Revisiting Derby County's 1-Win Premier League Season
In 2007, Derby County Football Club began its 109th season in history and their first in the Barclays Premier League since 2001. What happened over the course of that season would even make Cleveland Browns fans cringe. At the end of the season, the Rams ended up in the record books, just not for a record you want to have. Derby County finished the season with the record for the fewest wins in a Premier League season with just 1 victory in 38 games. As a bundle, the Rams finished the season with the lowest points total since the introduction of 3 points for a win with just 11 points.
When the season began in August, Derby County and its fans had high hopes. And in the first game back in the top flight in six years, DC started out with a bang. Five minutes into the match, midfielder Matt Oakley volleyed home a shot to give Derby the lead early. Their opponents Portsmouth, however, drew level during the 27th minute thanks to Benjani Mwaruwari who just narrowly slipped a shot under the goalkeeper. The game was pretty even until the 83rd minute when Pompeys' John Utaka put Portsmouth ahead. Derby County, unfazed, leveled the game off an Andy Todd header mere seconds later. The first game of Derby County's season played out to a draw, with both Portsmouth and Derby County securing a point with the 2-2 draw. It would be the only points that the Rams would see the rest of August. They lost a close game to Manchester City 1-0 and got whooped by Tottenham 4-0. Their last game in August against Birmingham City at least produced a goal -scored by Matt Oakley- but Derby went on to lose that match as well 2-1. Derby did make some transfer moves during August as well. Before the first game of the season, Derby secured deals for right-back Andy Griffin(free transfer) and USA international midfielder Benny Feilhaber(undisclosed). The Rams then secured deals for Leeds United Winger Eddie Lewis(undisclosed) and Celtic striker Kenny Miller (£2.25m). The Rams also let right back Richard Jackson walk for free to Luton Town.
September started off...poorly for the Rams. Derby matched up against Liverpool and stood no chance. Goals were scored by Xabi Alonso(27th min,69th), Ryan Babel (45th), Fernando Torres(56th,78th), and Andrei Voronin (76th). Liverpool simply outclassed Derby County, as many would expect. But 6-0? Ouch. The next game pitted Derby against Newcastle United. Derby was on the bottom of the table and needed to make some noise. That noise came in the form of Kenny Miller. The Scot was making his debut for the club and scored a beauty in the 39th minute, much to the joy of Derby supporters. With the crowd behind their backs, Derby County was able to secure a win against Newcastle 1-0. Everyone in the Rams organization had to be buzzing with the success of Kenny Miller who, although it was only one game, seemed to show everyone that he was worth the £2.25 million. That being said, this ultimately went on to be the only game Derby was victorious. Derby's next match was against Arsenal. Derby, who had just won their first game of the season, were till buzzing, and Arsenal did everything they could to bring them down to earth from their high. The final score of the game? 5-0 Arsenal. Emmanuel Adebayor thrashed Derby's defense on the way towards a hat-trick, and goals from Abou Diaby and Cesc Fabregas sealed the deal, just in case Adebayor's hat-trick didn't. Looking to recover, Derby faced Bolton Wanderers in their last game of September. Kenny Miller was the lone bright spot in the game, as the two sides split a draw. Miller put the Rams up in front with a strike early in the game. However, Bolton responded back with a Nicolas Anelka strike from 20 yards out. With September done, Derby had only five points in league play.
Newly signed Kenny Miller was one of the few bright spots for poor Derby County
Derby fans could have hoped that Kenny Miller's strike last game could translate into more goals as the season progressed. Unfortunately, their hopes would be shattered. Derby wouldn't get another goal from any Derby player until December. October held in store three really boring games against Reading, Fulham, and Everton. Derby County lost 1-0 to Reading, 2-0 to Everton, and managed to scrape out a point with a 0-0 draw against Fulham. After another 0-2 loss to start the month of November against Aston Villa, Derby County welcomed West Ham United to their home. West Ham went on to have the biggest league victory in club history since Boxing Day 2000 when they won 5-0 against Charlton. Lee Bowyer struck once right before the half, and then West Ham went wild on the Rams during the second half of the game. Matthew Etherington opened the floodgates after a nice 1-2 play with Bowyer. It got even worse for Derby when they failed to clear a Nolberto Solano corner, which Lucas Neill then headed the ball back into Jonathan Spector, whose shot was deflected in by Eddie Lewis for an own-goal. Bowyer then added to his goal tally four minutes later, and Solano finished the onslaught with a goal of his own in the 69th minute. After a 2-0 loss to Chelsea, manager Bill Davies left the club, and Derby County found his replacement in former Wigan Athletic manager Paul Jewell.
