After a very poor start to the season, manager Billy Davies left the club on 26 November 2007 after winning only one game to be replaced by former Wigan Athletic manager Paul Jewell. Jewell failed to turn things around for Derby and the club spent most of the season at the foot of the table, recording a club and top-flight record run of 32 league games without a win.
Derby were officially relegated on 29 March 2008 after 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 left. This made Derby the first club in Premiership history to be relegated in March and the first since Sheffield United in 1975-76 to go down from the top flight from that month, at the time only the second time it had ever happened in post-war English Football league history, before Huddersfield Town were relegated in March 2019.[1] They also accumulated the league's lowest points total since the introduction of 3 points for a win with just 11 points, as well as the record for the fewest wins in a Premier League season with just one victory in 38 games; also most defeats (29), fewest goals scored (20), most goals conceded in a 38-game season (89);[2] the latter record has since been broken by Sheffield United (2023–24).
Review
Derby's season began with a 2–2 draw against Portsmouth on the opening day of the season, followed by a narrow 1–0 defeat away to Sven-Göran Eriksson's Manchester City (the only two games which Derby spent outside the bottom three), but then conceded a total of 12 goals in three successive defeats. 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.[3] 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 19 October 2007[4] and, on 29 October 2007, Gadsby stepped down as chairman to be replaced by former Hull City owner Adam Pearson.[5]
Meanwhile, results on the pitch were not improving, with another poor performance away to Aston Villa followed up by a 5–0 home defeat against a West Ham United side ravaged by injuries. After taking just 6 points from 14 matches, including their only win of the season with a 1-0 victory against Newcastle United, Davies left by mutual consent after a meeting with Adam Pearson, taking nearly all of his newly assembled backroom staff with him.[6] The club had just been beaten 2–0 at home to Chelsea and were rooted to the bottom of the table. After the game, Davies had publicly criticised Derby's board for a lack of investment. Some critics believed that Davies was a victim of his own success after overachieving in his first season at Pride Park,[7] while others cited his apparent tactical inefficiencies at top flight level, poor big money signings (including £3m Claude Davis[8]) and suggested Davies had engineered his own departure, in the form of an outspoken rant against the board[9] so as to avoid having a relegation on his CV.
Within two days of Davies's dismissal, on 26 November 2007, Derby appointed highly rated former Wigan Athletic manager Paul Jewell.[10] He initially appointed Stan Ternent as his assistant but, when Ternent left to become Huddersfield Town manager in April, Jewell moved to appoint Chris Hutchings[11] who had been his assistant at both Bradford City and Wigan. Jewell's first match in charge was a 1–0 defeat away at Sunderland on 1 December 2007, the winning goal coming in stoppage time. Although performances improved under Jewell, results didn't. The team developed a habit of conceding late goals and following the defeat to Sunderland, Derby conceded late winners or equalisers in seven games between late December 2007 and late January 2008, dropping seven points from games they had been winning or drawing. Many at the club had in fact already accepted relegation by the end of December 2007.[citation needed]
On 28 January 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.[18] Derby's relegation was confirmed on 29 March, the first time a club had been relegated from the division before April[1] 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, Derby had recorded the Premier League's lowest points total[19] and equalled Loughborough's 108-year Football League record of going through an entire season with only one win. Their final game of the season was a 4–0 home defeat to Reading, who were also relegated.
Source: Premier League Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored. For further information on European qualification see Premier League – Competition (R) Relegated
Playing squad
Squad at end of season
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
