retired_alexbatty1

i must say, i'm impressed. you're an inspiration to us all. keep up the good work

shannon2007

Bugger off Charlie.

retired_amyslack

Season 6 (2006/2007) Continued

December saw another couple of changes on the playing front. Firstly Brig brought in Portuguese midfielder Marco Ferreira from Porto for £975K. Then he received the unexpected news that David Livermore, whose contract was unprotected, had accepted an offer from Sunderland and he left before the end of the year.

Derby’s league form took a downward turn in January with a 1-0 defeat at Middlesborough and draws with West Brom and Blackburn. Calhoun’s side slipped down to 5th place, ten points behind leaders Man United. They saw plenty of FA Cup action too, beating Man City in the 3rd round after a replay. They also required a second game to get past Chelsea before getting a more comfortable 2-0 win against Bristol Rovers of the Second Division. Back in the league, four wins out of four gave the team a real boost, especially their 1-0 defeat of Man United at Old Trafford. They entered March just three points behind the leaders and Calhoun was starting to believe that they could mount a serious challenge for the title. Traianos Dellas was having an excellent season in the centre of defence and he was recognised as Player of the Month with Brig taking the managerial award.

March was dominated by cup action as Derby went from strength to strength in Europe. They overcame PAO (also known as Panathinaikos) 3-0 on aggregate, winning the home leg and then playing out a goalless draw in Greece. In the Quarter Finals they met Italian club Fiorentina and a terrific 4-0 win at home virtually ensured their qualification. They lost the away leg 2-1 but still managed a comfortable aggregate victory. They progressed to the Semi Finals of the FA Cup as well with an enthralling 6-3 win at home to Watford. In fact they were so busy with cup games that they only played two league games in the month – they beat Fulham 3-2 but then suffered a critical 2-1 defeat at the hands of Liverpool to slip down to 3rd. This left Man United in pole position to take the title but all was not lost as it was still very tight at the top.

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">********************************************* ************************************************ English Premier Division - Sunday 1st April 2007********************************************** ***********************************************Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1st Man Utd 30 12 1 2 31 7 8 6 1 36 17 67 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------2nd Liverpool 30 12 2 0 36 7 7 5 4 19 12 64 3rd DERBY 30 10 3 2 29 12 9 3 3 25 15 63 4th Sunderland 31 12 4 0 26 9 6 4 5 20 20 62 5th Blackburn 31 13 2 1 33 12 5 4 6 24 26 60 6th Man City 31 10 5 1 25 10 7 3 5 19 15 59</pre>

retired_bbcarr

that defeat against liverpool could be costly. hope it proves not to be :thup:

retired_amyslack

As you will see Simon, it did turn out to be costly!

Season 6 (2006/2007) Continued

Their cause wasn’t helped by a nasty injury to Francis Jeffers and it was likely that the striker would be out for most of April. With several players looking unlikely to agree contract renewals in the summer, Brig knew that he would need to bring in some new blood and before the end of the transfer window he managed to bring in 24-year-old Greek left back Giannis Kalogeras from AEK for £1M.

April was a great month for Calhoun’s team. The only negative was a 3-2 defeat by Sunderland in the FA Cup Semi Final but that disappointment was more than made up for by their performance in the UEFA Cup. Having been drawn against the mighty FC Bayern they pulled off a magnificent 3-0 win in Munich in the first leg. They lost the return 1-0 but still qualified for the final comfortably. In the league their only blip was a 1-1 draw with Arsenal – apart from that they won their four other Premiership matches that month. On the other hand leaders Man United won all five of theirs and showed no sign of slipping up. They held a 6-point lead over Derby and it looked like Brig’s team were playing for the runners-up position. His squad was starting to get hit with injuries with no less than 5 players - Everson, Thomson, Yakuba, Petersen and Lee Hughes - all injured late in the month. Thomson was the most serious and he would miss the rest of the season. Fortunately Jeffers was now fit enough to play so it wasn’t all bad news.

It was unfortunate for the players concerned – centre back Traianos Dellas and young midfielder Chris Hughes – that they would miss the UEFA Cup Final through suspension. It was a proud moment for Calhoun as he led his team out at the Amsterdam ArenA to face Parma. He was even prouder when his lads lifted the trophy thanks to a 1-0 win, the only goal of the game coming from Andy Johnson. In the league, wins over Cardiff, Man City and Sunderland secured his team a second place finish in the Premiership and sealed a fabulous season for the club.

