Derby County F.C. season 2007-08

Infobox Football club season
club = Derby County

season = 2007–08
manager = flagicon|SCO Billy Davies until Nov, then
flagicon|ENG Paul Jewell
chairman = flagicon|ENG Peter Gadsby until Oct, then
flagicon|ENG Adam Pearson until Jan, then
flagicon|USA Andrew Appleby
league = Premier League
league result = 20th (Relegated)
cup1 = FA Cup
cup1 result = Fourth Round
cup2 = Carling Cup
cup2 result = Second Round
league topscorer =
Kenny Miller (4)
season topscorer =
Kenny Miller (6)
highest attendance = 33,087 vs Reading (11 May 2008)
lowest attendance = 30,048 vs Blackburn Rovers (30 December 2007)
average attendance = 32, 432

The 2007–08 season is Derby County's 109th season in the Football League, their 65th season in the top division of English football and their first season in the top flight since the 2001-02 season. They were promoted after beating West Brom 1-0 in the 2006/07 Championship play-off final.

Due to a very poor start manager Billy Davies left the club on 26 November, to be replaced by former Wigan Athletic manager, Paul Jewell. They spent most of the season at the very bottom of the table and recorded a club and top flight record run of 32 league games without a win.

Derby were officially relegated on 29th March after the combination of their 2-2 home draw with fellow strugglers Fulham and Birmingham City's 3-1 victory over Manchester City left them 19 points away from safety with only 6 games (and 18 points) left. This made them the first club in Premiership history to be relegated in March and only the second in post-war English Football league history. [cite news |first=Phil |last=McNulty |title=Derby 2-2 Fulham |url=http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_prem/7309363.stm |publisher=BBC Sport |date=2008-03-29 |accessdate=2008-03-29 ] They also accumulated the league's lowest points total since the introduction of 3 points for a win.

Review

Derby made a disastrous start to the Premier League 2007-08 season and following their 6-0 defeat to Liverpool on 1 September 2007, Irish bookmakers Paddy Power decided to pay out on the club to be relegated after just five games of the new season. [cite news |url=http://www.teamtalk.com/football/story/0,16368,3015_2697302,00.html |title=Paddy Power pays out on Derby relegation |date=2007-08-31 |accessdate=2007-09-04 |publisher=Teamtalk.co.uk] . The poor start saw fans accuse Gadsby and the board of failing to invest properly in players for the club. The repercussions of this saw Trevor Birch leave his position as Chief Executive on October 19 [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/d/derby_county/7053629.stm Birch leaves Derby chief exec job] BBC Sport Online] and, on October 29th 2007, Gadsby stepped down as Chairman to be replaced by former Hull City owner Adam Pearson. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/d/derby_county/7067444.stm New Derby chairman backs Davies] BBC Sport Online] Meanwhile, results on the pitch weren't improving, with another poor performance away to Aston Villa being followed by a 5-0 home defeat against a West Ham side ravaged by injuries. After taking just 6 points from 14 matches Davies left by mutual consent after a meeting with Adam Pearson, taking nearly all of his newly assembled backroom staff with him. [ [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/derby/article2946767.ece Bily Davies leaves Derby by mutual consent] Times online] The move was seen to be more as a result of Davies publicly questioning Adam Pearson's chairmanship of the club in a post-match interview following a 2-0 home defeat by Chelsea than actual results (as Pearson publicly gave Davies his backing a few weeks previously), with some supporters suggesting Davies engineered his dismissal as he was unable to turn the club around. Within two days of Davies's dismissal, on November 26 2007, Derby appointed highly rated former Wigan manager Paul Jewell. [ [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?xml=/sport/2007/11/28/ufnderby128.xml Paul Jewell appointed Derby manager] Telegraph] . He initially appointed Stan Ternent as his assistant but, when Ternant left to become Huddersfield manager in April 2008, Jewell moved to appoint Chris Hutchingscite news
title = Hutchings set to take Derby role
url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/d/derby_county/7364460.stm
publisher = BBC Sport
date = 2008-04-24
accessdate = 2008-04-24] who had been his assistant at both Bradford and Wigan.

