They certainly were the Golden Years Chicago, I don't think that it will ever be repeated at Derby, but it's nice to see son Nigel keeping the Clough name alive, unbeaten in 17 at Mansfield Town

Possibly my favourite season was 1986/87. Obviously the quality of football was nowhere near that of the Clough or Mackay eras but having come up from the Third Division the season before there was a feeling that we were an unstoppable force. But strangely the season we went down with Rooney in charge is also amongst my very favourites. There was a real sense of unity amongst the fans with none of the entitlement that is sometimes prevalent and which is resurfacing now. The atmosphere at the Birmingham and Sheffield United home games was something else. I was more proud to be a fan then than at any other time I think.

2006-2007 - was the year my girls were able to go matches and finally I was sharing Derby County with my off-spring. Coincendently this was followed by Wembly and an incredible day out with a 9 and 7 year old, clutching their tickets, faces painted and not understanding the nuances of Billy Davies at the end of the game.
Followed by the 2007-08 season in the Premier League - a weary 7 year old who thought Derby's default position was to lose every game and never had high expectations 😂😂😂

Vidal, the 0-0 draw away at Fulham that season was incredible. The Derby fans never stopped singing for the whole 90 minutes and the temporary stand had a proper stress-test with all the bouncing.

Despite the scoreline, definitely one to remember.

2013-14 for me, for similar reasons to View, the season when my son attended regularly with me, until he fell out with travelling to games.
What terrific football we played under Mac and the period between the 5-0 in March 2014 & the trip to Wembley in May was hugely memorable.

Chicago I couldn't agree with you more. The 68/69 season was fantastic, I was 20 and not married so I could go to most of the away games. It was such a surprise to have a team playing so well after a few years of dross.

And to think the next season in Div 1 we came 4th with virtually the same players, only Hennessey came in towards the end of the season and he didn't do much.

Wonderful Chicago, you've cheered me up.

comment by 🏁 AnglianRam 🏁 (U17428)
posted 1 hour, 55 minutes ago
2013-14 for me, for similar reasons to View, the season when my son attended regularly with me, until he fell out with travelling to games.
What terrific football we played under Mac and the period between the 5-0 in March 2014 & the trip to Wembley in May was hugely memorable.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Just realised, also the season that I became associated with the reprobates on here for the first time

comment by ViewFromNNUH - STILL loving League 1 (U1581)
posted 5 hours, 40 minutes ago
2006-2007 - was the year my girls were able to go matches and finally I was sharing Derby County with my off-spring. Coincendently this was followed by Wembly and an incredible day out with a 9 and 7 year old, clutching their tickets, faces painted and not understanding the nuances of Billy Davies at the end of the game.
Followed by the 2007-08 season in the Premier League - a weary 7 year old who thought Derby's default position was to lose every game and never had high expectations 😂😂😂
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Don't underestimate the importance of the '07,'08 season. We, or rather you, the fans, won the Jack Stamps and never wavered. Our detractors still fail to grasp just how dealt with it........... 🐏

We. There is a missing wee in there.........

Some really interesting responses! I must say I expected most votes would be for the two title wins in the old First Division (from those of you who were there.)

UT - agreed - unfortunately I can't see we'll ever see the likes again unless all the big money is suddenly withdrawn from the game so it reverts to an even playing field.

Vidal - I get it entirely. If I'm right that you are referring to two successive promotions under Arthur then yes, that was really something as was that fabulous togetherness in the recent relegation season. I reckon every club except the likes of Accrington etc (no disrespect) suffers from fan-based senses of entitlement. Look at Man U. I know nowt about the Glazers but how can there be any complaints after all the millions spent? Not the Glazers' fault if the recruitment team got it wrong and still their fans expect more spending!

View and Ang, to see games with your offspring for the first time - great!

VC - The 1969/70 season was indeed remarkable. All the pundits had said Derby would struggle but to finish fourth was amazing especially as the team was virtually unchanged. Financial irregularities kept us out of Europe. It could only happen at Derby!

Too lazy to start a new thread, but we've been drawn away at Crewe in the 1st round of the FA Cup.

Well at this stage not too surprising or awkward.

Handy for vidal and I too.

Finding a half-decent boozer in Crewe will be the biggest problem.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Evzuk4nPUqg
Derby County Match of the Day

Listening to RD to get a better taste and understanding of Clough's era ( commemorating 50 years today when Clough resigned.)

I'm really having a hard time with RD dwelling on the 'What could have been.....'

They've mentioned Clough was tempted by both Coventry and an approach from the Middle East. If it's clear he was looking at his options surely we can't scrutinize just Jim Broadbent,I mean, Sam Longson?

Over the years I found Longson as the villain in this scenario and I am sure he's done a lot of damage by forcing Clough out but if Brian was looking at alternative clubs whilst employed to the club then his loyalty to the club was on the wane.