Jewell's journey started with an away game against Sunderland. Sunderland, coming off a 7-1 thrashing to Everton, needed to have a good showing to get the loss off their head. Winning this stunning game due to 19-year-old Anthony Stokes-sheesh, I feel weird saying that- quick instincts did just that. Derby and Sunderland were deadlocked for the entire game when young Stokes reacted the fastest to a saved Kenwyne Jones header that Stephen Bywater could not hold onto. And while Derby's next game was a 4-1 loss against Man City, it was finally a game where the club found the back of the net. That's the first in seven games, and first away from home. It's December 8th. Ouch. The Rams then took another L against Middlesbrough. The club did well against Newcastle United, the only team that the Rams beat so far into the season, but the clubs drew out to a 2-2 draw. Giles Barnes and Kenny Miller found the back of the net, and it was the first time Derby found the back of the net more than once since the very first game of the season against Portsmouth. Before Paul Jewell could put his touch on the team in the January transfer window, Derby County had two more matches, against Liverpool and Blackburn Rovers. Both games were at home, and both games ended in 2-1 losses for Derby. Jay McEveley brought Derby level against Liverpool halfway into the second half before Steven Gerrard saved Liverpool with a last-gasp goal. In a game between two struggling clubs, Blackburn(six straight losses) found a way to win against Derby(15 straight games without a win) thanks to Roque Santa Cruz and David Bentley. Matt Oakley scored by slotting away a shot between Brad Freidel's legs. With a string of losses in his head, Jewell went to work in the transfer window.
Before the Rams made any moves, the club had a trip away to Bolton. It was a pretty boring game, with Stelios Giannakopolous scoring in stoppage time get Bolton three points when it was all said and done. Jewell started with selling Steve Howard for £1.25m to Leicester City. A day later, Danny Mills was brought in from Manchester City on loan, and Derby County made a £2m move for Emanuel Villa from Mexican football club Estudiantes Tecos. Before the next game against Wigan, Derby County signed left winger Laurent Robert on a free transfer and midfielder Robbie Savage from Blackburn Rovers for £1.5m. Hossam Ghaly also came to the club on loan from Tottenham. The same day Hossam Ghaly joined the team, Andy Griffin left the team to join Stoke City for £300k and Matt Oakley was sold to Leicester for £500k. Savage, Ghaly, Villa and Robert were all making their debuts for the club against Wigan, but they could not get DCFC three points. Antoine Sibierski was substituted on for Wigan and scored the winner in the 82nd minute. There were a lot of games that Derby could have gotten at least a point out of, but just could not hold on in the end and lost late. Against Portsmouth, Derby got thrashed thanks to a Benjani Mwaruwari hat-trick. His hat-trick ended Portsmouth six-game goal drought. However, that game got off to an amazing start for Derby, with 19-year-old Lewin Nyatanga scoring in the 5th minute. Before the last game of January vs Man City, the Rams sold striker Jon Macken to Barnsley for £200k. Against Man City, Kenny Miller's shot got deflected by Sun Jihai and ended in the back of the Citizens net for an own goal. The game ended in a 1-1 draw and Derby was honestly lucky to get something out of the game. On deadline day, Derby was busy. Goalkeeper Roy Carroll was brought in from Rangers for free, Mile Sterjovski from Gençlerbirli?i-say that three times fast- for an undisclosed price, and also got center back Alan Stubbs from Everton for free as well. Derby County did as well terminate the contract of center back/CDM Bob Malcolm and loaned out Lewin Nyatanga to Barnsley.
With the transfer window finally coming to a close, Derby County went on the road to Birmingham City. The game ended in a 1-1 draw, with new boy Emmanuel Villa converting on one of the few chances Derby had all day in the final minutes. This was the first time all season that Derby was able to get any amount of points back to back, having drawn twice in a row. Derby was then shut out by both Tottenham(3-0 loss) and Wigan (2-0 loss). In Paul Jewell's return to JBB Stadium, Wigan's home ground, his Derby side played well in the first half but was ultimately done over by two second half goals, courtesy of Paul Scharner and Antonio Valencia. After playing Sunderland to a 0-0 draw, the Rams traveled to Stamford Bridge to face Chelsea. Chelsea, having just come off a 3-0 FA cup nightmare against Barnsley, showed Derby County no mercy. Frank Lampard scored four goals(!!) to add onto Solomon Kalou's and Joe Cole's goals. David Jones was able to get one back for the Rams, but it was never going to be enough. Next up on the schedule was Manchester United. Surprisingly enough, Derby did not get utterly destroyed. They still lost, but only because of Cristiano Ronaldo's brilliance in the 75th minute. Wayne Rooney tore through the left side of Derby's defense before crossing the ball in towards Ronaldo, who volleyed home the cross from a difficult height. 1-0 was the score of Derby's next match also, losing a close one against Middlesbrough. In the last game of March for the Rams, they squared off at home against Fulham. Emanuel Villa played superbly, as the Argentine abroad netted two goals for Derby County, but his effort would not be enough. Fulham always had an answer for Villa's goals, with Diomansy Kamara scoring after Villa's first, and Hameur Bouazza actually putting Fulham up in front before Villa equalized. Another thing happened when the match was completed. Birmingham City defeated Manchester City, and this confirmed Derby County's relegation from the premier league. It was the first time in history that a club had been relegated from the division before April, and the club's first immediate relegation following promotion in its history.