Jewell was busy in the January 2008 transfer window, selling several players and bringing eight new players in, namely Everton defender Alan Stubbs cite news
title= Stubbs Brings Steel |url=http://www.dcfc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10270~1230028,00.html|publisher=dcfc.co.uk|date=2008-01-31] ; Argentine striker Emanuel Villa [cite news |first= |last= |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=Rams sign Argentine striker Villa |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/d/derby_county/7166848.stm|publisher=BBC Sport|date=2008-01-04] ; ex-England international defender Danny Mills on loan from Manchester City; Blackburn midfielder Robbie Savage [cite web
url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/b/blackburn_rovers/7166114.stm
title="Savage completes switch to Derby"
date=January 9 2008
publisher=BBC Sport] ; French winger Laurent Robert; Tottenham's Egyptian midfielder Hossam Ghaly on loancite news
title = Hossam Ghaly recruited for Derby’s rescue effort
url = http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/article3168714.ece
publisher = Timesonline.co.uk
date = 2007-11-01] ; Genclerbirligi's Mile Sterjovski cite news
title = Derby complete Sterjovski signing
url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/d/derby_county/7180692.stm
publisher = BBC Sport
date = January 24 2007] and Rangers goalkeeper Roy Carroll cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/d/derby_county/7258258.stm|publisher=BBC Sport|title=Carroll Extends Derby Stay|date=22 February, 2008] . Although performances improved, results didn't, with many at the club already accepting relegation by the end of December. On January 28 2008, it was announced that Derby had been purchased by American group General Sports and Entertainment, with Tom Glick taking the role of new President and Chief Executive. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/d/derby_county/7210230.stm General Sports and Entertainment Takeover - BBC Sport] ] Derby's relegation was confirmed on March 29 2008, the first time a club had been relegated from the division before April [cite news |first=Phil |last=McNulty |title=Derby 2-2 Fulham |url=http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_prem/7309363.stm |publisher=BBC Sport |date=2008-03-29 |accessdate=2008-03-29 ] and sealing the club's first immediate relegation following promotion in its history. Poor results continued: a 6-0 home defeat at the hands of Aston Villa on 12 April 2008 is the biggest defeat at Pride Park and, by the season's end, they had recorded the Premier League's lowest points total. [cite news |title=Dismal Derby take Cats' sad place in the record books |url=http://www.sunderlandecho.com/sport/Dismal-Derby-take-Cats39-sad.4095005.jp |publisher=Sunderland Echo |date=2008-03-29 |accessdate=2008-03-29 ] and equalled Loughborough's 108-year Football League record of going through an entire season with only one win.

Players

Squad information

Squad at end of season

Players in/out

* Following the closure of the August transfer window.

In

* Danny Mills - on loan from Manchester City
* Laurent Robert - free transfer (unattached)
* Robbie Savage - £1.5m deal from Blackburn Rovers
* Emanuel Villa - £2m deal from UAG Tecos
* Hossam Ghaly - on loan from Tottenham Hotspur
* Mile Sterjovski - undisclosed fee from Genclerbirligi
* Roy Carroll - free transfer from Rangers
* Alan Stubbs - free transfer from Everton
*Ruben Zadkovich - free transfer (unattached)

Out

* Steve Howard - £1.25m deal to Leicester City
* Matt Oakley - £500k deal to Leicester City
* Andy Griffin - Undisclosed fee to Stoke City
* Robert Malcolm - Contract terminated
* Laurent Robert - Contract terminated

Results

Premier League

References

External links

* [http://www.dcfc.premiumtv.co.uk Derby County FC official site]
* [http://www.soccerbase.com/teams2.sd?teamid=747 Derby County FC on Soccerbase]

succession box
before=2006-07
title=Derby County seasons
years=2007-08
after=2008-09