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THE EVER CHANGING FORTUNES OF DERBY COUNTY FOOTBALL CLUB
Derby County Football Club is a professional association football club in Derby, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system (At the time this video which was published during the 2024/25 season).
One of the 12 founder members of the Football League in 1888, Derby County is one of only nine clubs to have competed in every season of the English football league system (126 seasons up to the end of the 2024–25 season), with all but six of those being in the top two divisions.
The club was founded in 1884 by William Morley as an offshoot of Derbyshire Coun-ty Cricket Club. Its competitive peak came in the 1970s when it twice won the First Division and competed in major European competitions on four occasions, reaching the European Cup semi-finals as well as winning several minor trophies. Additionally, the club was a strong force in the interwar years – finishing league runner-up twice in the 1930s – and winning the first post-war FA Cup in 1946.
The club's home colours have been black and white since the 1890s. The team's nick-name, The Rams, honours its links with the First Regiment of Derby Militia, its mas-cot being a ram, and its regimental song. They have a long-standing rivalry with Not-tingham Forest, with whom they contest the East Midlands derby.
The best era for the club was in the 1970s when Brian Clough and Peter Taylor took over and led Derby to its greatest glory. Starting at 18th in the Second Division in 1968, Clough and Taylor acquired Alan Hinton, Roy McFarland, and John O'Hare, then clinched the influential signing of Dave Mackay to lead the club to 1st place in 1969, and promotion to the First Division. Derby went on to finish fourth in 1970. Due to financial issues the club were banned from competing in Europe but went on to win their first ever Football League Championship in 1972. Though Derby did not retain their title the following season, they did reach the semi-finals of the European Cup, where they lost to Juventus. Clough's frequent outspoken comments against football's establishment eventually led to him falling out with the board of directors at the club, and Clough and Taylor left in October 1973. Such was their impact on the club that, 37 years later, a 9 ft (2.75 metres) bronze statue of the pair was erected out-side Pride Park in commemoration of their legacy.
After finishing in 12th place in their first season back in the top flight league, the club left the Baseball Ground, its home of 102 years, to move into the new 33,597-seat Pride Park Stadium for the 1997–98 season. The Baseball Ground was demolished six years later and a memorial was eventually erected in memory of its role in Derby city history.
A sudden decline at the turn of the millennium saw three years of struggle for the club and in April 2006, a consortium of local businessmen led by former vice-chairman Peter Gadsby purchased the club, reducing its debt and returning Pride Park Stadium to the club's ownership in the process.
Over the next decade, or so, the club had mixed fortunes, various owners, and a change in it’s stadium name, only for it to return to it’s original name of ‘Pride Park Stadium’ some years later, and is currently on its longest spell outside of the top tier.
Clowes Developments (UK) Ltd purchased Pride Park from Mel Morris on 17 June 2022 and remains the current owner, as the club competes in the second tier in the 2024–25 season.
Park right in front of the stadium for free (non match day). In the heart of Derby City so plenty to see if your in the locality.
Discuss this location in more detail with other club members on the community discussion forum.
Co-ordinates: 52.91492, -1.44729 • what3words: ///worker.united.learn
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