Cox, Arthur: Cox breathed new life into failing club

Anton Rippon takes a look back at Arthur Cox’s first two seasons at the Baseball Ground.

THE year 1984 had long been dreaded by those who read George Orwell’s book of the same name. In the end, none of Orwell’s fears came to pass. But for Derby County, 1984 was one of the worst years in the club’s history.

The Rams nearly went out of business and, at the same time, were relegated to the Third Division. It was time for a new leader and a new direction.

Thus, in May that year, during a short period when Stuart Webb was chairman of the club, Arthur Cox was appointed manager.

A fortnight earlier, Cox had steered Newcastle United into the First Division, so his resignation “over a matter of principle” came as something of a shock to the football community.

When he joined Derby, Cox had managerial and coaching experience far beyond the average 44-year-old boss. His playing career had been ended by a broken leg when he was an 18-year-old with Coventry City and he later turned to coaching, working with Coventry’s youth team for more than four years.

In the late-1960s he worked for Walsall and Aston Villa as chief coach and Halifax Town as assistant manager.

In the 1970s, Preston won the Third Division title when Cox was their chief coach and Sunderland lifted the FA Cup and the Second Division championship when he was assistant manager to Bob Stokoe at Roker Park.

After a short stint with Galatasary of Turkey, Cox was appointed manager of Chesterfield and took them to within a point of promotion to the Second Division. Then came Newcastle United.

His long apprenticeship in management had earned him a reputation as a hardworking, honest man who believed in discipline.

After arriving at the Baseball Ground, Cox asked Roy McFarland to remain as his assistant.

Derby County had avoided imminent bankruptcy but playing problems remained. A relegation side can have a future if the players are young, but several of the 1984 players were over 30 – Burns, Watson, McAlle, Barton and Player of the Year Archie Gemmill.

And the Rams had one of the worst disciplinary records in the League.

The new manager had to rebuild and instil order. As the centenary approached, bringing with it nostalgic reminders of heady First Division days of the 1970s and the 1946 FA Cup triumph, the management team looked forward to the Third Division.

There were some strange names on the 1984-85 fixture list – Wigan Athletic, Gillingham, Newport County – but it was better than no fixtures at all.

Before the centenary season, Ian Maxwell became chairman. Part of that deal was the purchase of the Baseball Ground from the NatWest Bank for £305,000. The bank agreed to forego the £750,000 overdraft.

The centenary season brought a new kit. The white shirt bore a flash on the left shoulder in the original cricket club colours, gold, pale blue and chocolate.

Covering the players’ chest was the red Bass triangle, the oldest patented logo in the country.

Bass was the new sponsor.

Arthur Cox signed four free-transfer players in the summer of 1984 and only Billy Livingstone, freed by Wolverhampton Wanderers, failed to make an impact.

The success of Rob Hindmarch (Sunderland) and Eric Steele and Charlie Palmer (both Watford) was a microcosm of what was to come.

Paul Richardson (Nuneaton Borough), Kevin Taylor (Sheffield Wednesday), Floyd Streete (SC Cambuur) and Micky Lewis (West Brom) were soon added to the team. The much-travelled John Burridge came on loan from Wolves, while goalkeeper Eric Steele’s chipped wrist-bone healed.

Kevin Wilson started the season with a prolific run which saw him scoring in fours (Hartlepool), threes (Bolton) and twos (Ipswich).

He had scored 13 goals in 14 League and Milk Cup games when he broke his left arm early in the game against Plymouth in October.

After that, much depended on Bobby Davison, who responded very well with half the team’s goals – 16 of 32 – during the next five months.

Davison was an obvious choice as supporters’ Player of the Year. He thrilled fans with a mixture of strong runs and close-in finishes, some of them surprisingly acrobatic.

His superb chip at Swansea set off a 5-1 win that saw out an eventful centenary year with the biggest away win for more than eight years.

The Rams were in the promotion-chasing pack, having lost only one of the last seven League games of the year. One of these was the 3-3 draw against Newport County, Derby recovering from 3-0 down with 20 minutes to play.

The season fell away early in the New Year. After the workmanlike win over York on New Year’s Day, it was another two months before the next League win. The only victory in February was in the Freight/Rover Trophy, a competition for Third and Fourth Division clubs, and even that was negated by a 5-3 defeat at Walsall in the second leg.

The Rams’ FA Cup run had ended in the first round at Hartlepool United. A first-round exit was unprecedented under the present format of the competition. Never had Derby County gone out of the Cup with so many teams still left in. Things could only improve.

Three key signings were financed by Kevin Wilson’s £150,000 transfer to Ipswich Town in January. The following month, Trevor Christie arrived from Nottingham Forest as a proven goal-scorer who had recently helped Notts County into the First Division.

Gary Micklewhite came from Queen’s Park Rangers for £80,000, a First Division player who had played in an FA Cup Final. And Geraint Williams, a Welsh Under-23 international, was signed for £40,000 from Bristol Rovers just before the transfer deadline.

Other star players came and went during that seemingly quiet Third Division season. They were quiz-question material. Which Third Division Derby player had already won two European Cup winners’ medals? Which one kept goal for the 1989 and 1990 Littlewoods Cup winners? And which one played in two championship teams and two FA Cup Finals in the next five seasons?

