. season

Derby County

2007–08 season
Chairman	Peter Gadsby (until October) Adam Pearson (until January) Andrew Appleby
Manager	Billy Davies (until 26 November) Paul Jewell
Premier League	20th (relegated)
FA Cup	Fourth round
League Cup	Second round
Top goalscorer	League: Kenny Miller (4) All: Kenny Miller (6)
Highest home attendance	33,087 (vs. Reading, 11 May)
Lowest home attendance	30,048 (vs. Blackburn Rovers, 30 December 2007)
Average home league attendance	32,432
← 2006–07 2008–09 →

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 with just 11 points, as well as the record for the fewest wins in a Premier League season with just 1 victory in 38 games.

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-Göran 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 19 October^[3] and, on 29 October, Gadsby stepped down as chairman to be replaced by former Hull City owner Adam Pearson.^[4]

Meanwhile, results on the pitch were not 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 club had just been beaten 2–0 at home to Chelsea and were rooted to the bottom of the table. After the game, Davies had publicly criticised Derby's board for a lack of investment. Some critics believed that Davies was a victim of his own success after overachieving in his first season at Pride Park,^[6] while others cited his apparent tactical inefficiencies at top flight level, poor big money signings (including £3m Claude Davis^[7]) and suggested Davies had engineered his own departure, in the form of an outspoken rant against the board^[8] so as to avoid having a relegation on his CV.

Within two days of Davies's dismissal, on 26 November, Derby appointed highly-rated former Wigan Athletic manager Paul Jewell.^[9] 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^[10] who had been his assistant at both Bradford City and Wigan. Jewell's first match in charge was a 1–0 defeat away at Sunderland on 1 December, the winning goal coming in stoppage time. Although performances improved under Jewell, results didn't. The team developed a habit of conceding late goals and following the defeat to Sunderland, Derby conceded late winners or equalisers in seven games between late December and late January, dropping seven points from games they had been winning or drawing. Many at the club had in fact already accepted relegation by the end of December.

Jewell was busy in the January transfer window, selling several players and bringing eight new players in, namely Everton defender Alan Stubbs,^[11] Argentine striker Emanuel Villa,^[12] ex-England international defender Danny Mills on loan from Manchester City, Blackburn midfielder Robbie Savage,^[13] French winger Laurent Robert, Tottenham's Egyptian midfielder Hossam Ghaly on loan,^[14] Gençlerbirliği's Mile Sterjovski^[15] and Rangers goalkeeper Roy Carroll.^[16]

On 28 January, 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.^[17] Derby's relegation was confirmed on 29 March, 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^[18] and equalled Loughborough's 108-year Football League record of going through an entire season with only one win. Their final game of the season was a 4–0 home defeat to Reading, who were also relegated.

Playing squad

Squad at end of season

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

No. Position Player 1 GK Lewis Price[19] 2 DF Marc Edworthy 4 DF Jay McEveley[20] 5 DF Dean Leacock 6 DF Michael Johnson[21] 7 MF David Jones[22] 8 DF Alan Stubbs 9 FW Emanuel Villa 10 FW Robert Earnshaw[23] 14 FW Kenny Miller 15 MF Eddie Lewis 16 MF Gary Teale 17 DF Andy Todd 19 DF Claude Davis 20 MF Lee Holmes 21 MF Mile Sterjovski

No. Position Player 22 MF Benny Feilhaber[24] 23 DF Darren Moore[25] 24 DF Tyrone Mears[26] 25 MF Stephen Pearson 28 MF Giles Barnes 29 GK Ben Hinchliffe 30 DF Lewin Nyatanga[27] 31 GK Roy Carroll 32 DF Miles Addison 33 DF Mitchell Hanson 34 MF Matthew Richards 35 DF Jason Beardsley 40 MF Hossam Ghaly (on loan from Tottenham) 41 FW Paris Simmons 44 MF Robbie Savage (captain) — MF Ruben Zadkovich

Left club during season

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

No. Position Player 3 DF Mohammed Camara (on loan to Norwich City) 8 MF Matt Oakley (to Leicester City) 9 FW Steve Howard[28] (to Leicester City) 11 MF Craig Fagan[29] (on loan to Hull City) 12 FW Jon Macken[30] (to Barnsley)

No. Position Player 18 DF Andy Griffin (to Stoke City) 21 DF Bob Malcolm (to Motherwell) 26 MF Laurent Robert (to Toronto FC) 27 DF Danny Mills (on loan from Manchester City) 43 GK Stephen Bywater (on loan to Ipswich Town)

