retired_mika318

Wahey \o/

Excellent stuff Terk. Congratulations on the Waffa cup triumph :thup:

More than a couple of player's contending for player of the season there too.

Please invest in some defenders

retired_bbcarr

cheers everybody after the fa cup defeat i was mightily relieved to win the waffa cup instead. hopefully this coming season we can start to improve the league form, iron out the inconsistenies and crack on towards the title in a few years time

oh, and just for timbo, i bought three new defenders in the summer

================================================

Players In: Summer 2008


Fredrik Ljungberg (free transfer) (AM R/L/C)
Released by Arsenal at the end of the 2007-08 season, 34 year old Freddie was someone that Rob still thought could do a job at the highest level. Continuing his trend of signing ageing stars on one year contracts (see Dennis Bergkamp, Jay Jay Okocha and Edgar Davids), Rob offered Freddie a twelve month deal at extortionate wages (£39.5K p/w) but was happy to have him and the extra squad depth the he ensured on board.


Stephen Hughes (£4.3M from Rangers) (AM R/C)
Having sold Hidetoshi Nakata to Arsenal, Rob needed some talent down the right flank of midfield. Romeo Castelan had done a decent job in the short term, but the Dutchman was not someone he saw as a long term solution. Rob hoped that that solution had been found in the shape of 13 times capped Scottish midfielder Hughes. Woefully underplayed at Rangers, Hughes was a talented footballer and would no doubt add strength to the Derby ranks.


Glen Johnson (£4M from Newcastle) (D/DMR)
Another who was woefully underused at his former club, Glen was a fantastic right back who would easily oust Anton Ferdinand from the position in the early part of the season. 13 caps for England were probably not just reward for his exceptional talent, and at just £4M there were many who thought he would prove over the next nine months to be signing of the season.


George Walton (£3M from Southampton) (DC)
A former England U-21 defender, there were many calls for George to be included in the squad for Euro 2008 considering that he had the highest average rating of any defender in the league during the 2007-08 campaign. And that was to Derby's benefit, as a few England caps would, no doubt, have upped his price tag from the £3M they had to pay the south coast side. A strong and uncompromising centre back, George was exactly what Rob wanted to strengthen the weakest part of his side's play.

Richard Simpson (£6.5M from Tottenham) (MC)
12 months previously, Richard had been widely regarded as one of the very hottest young prospects in the English game, and Derby had missed out on his signature after an 11th hour bid from Spurs took him to London from Bramall Lane. But a wonderful Premiership season later and Rob was knocking on his door again, and the minimum fee release clause written into his contract at Spurs meant that he was available and the 24 year old twice capped Englishman was on his way north to battle for a place in the centre of Derby's midfield.


Darren Fletcher (£2.4M from Newcastle) (M R/C)
Generally regarded as a success during his time in the North East, Darren was let go on the cheap after a falling out with his boss at Newcastle resulted in him handing in a transfer request. Rob was quickest to react, and the Scotsman who was nearing 50 caps for his country was all set for the move down to Derby. Big wages were again needed to tempt, but Rob knew that to get such talent, you had to pay such money and Darren was somebody he desperately wanted to keep the pressure of competition on Scott Parker and keep the Englishman performing to the standards he had.


Michael Dawson (£6.75M from Celtic) (DC)
Having sold Michael to Celtic whilst at Hartlepool, Rob was delighted to get him back of the Scottish side, albeit at a much larger fee than the £3.7M he had collected for his previous club. Since then, Michael had played in virtually every game that Celtic had competed in, and had done excellently well, depsite the fall from grace of the former Scottish champions. With Livingston now the leading force in Scottish football, Celtic were happy to offload their highest earner, and Rob was ecstatic to have such a quality defender on board to solidify his back line as one particularly vocal fan had been somewhat critical of the defensive qualities of the side.