.....He's old and frail now but listening to Graham Richards is so soothing in comparison to Colin Gibson who's like a foghorn.

comment by Uncle Tom (U1899)
posted 1 day, 2 hours ago
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Evzuk4nPUqg
Derby County Match of the Day
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Thank you Uncle, great stuff! 🐏

Great retrospective on RD on the 50th anniversary of Clough and Taylor leaving.

One question frequently raised of the participants in the programme - had they stayed would Derby have gone on to emulate Forest? In my opinion - definitely. The Clough/Taylor era was the greatest in the Club's history.

So what I'm about to say will doubtless draw incredulous scorn, especially from VC, I suspect.

At the time, I was behind Longson and the board in spite of all C and T had achieved. I was sick and tired of hearing that C wanted away - to Coventry, wherever. It caused me constant anxiety. I was fed up with C continually slagging off other managers, teams, the FA, whoever, even if I agreed with what he said. Cloughie's job was to manage DCFC, not carry on a crusade against all and sundry. If he wanted to do that he should have waited until he retired. He could have written a great book about it all.

Various new facts came to light during the programme which vindicated my feelings. On many occasions I had wondered whether I had been right to side with Longson but now I fully appreciate the impossible position into which Cloughie forced him. DCFC had already been clobbered for financial irregularities and had a firebrand of a manager who was in all probability likely to cause loads of further problems. The FA warned Longson to that effect. All it needed was for Cloughie to say sorry and that he would just concentrate on his job but, no, he just could not bring himself to do it. He thought that the board would call his resignation bluff and capitulate to him. How wrong he was. Graham Richards told how he learned years later from Cloughie himself how much he regretted leaving Derby. It was totally unnecessary and we have all paid for it in many ways since.

I firmly believe Cloughie was his own worst enemy, much to the huge detriment of his then team and of the supporters, not just at the time but since. Such a shame particularly as his Forest team was nowhere near as good as the Derby one he gave up.

Cloughie was the original "flawed genius", Chicago.

Yup!

I was too young to appreciate the ins and outs of it all but looking back Clough pushed it all far too far and Taylor was also active in agitating for more money for the two of them, whether at Derby or elsewhere. Clough’s faith in himself was unshakeable and with good reason but by the time he ended up at Forest he had matured a bit and the outspokenness was much less to the fore. Maybe the Dirties episode was the catalyst.

My Dad always blamed Longson though. No doubt the latter had his ego as evidenced by his antics after Clough and Taylor’s resignation when he tried to pretend the crowd was cheering him at the next match when it was for Clough who was watching the game from the main stand. A cleverer chairman might have been able to handle Brian better without it being a battle of wills. Both were massively stubborn.

But I think of what we had and not what we could have had. What days.

>>>>>>So what I'm about to say will doubtless draw incredulous scorn, especially from VC, I suspect.

You suspect right Chicago. Sam Longson didn't like Clough getting all the limelight and was jealous. Sam forgot what C&T had done to our club and thought any other manager could do as well. He was a bloody stubborn fool for letting the best ever manager leave. All the talk about going to other clubs was a way to get some funds for new players and maybe a wage increase.

Dave MacKay was a wonderful signing by BC and made McFarland and Robson, I could hear him helping them from my place in the Normanton end. And when he became manager he did well to sign the likes of Lee, George, Rioch and others. BUT the discipline in the team slowly disappeared and the workers were replaced by the superstars. (I hated Leighton James).

I am certain if C&T had been allowed to stay with us we would have won several European Cups. The team BC left was better than Forest ever were, as Graham Richards rightly said.

My worst days as a football fan were when Duncan Edwards died, when Clough and Taylor were pushed out, the semi final at Hillsborough and Wembley 2014.

Longson and Kirkland were a pair of idiots.

It seems pretty clear that Cloughie's biggest problems were his over-large ego and fondness for the booze. I've no doubt that all his interviews on TV were fueled by both. Without the drink he would probably have been far more moderate in his pronouncements and caused little or no offence.

With Longson I suspect both excessive ego and lack of grey matter but I doubt he was jealous of BC. But we were left with irreconcilable forces and the parting was thus inevitable in that sense.

Suppose Pep had exactly the same characteristics as BC. Would Mansour put up with it? We'll never know for sure but I doubt it.

Whatever the truths of the matter it was all so stupid and I would say tragic but that would be over the top as losing a manger compared with other losses in today's crazy world hardly ranks as tragic.

losing a manager.

Boredom, at this time of the crofting year!

Pink-footed geese and Whooper swans fill the skies. Mixed flocks of Fieldfares and Redwings arriving from Scandinavia, and the Woodcock won't be far behind. Waxwings eating the berries in Stornoway.

The stags have started, roaring from dusk 'till
dawn.

There is the rugby, and some modest footy to come. 🦌