Transfers

Summer 2007 transfer window

In

• 29 June 2007 – Robert Earnshaw – £3.5m, from Norwich City^[31]
• 4 July 2007 – Tyrone Mears – £1m, from West Ham United^[32]
• 7 July 2007 – Andy Todd – £750k, from Blackburn Rovers^[33]
• 10 July 2007 – Ben Hinchliffe – free transfer^[34]
• 25 July 2007 – Claude Davis – £3m, from Sheffield United^[35]
• 26 July 2007 – Lewis Price – undisclosed, from Ipswich Town^[36]
• 1 August 2007 – Andy Griffin – free transfer from Portsmouth^[37]
• 10 August 2007 – Benny Feilhaber – undisclosed, from Hamburg^[38]
• 20 August 2007 – Eddie Lewis – undisclosed, from Leeds United^[39]
• 31 August 2007 – Kenny Miller – £2.25m, from Celtic^[40]

Out

• 31 May 2007 – Seth Johnson – retirement^[41]
• 31 May 2007 – Lionel Ainsworth – released^[41]
• 31 May 2007 – Morten Bisgaard – released^[41]
• 31 May 2007 – Paul Boertien – released^[41]
• 31 May 2007 – Steven Cann – released^[41]
• 31 May 2007 – Tom Cumberworth – released^[41]
• 31 May 2007 – Lee Grant – released^[41]
• 5 July 2007 – Ryan Smith – £150k, to Millwall^[42]
• 27 July 2007 – Lee Camp – £200k, to Queens Park Rangers^[43]
• 31 July 2007 – James Meredith – free transfer to Sligo Rovers^[44]
• 8 August 2007 – Richard Jackson – free transfer to Luton Town^[45]

January 2008 transfer window

In

• 4 January 2008 – Danny Mills – on loan from Manchester City^[46]
• 4 January 2008 – Emanuel Villa – £2m, from Estudiantes Tecos^[12]
• 9 January 2008 – Laurent Robert – free transfer^[47]
• 9 January 2008 – Robbie Savage – £1.5m, from Blackburn Rovers^[13]
• 11 January 2008 – Hossam Ghaly – on loan from Tottenham Hotspur^[14]
• 31 January 2008 – Roy Carroll – free transfer from Rangers^[48]
• 31 January 2008 – Mile Sterjovski – undisclosed, from Gençlerbirliği^[15]
• 31 January 2008 – Alan Stubbs – free transfer from Everton^[11]
• 11 April 2008 – Ruben Zadkovich – free transfer from Sydney FC^[49]

Out

• 3 January 2008 – Steve Howard – £1.25m, to Leicester City^[50]
• 11 January 2008 – Andy Griffin – £300k, to Stoke City^[51]
• 11 January 2008 – Matt Oakley – £500k, to Leicester City^[52]
• 28 January 2008 – Jon Macken – £200k, to Barnsley^[53]
• 31 January 2008 – Bob Malcolm – contract terminated^[54]
• 31 January 2008 – Lewin Nyatanga – loan to Barnsley^[54]
• 29 February 2008 – Michael Johnson – loan to Notts County^[55]
• 2 April 2008 – Laurent Robert – free transfer, to Toronto FC^[56]