<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">********************************************* ************************************************** * Derby County - Saturday 2nd August 2008********************************************** ************************************************** ================================================== ============================================== Squad============================================= ================================================== =No Name Position(s) Nat Born Age Caps Gls Wages Expires Value-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------24 Ashton, Dean S C ENG 24.1.80 28 7 5 £55K 25.6.13 £14.75M 4 Barry, Gareth D/DM LC ENG 23.2.78 30 12 - £22.5K 8.6.11 £4.2M - Burke, Jon D RC ENG 29.3.88 20 - - £1K 26.6.13 £400K 18 Castelen, Romeo AM/F R HOL 3.5.80 28 5 - £24.5K 22.6.12 £5.25M 22 Dawson, Michael D C ENG 15.11.80 27 - - £42.5K 17.6.13 £4.3M 12 Di Cesare, Valerio SW/D LC ITA 23.5.80 28 2 - £19K 18.6.10 £2.9M 20 Ferdinand, Anton D RC ENG 18.12.82 25 5 - £6.25K 8.6.10 £4.7M 14 Ferrell, Andy M C ENG 11.10.81 26 - - £18.5K 28.6.12 £4.7M - Fleming, Terry GK ENG 31.5.87 21 - - £1.5K 24.6.13 £450K 7 Fletcher, Darren M RC SCO 1.2.81 27 46 5 £39K 14.6.13 £3.2M 11 Foy, Robbie AM/F L SCO 27.1.82 26 - - £9.25K 28.6.11 £2.7M 43 Gallacher, Paul GK SCO 14.8.76 31 3 - £7.75K 8.6.09 £2M 3 Gardner, Ricardo D RL JAM 25.9.75 32 31 1 £11K 21.6.09 £1.4M 50 Hall, Iain M C ENG 25.12.88 19 - - £800 11.6.09 £150K 27 Hersi, Youssouf AM/F LC HOL 20.8.79 28 7 1 £24.5K 15.6.12 £6.75M 21 Hughes, Stephen AM RC SCO 14.11.79 28 13 3 £19K 18.6.13 £4M 48 Hunter, Robert D C SCO 2.12.89 18 - - £625 3.6.09 £120K 49 Jackson, Simon D RC ENG 8.10.90 17 - - £925 14.6.09 £230K - Johnson, Glen D/DM R ENG 23.8.81 26 13 - £18K 21.6.13 £5.75M 13 Lewis, Joe GK ENG 15.2.84 24 - - £1.7K 17.6.12 £1M 9 Ljungberg, Fredrik AM RLC SWE 16.4.74 34 92 12 £39.5K 8.6.09 £1.1M 10 Lupoli, Arturo S C ITA 25.2.84 24 - - £10.75K 9.6.11 £6.75M 2 Mario D R ESP 7.2.78 30 - - £23K 28.6.09 £1.2M 8 McGeady, Aidan F C IRL 3.1.83 25 21 13 £20K 15.6.10 £7M 5 Medjani, Carl SW/D C FRA 15.5.82 26 - - £4.9K 24.6.11 £2.8M 46 Middleton, Sean D LC ENG 22.4.87 21 - - £725 14.6.11 £1.4M - Mills, Nathan D/DM LC ENG 21.1.87 21 - - £900 24.6.12 £725K 19 Naysmith, Gary D/DM L SCO 16.11.75 32 56 2 £12.5K 28.6.09 £750K 1 O'Connor, Stephen GK ENG 22.9.84 23 28 - £55K 16.6.14 £4.5M 6 Parker, Scott M RC ENG 13.10.77 30 33 7 £50K 28.6.10 £7.5M 15 Pizarro, Claudio S C PER 3.10.75 32 83 38 £33.5K 23.6.09 £3.8M 16 Simpson, Richard M C ENG 24.10.83 24 2 - £36K 14.6.13 £6M 17 Walton, George D C ENG 10.6.84 24 - - £7K 1.6.12 £4.5M 47 Wilkins, Jamie AM LC ENG 14.4.87 21 - - £750 14.6.11 £2.9M </pre>


Likely side:

GK: Stephen O'Connor (captain)

DR: Glen Johnson
DL: Gareth Barry
DC: Michael Dawson
DC: George Walton/Valerio Di Cesare

MR: Stephen Hughes/Aiden McGeady
MC: Freddie Ljungberg/Darren Fletcher
MC: Scott Parker
ML: Youssouf Hersi

SC: Dean Ashton
SC: Claudio Pizzaro

shannon2007

Well done on the UEFA, just need that title now

mrsevans7177

Big deano;ll do the job for ya, now worries :thup:

Congrats on the Wafer btw :thup:

retired_bbcarr

thank stuart the title should be easy. nae bother. i wish

and bartley, deano is a f*cking legend in the derby shirt :cool:

================================================

August - November 2008

With the European final appearence in the bag, Rob set his sights on landing the Premiership title. The gap between his Derby side and title winners Man Utd in the previous campaign had been 19 points, and that would be perhaps too big a gap to bridge in one season. But Rob was hopeful that for the 2009-10 season, his charges could have a real tilt at the championship.

