The 10 greatest Derby County players in football history have been ranked
The 10 greatest Derby County players in football history have been ranked
Derby County have a rich history and heritage going back to 1884. Sadly for the club, when people talk about Derby and records, they tend to reference the 2007/08 side that amassed only 11 points in the entire Premier League season. It caused them to be the team with the lowest points in Premier League history.
Derby have far more to talk about in their illustrious history, though. After all, they’re one of the biggest British clubs outside the Premier League. At the 1990 World Cup, England’s starting line-up included Derby’s Peter Shilton and Mark Wright. England made the semi-finals, but there is no room for either player in Derby’s all-time greatest list. While Jim Smith’s Derby sides of the 1990s entertained, with an eighth-place finish in the Premier League. Yet there is no room for Igor Stimac or Paulo Wanchope either.
This is because Derby were one of the strongest sides of the 1970s. Under the management of Brian Clough and then Dave Mackay, they were English champions in 1972 and 1975. The players from that era dominate the 10 greatest Derby County players in football history.
10
Charlie George
1975 to 1979
Charlie George famously scored Arsenal’s winning goal in the 1971 FA Cup Final to help the Gunners win the league and cup table. He was also sensational in a Derby County shirt. He joined the season after the Rams won the 1975 English First Division. Derby would go onto finish behind Manchester United in fourth place.
George scored 16 in 35 games that season, including both goals in a 2-1 win over Manchester United. All in all, George scored more goals for Derby than he did for Arsenal – 47 instead of 46. Not only was he a goal scorer, he was also a great entertainer.
9
Colin Boulton
1964 to 1978
Colin Boulton was ever-present in the league title-winning seasons at the Baseball Ground of 1972 and 1975. He played 344 games in total for the club. In that first league title-winning season he kept 23 clean sheets in 42 league games.
Despite the success at club level he never did represent England. At the time, Peter Shilton and Ray Clemence were preferred to play between the sticks. A very solid, as opposed to a spectacular keeper. To this day, no keeper at the club has had such an impact and it is hard to imagine they ever will.
8
Dave Mackay
1968 to 1971
Dave Mackay was one of the greatest British defenders in football history. Outstanding for Spurs in the 1960s, Brian Clough brought him to Derby, where he played as a sweeper. He helped the club win the second-division title in 1969. By then, Mackay was 34, but he still won the Football Writers’ Association Player of the Year.
To put this into context, George Best won it the year before. To make Mackay more of a Derby legend, he managed the side to the 1975 English first-division title too. The biggest mystery about Mackay is how he only won 22 caps for Scotland.
7
Jack Stamps
1939 to 1953
Having been runners-up in the FA Cup three times, Derby won the 1946 trophy after extra time against Charlton Athletic. Charlton’s Bert Turner had put through his own net to give Derby the lead with five minutes to go, but he equalised a minute later.
Jackie Stamps scored Derby’s third and fourth goals to win them the cup. In total, the striker scored 103 goals for the Rams. Stamps also fought in World War Two, fighting at Dunkirk, where he was wounded. Derby County’s Player of the Year award is now known as the Jack Stamps Player of the Season.
6
Alan Hinton
1967 to 1975
Alan Hinton was a talented left winger who saw some great days at the Baseball Ground, scoring 63 goals in 253 games. Very unusually for the 1970s, Hinton wore white football boots. He was paid £1,000 to wear them, as he once recalled:
“You could buy a house in those days for £2,000, so I was very pleased to take the money. Did I get some harassment on the road? Absolutely. I am convinced that Clough and Taylor told [Derby] players: ‘Alan’s wearing the white boots. Leave him alone. Don’t get taking the mickey out of him because he’s a bit sensitive and we need him.’ None of the players ever second-guessed me.”
5
Archie Gemmill
1970 to 1977
Archie Gemmill will forever be remembered for his iconic goal for Scotland in the 1978 World Cup. It makes him one of the greatest midfielders in Scotland’s history. The Scot made more than 300 appearances for the Rams, as well as working with Brian Clough at both Derby and Nottingham Forest. He won two titles while at Derby.
“I thoroughly enjoyed my whole time playing football. I would not change one thing at all. The managers I have played under, some of them have been unbelievably good. The players I have played with have been absolutely fantastic and to be associated with two teams, Derby and Forest, that have been so good has been a pleasure.”
4
Steve Bloomer
1891 to 1906 and 1910 to 1914
Steve Bloomer was an absolute goal machine. It is rumoured he scored 332 goals in more than 500 games between 1891 and 1914. It’s reported that 240 of those goals were scored for Derby County. In 1899, Bloomer scored six in just one game against Sheffield Wednesday.
Known as the Destroying Angel, Bloomer finished on the losing side in three FA Cup Finals. He was a prisoner of war during World War One, and had a fantastic strike rate for England, with 28 goals in 23 England caps. This at a time, when England played far less frequently than they do in the modern era. He is now immortalised at Pride Park in the shape of a bust.
3
Colin Todd
1971 to 1978
Colin Todd is another player in these rankings who starred in both the 1972 and 1975 first-division title-winning teams. In 1975, he was named the PFA Player of the Year. He loved his time at Derby almost as much as their fans did:
“Without a doubt, the best years of my career were spent here in Derby – and those under the leadership of Brian Clough rank also as some of the most happy in my life. It truly was a golden age of football and it was a joy to spend it in one of the most friendly places in the whole of the country.”
2
Kevin Hector
1966 to 1978 and 1980 to 1982
Kevin Hector is an absolute legend at Derby County, 209 goals in 590 appearances make that pretty clear. As well as winning the title twice with Derby, he also scored at Wembley as Derby won the 1975 Charity Shield 2-0 over West Ham.
Rams’ fans from the time will remember a Hector hat-trick against a good Queens Park Rangers side in 1975 en route to their second title of the seventies. Not only was he a goal machine, he is also the record appearance holder for the club. Dependable and a great finisher, it is unlikely that the club will see the likes of Hector again.
1
Roy McFarland
1967 to 1981 and 1983 to 1984
Roy McFarland was a vital cog in Derby’s league-winning teams of 1972 and 1975. He is widely and often considered to be the club’s greatest-ever player. Played at the heart of Derby’s defence, he rarely had a poor game. Not only was he good in the tackle, he rarely gave the ball away.
How he signed for the club is a story itself.
“I had played for Tranmere Rovers against Reading, drawing the game 1-1, and I went for a pint with my cousin in Liverpool before we got the bus home, I remember I was tired and went straight to bed. Then, at about 1am, I was woken by my Mum and she told me there were some gentlemen downstairs who wanted to see me by the name of Brian Clough and Peter Taylor.”
Leave a Reply