Results

Premier League

Date	Opponents	Home/ Away	Result F – A	Scorers	Attendance	Position
11 August 2007	Portsmouth	H	2–2	Oakley [5], Todd [84]	32,176	7th
15 August 2007	Manchester City	A	0–1		43,620	14th
18 August 2007	Tottenham Hotspur	A	0–4		35,600	19th
25 August 2007	Birmingham City	H	1–2	Oakley [51]	31,117	20th
1 September 2007	Liverpool	A	0–6		44,076	20th
17 September 2007	Newcastle United	H	1–0	Miller [39]	33,016	19th
22 September 2007	Arsenal	A	0–5		60,122	19th
29 September 2007	Bolton Wanderers	H	1–1	Miller [19]	31,503	20th
7 October 2007	Reading	A	0–1		23,091	20th
20 October 2007	Fulham	A	0–0		22,576	19th
28 October 2007	Everton	H	0–2		33,048	20th
3 November 2007	Aston Villa	A	0–2		40,938	20th
10 November 2007	West Ham United	H	0–5		32,440	20th
24 November 2007	Chelsea	H	0–2		32,789	20th
1 December 2007	Sunderland	A	0–1		42,380	20th
8 December 2007	Manchester United	A	1–4	Davis  32', Griffin  52', Howard [76]	75,725	20th
15 December 2007	Middlesbrough	H	0–1		32,676	20th
23 December 2007	Newcastle United	A	2–2	Barnes [6], Miller [52]	51,386	20th
26 December 2007	Liverpool	H	1–2	McEveley [67]	33,029	20th
30 December 2007	Blackburn Rovers	H	1–2	Oakley [27]	30,048	20th
2 January 2008	Bolton Wanderers	A	0–1		17,014	20th
12 January 2008	Wigan Athletic	H	0–1		31,658	20th
19 January 2008	Portsmouth	A	1–3	Nyatanga [4]	19,401	20th
30 January 2008	Manchester City	H	1–1	Sun Jihai (OG) [46]	31,368	20th
2 February 2008	Birmingham City	A	1–1	Villa [89]	25,924	20th
9 February 2008	Tottenham Hotspur	H	0–3		33,058	20th
23 February 2008	Wigan Athletic	A	0–2		20,176	20th
1 March 2008	Sunderland	H	0–0		33,058	20th
12 March 2008	Chelsea	A	1–6	Jones [72]	39,447	20th
15 March 2008	Manchester United	H	0–1		33,072	20th
22 March 2008	Middlesbrough	A	0–1		25,649	20th
29 March 2008	Fulham	H	2–2	Villa [10], [80]	33,034	20th [R]
6 April 2008	Everton	A	0–1		36,017	20th
12 April 2008	Aston Villa	H	0–6		33,036	20th
19 April 2008	West Ham United	A	1–2	Mears [65]	34,612	20th
28 April 2008	Arsenal	H	2–6	McEveley [31], Earnshaw [77]	33,003	20th
3 May 2008	Blackburn Rovers	A	1–3	Miller [18]	26,110	20th
11 May 2008	Reading	H	0–4		33,087	20th

FA Cup

Date	Round	Opponents	Home/ Away	Result F – A	Scorers	Attendance
6 January 2008	Round 3	Sheffield Wednesday	H	2–2	Miller [38], Barnes [45]	20,612
22 January 2008	Round 3 Replay	Sheffield Wednesday	A	1–1 [aet, pen 4–2]	Miller [47]	18,020
26 January 2008	Round 4	Preston North End	H	1–4	Earnshaw [55]	17,344

Football League Cup

Date	Round	Opponents	Home/ Away	Result F - A	Scorers	Attendance
14 August 2007	Round 2	Blackpool	H	2–2 [aet, pen 6–7]	Camara [63], Fagan [101]	8,658

