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 after winning only 1 game 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. 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, Derby made a generally 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. 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 and, on 29 October, Gadsby stepped down as chairman to be replaced by former Hull City owner Adam Pearson.
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, their only win 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. 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, while others cited his apparent tactical inefficiencies at top flight level, poor big money signings and suggested Davies had engineered his own departure, in the form of an outspoken rant against the board 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. 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 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, Argentine striker Emanuel Villa, ex-England international defender Danny Mills on loan from Manchester City, Blackburn midfielder Robbie Savage, French winger Laurent Robert, Tottenham's Egyptian midfielder Hossam Ghaly on loan, Gençlerbirliği's Mile Sterjovski and Rangers goalkeeper Roy Carroll.
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. Derby's relegation was confirmed on 29 March, the first time a club had been relegated from the division before April 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 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.

Final league table

Playing squad

Left club during season

Transfers

Summer 2007 transfer window

In

In

Premier League

DateOpponentsVenueResultScorersAttendancePosition
11 August 2007PortsmouthHOakley Todd 32,1767th
15 August 2007Manchester CityA43,62014th
18 August 2007Tottenham HotspurA35,60019th
25 August 2007Birmingham CityHOakley 31,11720th
1 September 2007LiverpoolA44,07620th
17 September 2007Newcastle UnitedHMiller 33,01619th
22 September 2007ArsenalA60,12219th
29 September 2007Bolton WanderersHMiller 31,50320th
7 October 2007ReadingA23,09120th
20 October 2007FulhamA22,57619th
28 October 2007EvertonH33,04820th
3 November 2007Aston VillaA40,93820th
10 November 2007West Ham UnitedH32,44020th
24 November 2007ChelseaH32,78920th
1 December 2007SunderlandA42,38020th
8 December 2007Manchester UnitedAHoward 75,72520th
15 December 2007MiddlesbroughH32,67620th
23 December 2007Newcastle UnitedABarnes , Miller 51,38620th
26 December 2007LiverpoolHMcEveley 33,02920th
30 December 2007Blackburn RoversHOakley 30,04820th
2 January 2008Bolton WanderersA17,01420th
12 January 2008Wigan AthleticH31,65820th
19 January 2008PortsmouthANyatanga 19,40120th
30 January 2008Manchester CityHSun Jihai 31,36820th
2 February 2008Birmingham CityAVilla 25,92420th
9 February 2008Tottenham HotspurH33,05820th
23 February 2008Wigan AthleticA20,17620th
1 March 2008SunderlandH33,05820th
12 March 2008ChelseaAJones 39,44720th
15 March 2008Manchester UnitedH33,07220th
22 March 2008MiddlesbroughA25,64920th
29 March 2008FulhamHVilla , 33,03420th
6 April 2008EvertonA36,01720th
12 April 2008Aston VillaH33,03620th
19 April 2008West Ham UnitedAMears 34,61220th
28 April 2008ArsenalHMcEveley , Earnshaw 33,00320th
3 May 2008Blackburn RoversAMiller 26,11020th
11 May 2008ReadingH33,08720th

FA Cup

DateRoundOpponentsVenueResultScorersAttendance
6 January 2008Round 3Sheffield WednesdayHMiller , Barnes 20,612
22 January 2008Round 3 ReplaySheffield WednesdayA Miller 18,020
26 January 2008Round 4Preston North EndHEarnshaw 17,344

Football League Cup

DateRoundOpponentsVenueResultScorersAttendance
28 August 2007Round 2BlackpoolH Camara , Fagan 8,658

Squad statistics

Appearances, goals and cards