2007–08 Derby County F.C. season

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]}

Jewell was busy in the January 2008 transfer window, selling several players and bringing eight new players in, namely Everton defender Alan Stubbs,^[12] Argentine striker Emanuel Villa,^[13] ex-England international defender Danny Mills on loan from Manchester City, Blackburn midfielder Robbie Savage,^[14] French winger Laurent Robert, Tottenham's Egyptian midfielder Hossam Ghaly on loan,^[15] Gençlerbirliği's Mile Sterjovski^[16] and Rangers goalkeeper Roy Carroll.^[17]

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.

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.

More information No., Pos. ...

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  WAL Lewis Price 2 DF  ENG Marc Edworthy 4 DF  SCO Jay McEveley 5 DF  ENG Dean Leacock 6 DF  JAM Michael Johnson 7 MF  ENG David Jones 8 DF  ENG Alan Stubbs 9 FW  ARG Emanuel Villa 10 FW  WAL Robert Earnshaw 14 FW  SCO Kenny Miller 15 MF  USA Eddie Lewis 16 MF  SCO Gary Teale 17 DF  ENG Andy Todd 19 DF  JAM Claude Davis 20 MF  ENG Lee Holmes 21 MF  AUS Mile Sterjovski

No. Pos. Nation Player 22 MF  USA Benny Feilhaber 23 DF  JAM Darren Moore 24 DF  JAM Tyrone Mears 25 MF  SCO Stephen Pearson 28 MF  JAM Giles Barnes 29 GK  ENG Ben Hinchliffe 30 DF  WAL Lewin Nyatanga 31 GK  NIR Roy Carroll 32 DF  ENG Miles Addison 33 DF  ENG Mitchell Hanson 34 MF  ENG Matthew Richards 35 DF  ENG Jason Beardsley 40 MF  EGY Hossam Ghaly (on loan from Tottenham) 41 FW  ENG Paris Simmons 44 MF  WAL Robbie Savage (captain) — MF  AUS Ruben Zadkovich

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Left club during 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.

More information No., Pos. ...

No. Pos. Nation Player 3 DF  GUI Mo Camara (on loan to Norwich City) 8 MF  ENG Matt Oakley (to Leicester City) 9 FW  SCO Steve Howard[notes 1] (to Leicester City) 11 MF  ENG Craig Fagan (on loan to Hull City) 12 FW  IRL Jon Macken[notes 2] (to Barnsley)

No. Pos. Nation Player 18 DF  ENG Andy Griffin (to Stoke City) 21 DF  SCO Bob Malcolm (to Motherwell) 26 MF  FRA Laurent Robert (to Toronto FC) 27 DF  ENG Danny Mills (on loan from Manchester City) 43 GK  ENG Stephen Bywater (on loan to Ipswich Town)

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