Squad statistics

Appearances, goals and cards

No.	Pos.	Name	League		FA Cup		League Cup		Total		Discipline
			Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
1	GK	Lewis Price	6	0	3	0	0	0	9	0	0	0
2	DF	Marc Edworthy	7/2	0	2	0	0	0	9/2	0	0	0
3	DF	Mohammed Camara	1	0	0	0	1	1	2	1	0	0
4	DF	Jay McEveley	21/8	2	0	0	1	0	22/8	2	6	0
5	DF	Dean Leacock	22/4	0	1	0	1	0	24/4	0	4	0
6	DF	Michael Johnson	1/2	0	0/1	0	0	0	1/3	0	0	0
7	MF	David Jones	11/3	1	0	0	1	0	12/3	1	4	0
8	MF	Matt Oakley	19	3	1	0	0	0	20	3	3	0
8	DF	Alan Stubbs	8	0	0	0	0	0	8	0	3	0
9	FW	Steve Howard	14/6	1	0	0	0/1	0	14/7	1	3	0
9	FW	Emanuel Villa	9/7	3	1	0	0	0	10/7	3	2	0
10	FW	Robert Earnshaw	7/15	1	0/2	1	1	0	8/17	2	0	0
11	MF	Craig Fagan	17/5	0	2	0	1	1	20/5	1	6	0
12	FW	Jon Macken	0/3	0	0/1	0	0	0	0/4	0	0	0
14	FW	Kenny Miller	30	4	3	2	0	0	33	6	4	0
15	MF	Eddie Lewis	22/2	0	2/1	0	0	0	24/3	0	3	0
16	MF	Gary Teale	9/9	0	2/1	0	1	0	12/10	0	1	0
17	DF	Andy Todd	14/5	1	3	0	0/1	0	17/6	1	3	0
18	DF	Andy Griffin	13/2	0	0	0	0	0	13/2	0	4	0
19	DF	Claude Davis	19	0	2	0	0	0	21	0	3	1
20	MF	Lee Holmes	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
21	DF	Bob Malcolm	1	0	0	0	1	0	2	0	0	0
21	MF	Mile Sterjovski	9/3	0	0	0	0	0	9/3	0	0	0
22	MF	Benny Feilhaber	1/9	0	0	0	0	0	1/9	0	1	0
23	DF	Darren Moore	29/2	0	1/1	0	1	0	31/3	0	5	0
24	DF	Tyrone Mears	22/3	3	1	0	0	0	23/3	1	2	0
25	MF	Stephen Pearson	23/1	0	2	0	0/1	0	25/2	0	1	0
26	MF	Laurent Robert	3/1	0	0	0	0	0	3/1	0	1	0
27	DF	Danny Mills	2	0	1	0	0	0	3	0	1	0
28	MF	Giles Barnes	14/7	2	2/1	1	0	0	16/8	3	0	0
29	GK	Ben Hinchliffe	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
30	DF	Lewin Nyatanga	2	1	2	0	0	0	4	1	1	0
31	GK	Roy Carroll	14	0	0	0	0	0	14	0	0	0
32	DF	Miles Addison	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0
33	DF	Mitchell Hanson	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
34	MF	Matthew Richards	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
35	DF	Jason Beardsley	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	0	1	0
40	MF	Hossam Ghaly	13/2	0	1	0	0	0	14/2	0	2	0
41	FW	Paris Simmons	0/1	0	0	0	0	0	0/1	0	0	0
43	GK	Stephen Bywater	18	0	0	0	1	0	19	0	1	0
44	MF	Robbie Savage	16	0	1	0	0	0	17	0	4	0