A pre-season tour of France saw Derby return to English shores with wins over Cannes, Le Havre, Lyon and Marseille under their belts, preparing themselves for the opening day visit of West Brom. Albion did put up a good fight, and threatened to take points away from Derby at the first opportunity, but late goals from Ashton and Fletcher made sure of the win for Rob. Wins over Fulham (3-0) and Barcelona (4-2) in the Premiership and European Super Cup respectively followed before September opened with a 3-1 home success over Reading thanks to goals from Fletcher (2) and Lupoli.

Their defence of the UEFA Cup began at home against lat season's semi finalists Hertha BSC. Ashton got them off to the perfect start, and a goal from Ljungberg followed soon after. Another from Ashton, this time from the penalty spot made it three before the former Crewe striker completed his hat-trick to take his overall tally for the season to six. Derby finally lost when they visited the City of Manchester Stadium as Scott Parker's opener was not enough to stop the home side running off with a 2-1 win. Another Ashton hat-trick against Sheffield United got them back on track, and the fact that it was added to by goals from Ljungberg and Mista just rubbed salt into the Yorkshire side's wounds.

The return leg against Hertha should have been a formality, but three first half goals for the German side made for a nervy second period, and it was thanks only to a much improved performance from O'Connor in goal that they managed to sneak out of the country with the aggregate win. A visit to Charlton further dented their league campaign as the London side held on for a 1-0 success, but a double for Ashton and one for Foy completed a 3-0 win over Norwich just 3 days later.

A draw against Aston Villa (with Ashton again on the scoresheet for Derby) preceeded a 1-0 home win over Galatasaray in Turkey in the second round of the UEFA Cup. Another fine away win followed as Ashton grabbed two and Johnson sealed the winat Stamford Bridge, but a 1-0 home defeat to Liverpool again put the brakes on. Hopes of another great run in Europe were shattered by a quite fantastic Galatasaray team in the return leg at Pride Park. The Turkish outfit were 4-0 up by the hour mark, and though Simpson and Mista grabbed late goals, they were never going to be more than consolations as Derby crashed out of the competition. But they got themselves back on the right road in the league with a 3-1 win over Tottenham thanks to goals from Ashton, Parker and Pizzaro.

Half of the reserve side were put out in the League Cup third round tie against Middlesbrough, and they proved not to be good enough at The Riverside as, despite goals from Lupoli and Hersi, the home side ran out 4-2 winners to dump Derby out of yet another competition. Parker grabbed two goals on the return to league action as Newcastle visited Pride Park, but it wasn't enough for the win as Liam Fox hit two of his own to ensure a share of the spoils. A trip to Bolton provided more cheer as McGeady brought Derby level after having dropped behind, and after Bolton scored again, Dean Ashton struck twice to grab the three points.

Pizzaro and Ashton hit singles to claim a home win over Everton (2-1) and then the Peruvian striker hit a double which, coupled with Youssouf Hersi's free kick, downed Manchester United at Old Trafford by 3-1. November ended with a visit from Blackburn and a quite incredible scoreline. With an hour gone, the score was 2-2, Ashton and Ljungerberg having scored for the home side. They each got another before Pizzaro got in on the act to make it 5-2, Barry Ferguson then hit an own goal, and Ashton completed a hat-trick for a final scoreline of Derby 7 - 2 Blackburn.

retired_bbcarr

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">********************************************* ************************************************** * English Premier Division - Sunday 30th November 2008********************************************** ************************************************** ================================================== ============================================== 2008/9 Table============================================= ================================================== =Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1st DERBY 16 5 2 1 22 8 6 0 2 19 9 35 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------2nd Chelsea 16 4 2 2 11 5 6 2 0 13 2 34 3rd Arsenal 15 5 1 1 8 2 5 2 1 9 2 33 4th Man Utd 15 7 0 1 16 5 3 2 2 9 8 32 5th Fulham 16 5 0 3 11 8 4 3 1 13 9 30 6th Southampton 16 6 1 1 17 9 2 4 2 4 5 29 7th W.B.A. 16 5 3 0 13 5 2 2 4 5 10 26 8th Tottenham 16 4 2 2 11 5 3 2 3 8 12 25 9th Liverpool 15 6 1 1 15 7 1 2 4 7 12 24 10th Aston Villa 16 5 1 2 17 6 1 2 5 5 10 21 11th Blackburn 16 3 2 2 10 8 3 1 5 14 24 21 12th Norwich 16 2 3 3 8 13 3 2 3 9 8 20 13th Man City 16 3 4 1 7 6 1 3 4 4 7 19 14th Charlton 15 2 4 2 5 6 2 2 3 6 9 18 15th Newcastle 16 3 2 3 10 6 1 3 4 6 12 17 16th Bolton 16 4 1 3 11 11 1 0 7 4 16 16 17th Birmingham 16 1 1 6 4 8 2 2 4 8 13 12 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------18th Sheff Utd 16 3 1 4 7 10 0 2 6 3 15 12 19th Reading 16 1 5 2 8 8 0 0 8 2 17 8 20th Everton 16 1 1 6 6 18 0 1 7 6 17 5 </pre>