The match against Fulham was also the last time in the season that Derby County earned a point. After a 1-0 loss to Everton, Derby County lost 6-0 to Aston Villa at Pride Park, which was the largest defeat ever at home at the time. Roy Carroll had a nightmare in that game. He failed to clear Ashley Young's free kick for Villa's first goal. John Carew scored and moments later Stiliyan Petrov scored off a terrible clearance by Carroll. Garreth Barry, Gabriel Agbonlahor, and Marlon Harewood all scored in the second half to run the tally to 6-0. Jewell had now 20 games under his belt, and yet to have had a win. After a 2-1 loss to West Ham where Tyrone Mears netted a goal for the Rams, Derby County let Arsenal come to town and give them another thrashing. Derby let six goals in(again). Emmanuel Adebayor scored a hat-trick(again), and Arsenal piled the goals on with strikes from Nicklas Bendtner, Robin van Persie, and Theo Walcott. However, Derby did manage to do something in the game, with Jay McEveley and Robert Earnshaw scoring goals to have the deficit be four goals, not six. The next game against Blackburn, Kenny Miller scored once for the Rams, but ultimately the Rovers got the victory with two goals from Roque Santa Cruz and one from Jason Roberts.
Finally, Derby's season was about to close. One more game to go. Derby had already known they were relegated, but that did not stop 33,087 fans from packing Pride Park to see the Rams have one last game in the premier league. And how did the Rams treat their loyal fans? To a 4-0 beating by Reading. Reading were fighting to stay alive in the top flight, and needed to have a better result than Fulham-so they needed a win, and needed Fulham to either draw or lose- and it showed how important Reading's players saw this game. Reading ran wild over Derby, propelled by goals from James Harper, Dave Kitson, Kevin Doyle and Leroy Lita. However, both teams ended up losers that day, as Fulham was able to secure another season in the premier league by defeating Portsmouth. Both Derby County and Reading were relegated, along with Birmingham City.
The 2007/8 Derby County team ended up on the wrong side of record books. The club tied the record for least amount of wins in a premier league season. They hold that record with a club called Loughborough FC. Since Loughborough FC folded in 1900, I think the Rams should be sole owners of this record that (hopefully) will never come close to being broken. Derby set the standard for least amount of points earned in a season since a win= three points became a thing, with 11. Last year's Aston Villa side came close to breaking the points total with 17. Derby currently holds the record for longest span of games in the top flight without a win, and if they ever make it back up there then the record can be continued. I'm not sure if this is an official record, but Derby County had SIX matches where opponents scored 5+ goals on them. The club had only 11 different goal scorers, with Kenny Miller leading the charge with four. Four goals. To lead the entire team. Yikes.
Current State of the Club
Currently, Derby County is in the English Football Championship, the league below the Premier League. They have come very close to being promoted, finishing fifth in the table last season, which qualified them for the promotion playoff. Unfortunately, the Rams lost to Hull City and the rest is history. So far this season has not been kind to the Rams. They are sitting in 21st, just above the relegation line. There is some hope for the future, though, with guys like Thomas Ince, Matej Vydra, and Will Hughes. It will be interesting to see if the club can turn its season around, or if they fall flat and end up relegated.
Where are they now?
Giles Barnes has probably had the most personal success since Derby's woeful season
So where are the guys from that 2007/2008 Derby squad? Well, a lot of the guys are retired. However, there are a few members of that team that are playing football around the world. I'm going off a list of players that were on Derby County's official roster at the end of the season, in case you are wondering. Lewis Price is currently on Rotterham United. Jay McEveley plays for Ross County. Dean Leacock plays for Welling United, a club that plays in the sixth tier of league football in England. David Jones plays for Sheffield Wednesday. Emanuel Villa plays for Liga MX club Querétaro. Kenny Miller who, along with Emanuel Villa, was one of the few bright spots in Derby County's season, currently plays for Rangers. Lee Holmes plays for Exeter City. Benny Feilhaber plays for MLS side Sporting Kansas City. Tyrone Mears also plays in the MLS, but for the Seattle Sounders. Stephen Pearson plays for Atlético de Kolkata, an Indian Super League football franchise based in Kolkata, West Bengal. Giles Barnes continues the ex-Derby County-current MLS player pipeline, as he plays for Vancouver Whitecaps FC. Ben Hinchliffe plays for Stockport County F.C, a club in the sixth overall tier of the English football league system. Roy Carroll plays for Linfield F.C, a club in Belfast, Northern Ireland that is a part of the NIFL(Northern Ireland Football League, in case you couldn't tell) Premiership. Miles Addison plays for Kilmarnock. Hossam Ghaly plays for Egyptian Premier League side Al Ahly SC. Paris Simmons plays for New Orleans Jesters, a fourth tier side on the American soccer pyramid. And that's it! For the guys that still remain, they have had some interesting success. I wonder if they ever get teased that they were a part of the worst team in premier league history, or maybe they themselves tell that story to their kids, and one day their grandkids.