The answers are John Robertson (transferred back to Nottingham Forest at the end of 1984-85) and two loan signings, Steve Sutton (Forest) and Gary Ablett (Liverpool).

The final League placing of seventh wasn’t as important as the players signed to augment existing talent. Unfortunately, Steve Powell had played his final League game (although he remained with the club for another season). Powell was the last playing link with the 1970s’ championship teams, but the presence of assistant manager Roy McFarland was a continuing reminder that Derby County had recently been champions and could reach the top again.

Before the memorable 1985-86 promotion season, Arthur Cox strengthened his squad further with Mark Wallington from Leicester City (£25,000), Ross MacLaren from Shrewsbury Town (£67,000), Republic of Ireland international Jeff Chandler from Bolton Wanderers (£38,000) and Steve McClaren from Hull City (£70,000).

In just over a year, Cox had overhauled the playing staff, with the exceptions of Steve Buckley, Bobby Davison, Paul Blades, Graham Harbey, Dick Pratley and Andy Garner.

The Rams, 5/1 favourites for the Third Division championship, won the Derbyshire Senior Cup and Bass Charity Vase before the season began, but the League games brought only an average response.

Ten points from the first eight games was not promotion form. That came at the end of September, with a giant-killing 2-0 win against First Division Leicester City in the first leg of a Milk Cup-tie and a 2-0 win at Cardiff after a delayed coach trip to South Wales.

Then came four first-half goals against Swansea, a 2-0 win against neighbours Notts County and an excellent 1-1 second-leg Milk Cup draw at Leicester which had neutrals guessing the First Division team.

Micklewhite was exciting on the right, Chandler in a good patch on the left and, with Christie scoring consistently, Davison was no longer a loner up front.

When Lincoln City were beaten 7-0 at the start of November, five players were on the score-sheet.

When Steve McClaren was injured, Arthur Cox signed John Gregory for £100,000 from Queen’s Park Rangers. Gregory was an England international who had played alongside Micklewhite in the 1982 FA Cup Final. When he arrived, the Rams immediately put together an unbeaten run which coincided with the FA Cup. Crewe went for five, Telford six and Gillingham four (over two games), putting the Rams into the last 32.

Their fourth-round opponents were Second Division Sheffield United at Bramall Lane. Rob Hindmarch, in now familiar striped change strip, strode into the six-yard box to convert Gregory’s free-kick in the 34th minute. It was the only goal.

The good run continued. Wins at Blackpool (a Garner goal) and York City (3-1) extended the unbeaten away record to 13 League games and kept the team in third place.

To go from August 24 to February 22 without an away defeat was sensational.

The run finally ended at Chesterfield on a terrible pitch of snow, ice and mud that called for a change of footwear every 20 yards. Chesterfield scored the only goal in injury-time, Mark Wallington having earlier saved a penalty.

On another difficult pitch, against First Division Sheffield Wednesday, the Rams nearly completed a Sheffield FA Cup double.

A freak own-goal allowed Wednesday an equaliser after Bobby Davison had put Derby ahead. The replay could have gone either way, but two goals put Derby out on a bone-hard pitch.

Postponements and the good FA Cup run piled up fixtures – only one League game was played in January – and left the team with a tough run-in.

They played 23 League and Cup games in the last 80 days of the season and were helped by wonderful support. An estimated 9,000 Derby fans travelled to Notts County, where the Rams won by three clear goals.

Defeat at Plymouth was a setback, the home team scoring four in the second-half after a bizarre Christie goal had given the Rams an interval lead.

Mickey Thomas came on loan to liven up the run-in, yet a home defeat to Bristol Rovers was an added worry. The Rams had games in hand but had dropped to fifth.

A Davison goal accounted for Lincoln City, before a stunning effort from Steve Buckley broke the deadlock against Bolton Wanderers. However, four games without a win raised the tension.

The last of these, against Doncaster, was saved by a very late equaliser headed by Hindmarch, although Chandler had an even later penalty saved by goalkeeper Rhodes.

A win at Swansea settled the team and two points were needed from the final two matches for promotion.

The home game with Rotherham United built up excitement like a good paperback thriller. Substitute Phil Gee scored after 77 minutes but Rotherham equalised immediately. With five minutes to play, the Rams won a free-kick on the edge of the penalty area.

Rotherham’s Dungworth was sent-off, five Derby players hovered around the ball and five Rotherham men formed a wall. Jeff Chandler joined the Rotherham players, only to be jostled and pushed out. The last push came after the free-kick was taken. The referee gave a penalty.

Penalties had been a problem during the season. They had been missed by Christie, Chandler, Buckley and Ross MacLaren, the supporters’ Player of the Year.

Trevor Christie got the job, having scored a penalty in the previous match. He stepped up and shot left-footed, inside the post to the goalkeeper’s right. The Rams won 2-1 and pipped Wigan Athletic for the third promotion spot.

By this time, Derby County Reserves had won the Central League championship, the first time the title had gone to a Third Division club.

They were skippered by Dick Pratley, a strong central defender who occasionally deputised in the first team, and Phil Gee scored 31 goals in his first professional season, while Lewis, Penney, Harbey, Steele, Biggins, Palmer and Garner also played big parts.

The Rams were on the way back in more ways than one

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