References

1. McNulty, Phil (29 March 2008). "Derby 2–2 Fulham". BBC Sport. Retrieved 2008-03-29.
2. Langdon, Mark (1 September 2007). "Power ready to pay out on Rams falling". Racing Post. Retrieved 9 November 2013.
3. Birch leaves Derby chief exec job BBC Sport Online
4. New Derby chairman backs Davies BBC Sport Online
5. Bily Davies leaves Derby by mutual consent Times online
6. "Billy Davies leaves Derby County". BBC Sport. 27 November 2007. Retrieved 2 December 2007.
7. "Gerald Mortimer: No sad farewell to Davis". therams.co.uk. 2 September 2009. Retrieved 9 November 2013.
8. Jackson, Jamie (25 November 2007). "Davies rages at Derby dilemma". London: Theguardian.com. Retrieved 9 November 2013.
9. Paul Jewell appointed Derby manager Telegraph
10. "Hutchings set to take Derby role". BBC Sport. 24 April 2008. Retrieved 2008-04-24.
11. "Stubbs Brings Steel". dcfc.co.uk. 31 January 2008.
12. "Rams sign Argentine striker Villa". BBC Sport. 4 January 2008.
13. "Savage completes switch to Derby". BBC Sport. 9 January 2008.
14. Jacob, Gary; Lansley, Peter; Szczepanik, Nick (1 November 2007). "Hossam Ghaly recruited for Derby’s rescue effort". London: Timesonline.co.uk.
15. "Derby complete Sterjovski signing". BBC Sport. 24 January 2007.
16. "Carroll Extends Derby Stay". BBC Sport. 22 February 2008.
17. General Sports and Entertainment Takeover - BBC Sport
18. "Dismal Derby take Cats' sad place in the record books". Sunderland Echo. 29 March 2008. Retrieved 2013-11-09.
19. Price was born in Bournemouth, England, but qualifies to represent Wales internationally and made his international debut for Wales in November 2005.
20. McEveley was born in Liverpool, England, but qualifies to represent Scotland internationally and made his international debut for Scotland in August 2007, having previously represented England at U-20 and U-21 level and the Scotland B team.
21. Johnson was born in Nottingham, England, but qualifies to represent Jamaica internationally and made his international debut for Jamaica in 1999.
22. Jones was born in Southport, England and has represented them at U-21 level, but qualifies to represent Wales internationally through a parent.
23. Earnshaw was born in Mufulira, Zambia, but moved to Wales at the age of nine and made his international debut for Wales in May 2002.
24. Feilhaber was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, but moved to the United States at the age of six; he was also eligible to represent Austria internationally, qualifying through his paternal grandfather. Having been called up to the United States squad twice before and declining a call-up from Austria, he made his international debut for the United States in March 2007.
25. Moore was born in Birmingham, England, but qualifies to represent Jamaica internationally through his parents and made his international debut for Jamaica in 1999.
26. Mears was born in Chadderton, England, but represented Jamaica in February 2009, apparently qualifying through his father; it was later discovered his father was in fact from Sierra Leone and Mears was ineligible to represent Jamaica.
27. Nyatanga was born in Burton upon Trent, England, but qualifies to represent both Wales (through his mother) and Zimbabwe (through his father) internationally; he made his international debut for Wales in March 2006.
28. Howard was born in Durham, England, but qualifies to represent Scotland internationally and made his international debut for the Scotland B team in November 2007.
29. Fagan was born in Birmingham, England, but also qualifies to represent Jamaica internationally through his grandparents.
30. Macken was born in Blackley, Manchester, England, but qualifies to represent the Republic of Ireland internationally and made his international debut for the Republic of Ireland in August 2004, having previously represented England at U-20 level.
31. "Derby sign £3.5m striker Earnshaw". BBC Sport (BBC). 29 June 2007. Retrieved 5 May 2012.
32. "Derby complete signing of Mears". BBC Sport. 4 July 2007. Retrieved 2012-05-05.
33. "Todd joins Derby". lancashiretelegraph.co.uk. 7 Jul 2007. Retrieved 5 May 2012.
34. "County tie up Todd swoop". football.co.uk. 10 July 2007. Retrieved 5 May 2012.
35. "Davis agrees £3m switch to Derby", BBC Sport, 6 July 2007. Retrieved 5 May 2012.
36. "Price completes transfer to Derby". BBC Sport. 27 July 2007. Retrieved 2012-05-05.
37. "Derby complete capture of Griffin". BBC Sport (British Broadcasting Corporation). 5 May 2012. Retrieved 2007-08-01.
38. "U.S. midfielder Benny Feilhaber gets work permit to play for Derby County". USA Today. Associated Press. 9 August 2007. Retrieved 9 November 2013.
39. "Eddie Lewis Is A Ram". dcfc.co.uk. 20 August 2007. Retrieved 9 November 2013.
40. "Jewell demands fair Miller price". BBC Sport. 6 March 2008. Retrieved 5 May 2012.
41. "Experienced pair to leave Derby". BBC Sport. 1 June 2007. Retrieved 5 May 2012.
42. "Millwall tie up Rams winger Smith". BBC Sport. 5 July 2007. Retrieved 2012-05-05.
43. "Camp pens deal". Queens Park Rangers F.C. 27 July 2007. Archived from the original on 17 July 2012. Retrieved 9 November 2013.
44. "Sligo Rovers announce new signings". Sligo Rovers F.C. 31 July 2007. Archived from the original on 30 September 2011. Retrieved 9 November 2013.
45. "Luton sign ex-Derby man Jackson". BBC. 8 August 2007. Retrieved 2012-05-05.
46. "Danny Mills joins Derby on loan". The Daily Telegraph. 4 January 2008. Retrieved 5 May 2012.
47. "Derby confirm signing of Robert". BBC Sport. 11 January 2008. Retrieved 2012-05-05.
48. "Derby capture goalkeeper Carroll". BBC Sport website. 31 January 2008. Retrieved 5 May 2012.
49. "Derby complete Zadkovich signing". BBC. 17 April 2008. Retrieved 2012-05-05.
50. "Leicester confirm deal for Howard". BBC Sport. 1 January 2008. Retrieved 5 May 2012.
51. "Griffin ties up Potters transfer". BBC Sport (British Broadcasting Corporation). 11 January 2008. Retrieved 2012-05-05.
52. "Oakley secures Leicester switch". BBC. 11 January 2008. Retrieved 5 May 2012.
53. "Barnsley capture Macken from Rams". BBC Sport. 28 January 2008. Retrieved 5 May 2012.
54. "Nyatanga and Malcolm head out". Derby County official website. 31 January 2008. Retrieved 5 May 2012.
55. "Magpies seal Rams raid". Sky Sports. 29 February 2008. Retrieved 9 November 2013.
56. "Robert leaves Derby for Toronto". BBC Sport. 2 April 2008. Retrieved 2012-05-05.

External links

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