retired_bbcarr

December 2008 - 11th April 2009

Rob had forgotten to mention to anyone that, in the summer months before the season, he had landed the England job. The country's pathetic performance in failing to emerge from the group stages of Euro 2008 had cost Steve Bruce his job, but with England being defending World Cup champions, qualification for the tournament was already assured so Rob merely had two years of friendlies to contend with. By the end of the 2008-09 campaign, Rob had guided England to wins over Yugoslavia (2-0), Andorra (7-0) and Yugoslavia again (6-0) but had also had to contend with defeats to France (2-1) and Holland (2-0).

December began for Derby with a trip to Southampton, and they managed a 3-1 success, followed by another 3-1 win, this time over Birmingham at Pride Park. Fulham were defeated 2-0 before another clean sheet was kept as Everton were swept aside by 3-0. A tough trip to title chasing Arsenal ended well as Pizzaro, Parker, Ashton, Barry and Hersi all scored in the 5-2 win at Highbury.

A weakened side was put out to face Luton at home in the FA Cup, and despite Mista scoring twice, the lower league side triumphed 3-2. Wins over WBA (4-1), Norwich (1-0), Sheffield United (5-1) and Reading (3-2) kept Derby's great league form going as they moved into February.

The shortest month of the year began with a 2-1 home win over Charlton, and then continued with a tight 1-0 home win over Manchester City. A visit to Liverpool brought about a 2-1 success, but a 1-0 defeat to Tottenham dented their progress somewhat. The fact that the Tottenham defeat was followed by an embarrassing 4-1 humping by Aston Villa merely compunded matters. A two week break for internationals saw them regain their composure enough to travel to Newcastle and win 3-0, before a hat-trick from Mista helped them gain their second big win over Blackburn as they ended the game with a 4-1 scoreline in their favour.

retired_bbcarr

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">********************************************* ************************************************** * English Premier Division - Saturday 11th April 2009********************************************** ************************************************** ================================================== ============================================== 2008/9 Table============================================= ================================================== =Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1st DERBY 32 10 2 2 31 11 15 0 3 52 22 77 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------2nd Man Utd 33 13 3 1 30 8 10 4 2 27 11 76 3rd Chelsea 32 9 4 3 20 6 11 4 1 25 6 68 4th Arsenal 32 7 6 3 15 10 10 4 2 19 7 61 5th Southampton 33 10 2 4 31 20 5 8 4 10 10 55 6th Fulham 33 11 1 5 26 15 5 4 7 17 22 53 7th Liverpool 33 9 3 4 22 12 5 7 5 19 20 52 8th Tottenham 33 8 3 5 25 16 7 3 7 18 25 51 9th Newcastle 33 8 4 4 24 14 6 4 7 19 20 50 10th Blackburn 33 8 3 5 24 19 6 3 8 24 36 48 11th Man City 32 9 5 2 22 11 3 4 9 9 16 45 12th Aston Villa 33 8 4 4 27 11 3 7 7 13 19 44 13th W.B.A. 33 7 4 6 18 19 4 4 8 10 19 41 14th Bolton 33 9 2 5 23 15 2 2 13 8 35 37 15th Charlton 33 4 7 6 13 17 4 5 7 14 19 36 16th Norwich 33 6 6 5 16 20 3 2 11 14 29 35 17th Birmingham 33 3 3 11 17 27 3 4 9 13 28 25 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------18th Sheff Utd 33 4 3 10 13 28 2 2 12 8 23 23 19th Reading 33 3 7 8 18 24 0 2 13 4 29 18 20th Everton 33 3 3 11 10 30 0 2 14 10 29 14 </pre>

shannon2007

Looking good, can you hold on :o

retired_mika318

Defenders \o/

You got your name back \o/

Just the title to go then