There were a number of successes on the playing front. Steven Reid was outstanding and was chosen for the Premier Division Select and was voted both Irish Player of the Year and the Derby supporters Player of the Year. Kalogeras looked like working out well in the left side of defence and Ravneng had another fine season on the right. McPhee and Jeffers were both among the goals and Dellas was excellent in the heart of the defence. Lee Hughes had a poor season though, spending most of it complaining that he wasn’t in the first team. However, to his credit he did perform when called upon late in the season, scoring 4 times in 6 starts. Overall Calhoun was pretty pleased with his squad but he still resolved to bring in some new faces sooner rather than later – Johnson had turned 33 and Evans wasn’t far behind and he wanted some younger players in midfield. As pleased as he was with his achievements it was still a surprise to Brig when he was awarded the Premiership Manager of the Year.

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">********************************************* ************************************************ English Premier Division - Tuesday 5th June 2007********************************************** ***********************************************Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1st C Man Utd 38 15 1 3 40 9 11 7 1 47 19 86 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------2nd DERBY 38 14 3 2 39 14 12 4 3 34 19 85 3rd Liverpool 38 16 3 0 45 8 9 5 5 25 16 83 4th Blackburn 38 15 3 1 39 15 7 5 7 33 33 74 5th Sunderland 38 15 4 0 33 13 7 4 8 22 25 74 6th Leeds 38 13 3 3 25 9 6 8 5 28 23 68 7th Man City 38 10 6 3 26 15 9 3 7 24 22 66 8th Newcastle 38 13 3 3 33 11 4 4 11 22 29 58 9th Chelsea 38 12 2 5 37 19 4 4 11 16 25 54 10th Fulham 38 10 4 5 34 23 4 3 12 28 35 49 11th Arsenal 38 11 7 1 25 13 2 3 14 15 34 49 12th Crystal Palace 38 7 3 9 31 34 6 3 10 17 26 45 13th Cardiff 38 10 2 7 37 30 1 4 14 15 49 39 14th Portsmouth 38 5 7 7 23 28 4 4 11 21 35 38 15th Middlesbrough 38 5 8 6 23 24 4 3 12 16 35 38 16th Aston Villa 38 6 5 8 27 27 2 7 10 19 38 36 17th W.B.A. 38 4 11 4 26 21 2 5 12 7 31 34 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------18th R Watford 38 5 5 9 30 41 2 3 14 20 45 29 19th R Charlton 38 5 2 12 27 45 1 5 13 17 40 25 20th R Luton 38 3 6 10 22 39 1 4 14 12 43 22</pre>

shannon2007

Unlucky there Bob, hopefully next season you can find those 2 extra points :thup:

retired_amyslack

Cheers PM - let's hope so.

Season 7 (2007/2008)

There were a few changes to the squad over the summer with several reserves released that were never going to make the grade. Midfielder Ian Hughes retired, a decision that surprised Brig as the 32-year-old had recently agreed a one-year extension to his contact. Andy Johnson and Paul Evans were also given 12-month extensions but the manager planned to phase them out of the first team over the course of the season. There were four new arrivals at Pride Park too. Experienced midfielder Gerard arrived on a £2.6M deal from Sevilla. The other three were all in their early to mid twenties – midfielder Jeremy Toulalan, forward Goran Pandev and centre back Claudio Terzi – as Calhoun looked to build for the future. Only Terzi cost any money - £1.1M from Bologna. His scouts had been tracking Toulalan and Pandev and they came on free transfers from Nante and Ajax respectively.

