Derby County: Peter Taylor's great escape

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Anton Rippon reviews Derby County’s season of 1982-83 which saw the return of Peter Taylor to the Baseball Ground, a prized FA Cup clash with arch rivals Nottingham Forest and a farcical do-or-die last match against Fulham.

IT was hard to believe that there had ever been a more depressing scenario than that which presented itself at the Baseball Ground on September 25, 1982.

There were barely 9,000 spectators dotted about the place as the Rams went down 2-1 to Blackburn Rovers. Everything about the day seemed tired and apathetic and, out on the pitch, there was the distinct impression that there were some players who did not care whether Derby County Football Club lived or died.

Even in the dark days of the mid-1950s, things could surely not have looked or felt worse. People have always talked about the “Baseball Ground atmosphere”, but it is people who make atmosphere and there had been some pretty dreadful days when the old stadium seemed, well, sad.

Some 15 weeks later, that same Baseball Ground presented a scene reminiscent of the club’s greatest days. Almost 29,000 people packed in to see the Rams beat their oldest, fiercest rivals, Nottingham Forest, 2-0 to spring one of the most sensational – and romantic – FA Cup results of recent years.

The reason for this upsurge in interest was simple. In November 1982, Peter Taylor had come out of retirement to lead the Rams again. At that time, Derby were bottom of the Second Division with only eight points from 13 matches and they had been in the bottom three since late September.

In fact, it was a position from which they were not to struggle free until Easter Monday, when they beat Newcastle 2-1 at the Baseball Ground.

Yet, during that time they had almost completed a 15-match unbeaten run. That was the kind of gulf which had opened up between Derby County and the safety positions.

After all the hopes spawned at the end of the previous season, the Rams’ new campaign had its pattern set from the first match, when Carlisle United won 3-0 at the Baseball Ground.

There were 11,000 in the ground that day.

Thereafter, the side slid quickly downhill and, when the first League win did arrive – thanks to a Steve Buckley penalty against Chelsea on September 2 – there were only 8,075 present to see it.

Yet, a flame would be lit and on November 1 came the first flicker when Chesterfield-based snooker millionaire, Mike Watterson, was appointed chairman in succession to Bill Stevenson.

The Rams, now with a massive debt said to be more than £1m, had earlier been involved with Rotherham United chairman Anton Johnson, the so-called “King of Clubs”.

Indeed, so hard up were Derby, that one week the wages arrived courtesy of the Rotherham club when an official turned up with the money to pay the Rams staff.

But Johnson could not be involved with two clubs and, eventually, Watterson had to go it alone.

His appointment was followed by that of Stuart Webb as director, rejoining the club he had left in controversial circumstances as secretary.

Webb was not offering cash, like most other directors, but his considerable business expertise which was to stand the Rams in good stead in the years to come.

Then came Peter Taylor. Ever since he had sensationally quit the Rams with Brian Clough in October 1973, Derby County had been a difficult club to manage.

The shadow of Clough, in particular, had dogged successive managers. Now, felt the fans, if one man could come to terms with the job, then it was Peter Taylor.

Taylor moved quickly. His first signing was Archie Gemmill, who returned to Derby where the fans still loved him. Then Taylor introduced Roy McFarland and Mick Jones as team manager and coach respectively.

McFarland needed no introduction; Jones was a steady reserve in the days of Tim Ward and the early reign of Clough.

Their joint appointment caused a storm when Bradford City, their previous club, protested. The Rams were considered the sinners and fined £55,000, as well as having to pay the injured party, Bradford City, compensation.

Taylor continued to bring in new faces to the Baseball Ground – some of them old faces to football but new to the Rams. John Richards (from Wolves) and Kenny Burns (Leeds United) came on loan to join Gary Mills, who was on loan from North American Soccer League club Seattle Sounders as a Newman signing from the previous October.

More permanent signings were Bobby Davison, the little striker from Halifax Town, Oldham Athletic defender Paul Futcher (“I offered him First Division vision,” said Taylor) and Notts County’s Paul Hooks.

But new faces meant that, when the FA Cup came around, the Rams had to rely on players already on the books when the competition began.

Centre-half George Foster, signed from Plymouth Argyle by Newman but ousted in favour of Futcher, and young forwards Kevin Wilson and Andy Hill, were thrown back into the fire of Cup soccer.

The visit of Forest was a dream draw, inevitably billed as “Clough v Taylor”, although the respective managers naturally played that down.

It was a classic Cup-tie. Gemmill shot home a free-kick from outside the penalty area after a goalless first half; and Andy Hill raced on to a through-ball from Mike Brolly – signed by Newman from Grimsby before the season began – to give the Rams an epic victory.

A fourth-round defeat of Chelsea was marred by crowd trouble of a most serious nature (a week earlier Leeds fans had wreaked similar damage on the Osmaston Stand) and, although the Rams escaped lightly when the FA met to consider the problems, it left a bad scar on the month of January when Derby County should have been celebrating.

There followed a plum fifth-round draw against Manchester United at the Baseball Ground where the Rams fought valiantly against one of the best sides in Europe.

They were breached just once, when young Norman Whiteside scored the only goal of the game in the second half – “Whiteside far side onside,” said a television commentator as the United man lined up to score.

It did not really matter that the Rams were out of the FA Cup – although the cash from an Old Trafford replay would have been a godsend. The Baseball Ground was alight again, just like the glory days of the 1970s.

The 15-match unbeaten run had started with the 3-3 draw at home to Leeds on January 22 and it lasted until after Burnley’s visit on April 30, when the Rams won 2-0.

There followed two matches which brought memories of the darker days flooding back.

Striker Dave Swindlehurst had been transferred to West Ham – the Rams having little option since his contract was almost ended – and Mills had been forced to return to America.

Buckley was already out for the season, having broken his leg in the home match against Charlton Athletic in mid-April.

Powell, Hooks, Gemmill and Burns joined the injured list and some of the players who Taylor wanted rid of had to play against Blackburn and Crystal Palace.

They contributed to a brace of quite awful displays and it was left to the Rams to beat Fulham on the last day of the season to be safe. Fulham needed victory at Derby to win promotion ahead of Leicester City but, when Bobby Davison scored a brilliant goal in the 76th minute, it seemed that the issue had been settled.

But, for the final 15 minutes, the game was played with thousands of young supporters around the touchline, ready to run on and celebrate Second Division survival.

Unfortunately, one of them kicked out at a Fulham player as he sped past with the ball; and with the game apparently well over time – 12 minutes by some accounts – referee Ray Chadwick blew for what he later said was an off-side decision. Everyone thought that the game had ended and the waiting fans ran on to the pitch. Another young Fulham player was allegedly assaulted as he fought his way to the dressing-room, where the referee announced that there were still 78 seconds to play.

Fulham appealed to have the game replayed but, not unnaturally, the Football League refused.

In fact, the Rams would have been safe anyway because other results had gone their way.

They ended an amazing season in 13th place, much, much better than anyone would dared have hoped for a few weeks earlier.

Players like Steve Powell and Archie Gemmill had struggled on manfully with painful injuries which would have sidelined lesser mortals. And players who were on their way out of the Baseball Ground shortly after Taylor arrived had fought back with pride to establish their claim.

Another pleasing aspect was the form of young goalkeeper, Steve Cherry, who performed brilliantly at times, particularly when under severe pressure in Cup games.

There were other players who had not responded and of them Taylor could only say: “If they are at the Baseball Ground next season then it will be an insult to our supporters.” Several were released. They would miss what would prove to be arguably the most significant and emotional season in Derby County’s history.

Adapted from The Derby County Story by Anton Rippon & Andrew Ward.