The start of the season presented Calhoun with a major problem – of the 9 games that his team played in August and September, they suffered three defeats, all of which came in the league. They lost their opening game at home to Middlesborough, scraped a point against West Brom but then lost to Portsmouth and Man United before rallying to win at Newcastle at the end of the month. In Europe it was a completely different story – Derby beat Juventus 1-0 to lift the European Super Cup and they were unbeaten in their Champions League group. They drew at Leverkusen and Real Madrid and beat Ajax at home. The net result was that they sat in 17th place in the Premiership – a huge blow to Calhoun’s hopes of taking the title, as they were already 14 points behind leaders Liverpool. Brig decided that he was to blame for this situation. In his desire to win the Premiership he had decided that he would field what he though was his strongest 11 in the league and have a different lineup for the European games. There were two problems with this – firstly, some of his first choice selections were being outplayed by his second string and secondly the effects of not fielding a settled team selection was too disruptive. To his credit, Brig quickly recognised his mistake and started to rectify it before the month was out.

October saw a total transformation for Derby – four wins out of four in the league boosted them to 9th in the table, although they were still 10 points adrift of surprise leaders Middlesborough. They did suffer their first Champions League defeat however, a 2-0 loss at home to Leverkusen. But an excellent 3-1 defeat of Real Madrid at Pride Park kept them on top of a very tight group and a good result at Ajax could see them through to the second phase. They even had time for a win in the League Cup, beating Southampton 2-0 at home. Brig was rewarded for his team’s fine form with another managerial award, the 18th of his career so far.

Derby’s good league form did not continue on into November as they lost to both Aston Villa and Leeds before beating Bristol City. They progressed in the Champions League though – a 3-1 win in Ajax ensuring that they topped the group and qualified for the second phase. Their first group game thereafter was a 0-0 draw at home to Club Brugge. They made a relatively exit from the League Cup, losing 2-1 at Man United. During the month centre back Traianos Dellas fell foul of Calhoun, complaining that he needed a new challenge and requesting a move. His wish was immediately granted and he quickly agreed a contract with Arsenal to take effect at the end of the season.

retired_amyslack

The previous post was created using my patented FMS_Markup(c) macro - see here for details.

retired_amyslack

Season 7 (2007/2008) Continued

Calhoun’s side played an incredible nine games in a manic December, eight of them in the league. Their sole Champions League game was a 1-1 draw at Hertha BSC, their second draw in two group games. Because of their fixture backlog they found themselves facing both Fulham and Liverpool twice in the month. They only took a point off the Londoners over the two games and after winning 3-1 at Anfield they lost the return 1-0. They also beat Blackburn and Sunderland and drew with Wimbledon and Man City, and ended the year in 6th place, 13 points behind leaders Liverpool.

January was a frustrating month for Calhoun – his team were playing very well but were suffering from the lack of a cutting edge up front. This had been the case all season but for some reason it really hit home that month. Hughes, McPhee and Jeffers were all playing well but they were finding it very difficult to get amongst the goals. Their league match at home to Cardiff early in the month was typical of what Brig was going through – Derby had at least 10 shots on target but the visiting keeper was inspired. Then in the 90th minute the visitors scored a breakaway goal with their only shot on target. But they somehow managed to win their other three league games and make progress in the FA Cup. It took a replay to get past Stoke in round 3 but Cardiff were disposed of at the first attempt in the 4th round.

Late February saw Brig make a move for a striker that he had been following for some time. 26-year-old Anastasios Skalidis had been outstanding for West Brom since his arrival in the UK some 5 seasons ago and the manger felt that he might just be the goalscorer that his team needed. When he learnt of the £7.5M minimum fee recently written into the Greek’s contract he made his move. Skalidis was only one of several very talented Greek players that Brig had his eye on and he planned further excursions into the transfer market over the summer. On the playing front, three wins and a defeat kept Derby moving in the right direction and they now held 3rd place in the table, chasing Man United hard but some way behind champions elect Liverpool. Their double header against Roma in the Champions League had yielded just one point, and that came in Rome courtesy of a scoreless draw, the return at Pride Park ending 2-1 in favour of the visitors. Further progress was made in the FA Cup with a 2-0 defeat of Portsmouth and Derby moved into the Quarter Finals.

March was dominated by Cup action – victories over Club Brugge and Hertha BSC saw Derby qualify from their Champions League group and move into the Quarter Finals. In their FA Cup Quarter Final they required a replay before getting past Sunderland – the first game ended scoreless and the return was just as tight, a McPhee goal the only thing that separated the teams. They also played three league games, beating Chelsea and Leeds and drawing with Man United. With 7 games remaining in the Premiership Calhoun’s side now held second place but were 10 points behind leaders Liverpool having played a game more. The manager was active in the transfer market again, spending £9M to bring Nigerian forward Julius Agahowa from Celtic.

retired_amyslack

Season 7 (2007/2008) Continued

April saw mixed success for Calhoun’s team. They went out of the FA Cup in the Semi Finals after a narrow 1-0 defeat to eventual winners Leeds. Progress continued in the Champions League however, after a thrilling contest with Leverkusen. An excellent 2-0 win in the home leg set the team up for the trip to Germany but in the return they found themselves 3-0 down with 10 minutes remaining and staring defeat in the face. But two goals in two minutes from McPhee put them back in front. The home side scored once more near the end for a 4-2 win on the night but Derby triumphed on away goals and moved into the Semi Finals. In the Premiership they beat Leeds and Aston Villa before a 3-1 defeat at high-flying Blackburn dented their hopes. But they bounced back with a 6-1 mauling of Wimbledon with Anastasios Skalidis setting a new club record by scoring five times, a performance that helped the Greek striker pick up the Player of the Month award. At the end of the month they sat 4th in the table but with games in hand over Blackburn and Man United above them.

Early May saw Derby take their leave from the Champions League in heartbreaking fashion. Having fashioned a one-goal lead in the home leg against Inter they faced a tough return match in Milan. After a goalless first half they fell behind to a penalty on 60 minutes but a goal from McPhee five minutes later put them back in front. With 15 minutes remaining the home side squared the tie but Derby still led on away goals. And then deep into the 4th minute of stoppage time the home side scored their 3rd of the night to dump Brig’s team out and take their place in the final. The Italians went on to beat Liverpool on penalties leaving Calhoun even more frustrated. Clearly affected by being so close to their second major European final, his team played poorly in the league, drawing 3 of their last 4 games to finish in a disappointing 4th place.

As Calhoun looked back on what was ultimately an unsatisfactory season he was nonetheless pleased with the performances of a number of his players. Skalidis, McPhee, Reid, Ravneng, Agahowa, Jeffers and Thomson were all worthy of note. The contribution of Steven Reid was particularly pleasing as he scored 14 goals from midfield, despite often being used to provide cover in defence and Brig felt that he would be a key player next season. The Irishman was also recognised as Irish Player of the Year as well as the Fans favourite and Thomson and Skalidis featured in the Premiership Select. Kalle Sone was runner-up in the African Footballer of the Year

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">********************************************* ************************************************ English Premier Division - Tuesday 3rd June 2008********************************************** ***********************************************Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1st C Liverpool 38 14 4 1 38 12 10 4 5 25 18 80 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------2nd Blackburn 38 15 3 1 40 15 6 5 8 22 28 71 3rd DERBY 38 12 2 5 39 18 8 6 5 27 21 68 4th Man Utd 38 11 6 2 34 11 7 7 5 29 25 67 5th Arsenal 38 14 2 3 38 20 5 5 9 25 26 64 6th Leeds 38 14 3 2 34 10 3 7 9 15 24 61 7th Portsmouth 38 8 4 7 23 19 9 1 9 18 22 56 8th Chelsea 38 10 4 5 37 28 7 1 11 24 39 56 9th Newcastle 38 10 5 4 35 21 4 7 8 22 29 54 10th Everton 38 12 2 5 28 19 5 1 13 16 40 54 11th Middlesbrough 38 12 4 3 35 19 3 4 12 20 31 53 12th Aston Villa 38 12 4 3 35 23 4 0 15 19 46 52 13th Man City 38 9 6 4 21 15 4 6 9 18 19 51 14th Sunderland 38 10 6 3 28 14 4 3 12 14 24 51 15th Fulham 38 9 4 6 27 20 5 4 10 22 30 50 16th Cardiff 38 8 3 8 28 30 5 1 13 21 39 43 17th W.B.A. 38 6 7 6 24 20 3 5 11 18 33 39 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------18th R Crystal Palace 38 7 2 10 30 35 4 3 12 22 32 38 19th R Bristol C 38 6 3 10 20 23 2 3 14 11 37 30 20th R Wimbledon 38 6 3 10 24 32 0 4 15 16 55 25</pre>