Derby County: World Cup wonders and a few woes

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As Germany 2006 gets underway, YesterdayToday regular correspondent Peter Seddon, the author of a recent book on football World Cup curiosities, casts an eye over past tournaments in search of some Derby County connections.

WHEN the football World Cup was inaugurated by FIFA in 1930, no British nation took part. England were first to go to a Finals in 1950, followed by Scotland and Wales in 1954 and Northern Ireland in 1958.

The Republic of Ireland finally completed the home nations’ participation when they competed at Italia ’90.

So, although Derby County boasted some fine early internationals – men of the calibre of Raich Carter, Peter Doherty, Dally Duncan and Hughie Gallacher – their names are absent from the World Cup playing annals because they never had a chance.

Fortunately, some later Rams personalities did enjoy the opportunity – although “enjoy” was not always an appropriate word.

Here is a run-down of those who made it to the Finals of the world’s most prestigious football tournament.

No Derby men appeared for England at Brazil ’50, so it fell to a Scot to forge the first Rams’ link when Derby’s future manager, Tommy Docherty, then a dogged wing-half with Preston North End, played in all Scotland’s games at Switzerland ’54.

“All” sounds impressive but, being Scotland, it amounted to a mere two games; a 1-0 defeat by Austria and a 7-0 humiliation by Uruguay.

Scotland were duly eliminated at the first hurdle and their “back before the postcards” trend has continued ever since.

Typically, the waggish Docherty had an interesting take on the Uruguay defeat, blaming it on the thick shirts they had worn: “We thought, because Switzerland had mountains, it would be cold, so we dressed for the occasion. But it was 100 degrees and we just melted in the sun. Uruguay’s short sleeves were definitely the deciding factor.”

Nothing to do with skill then – seven goals all down to the sun!

Scotland tried again at Sweden ’58, this time including one former and one future Rams player in their ranks, winger Stewart Imlach (Nottingham Forest) and the great Dave Mackay, then at Hearts.

But neither could prevent the inevitable – Scotland returned early again. Northern Ireland fared much better, reaching the quarter-finals under the management of a former Rams player, the legendary Peter Doherty, who took charge of his countrymen from 1951-62.

Although both Wales and England also took part in Sweden ’58, no Derby players were involved and the next Rams’ link wasn’t until Mexico ’70 when the bustling England striker Francis Lee (Manchester City) played in three games, including the heartbreaking quarter-final defeat to Germany when England blew a two goal lead to lose 3-2.

It’s said English international football has never truly recovered from that crushing blow and by the time Lee joined Derby, four years later, his own international days were sadly over.

Again there was no Derby involvement at West Germany ’74, although there would have been had England managed to qualify for the Finals.

As it was, they infamously failed by only drawing 1-1 with Poland in a qualifier at Wembley in October 1973, a game in which a host of Rams personalities were “implicated”.

Roy McFarland defended gamely but goalkeeper Peter Shilton (Leicester City) was badly at fault for the Polish goal, the ball squeezing in at his near post.

Rams striker Kevin Hector, on as a late substitute, almost won the game for England in the final seconds and even the Derby manager, Brian Clough, about to sensationally leave the club, got in on the act. Before the game he dubbed the Polish keeper, Jan Tomaszewski, “a clown in gloves”. Naturally the flying Pole proved the hero of the night!

It was the beginning of a barren spell for England. They were also absent from Argentina ’78, but habitual hopefuls Scotland gave the tournament a real Derby flavour.

The Rams midfielder Bruce Rioch captained the side in their opening game alongside his Derby colleague Don Masson and the Nottingham Forest men, Kenny Burns and Archie Gemmill, both one-time Rams.

Future Derby winger John Robertson (also Forest) played in the next game but it all ended in tartan tears yet again, despite a wonder goal by Gemmill against Holland.

Next it was Spain ’82 and, by then, the future Rams keeper Peter Shilton (another Forest man!) was a fixture in the England goal, although unable to prevent Ron Greenwood’s lacklustre side falling in the second round.

John Robertson again appeared for the hapless Scots but there was no other Rams’ link that year.

Then came Mexico ’86, infamous for the “hand of God” goal illegally scored by Argentina’s Diego Maradona against England.

Curiously, the two Englishmen involved in the incident both had Derby County links.

The miscued clearance which set up the chance came from future Rams midfielder Steve Hodge and the furious beaten goalkeeper was again Peter Shilton, by then at Southampton. At Italia ’90 England’s fate was even worse – they lost on penalties in the semi-final to West Germany after the game had finished 1-1.

By a bizarre coincidence, the costly German goal by Brehme again had a double-Derby link, the England defender Paul Parker (of QPR and later Derby) wickedly deflecting a looping ball over the vainly clawing hands of Peter Shilton, who by then was a Baseball Ground favourite.

Also in the unfortunate England side that day was his Derby colleague Mark Wright.

With more luck the duo could have become the first and only Derby County players to appear in a World Cup Final.

As it was, England were left to contest third place, losing 2-1 to Italy in a forgotten game in which the future Rams left-back Tony Dorigo (Chelsea) took part.

Italia ’90 was also notable for a participant who represented a sea change in Derby County’s links with the World Cup – John Harkes of the USA.

When Harkes signed for Derby three summers later, he became the Rams first full international overseas signing, beginning a trend which made future World Cup line-ups worth a closer scan.

Harkes again appeared for his country at USA ’94, a tournament in which Aston Villa’s Paul McGrath, later an imperious Derby defender, played for the Republic of Ireland.

The one other Rams-linked personality at USA ’94 was Norway’s Lars Bohinen (Nottingham Forest) who joined Derby in 1998.

Next came France ’98, where Derby’s non-British internationals caused quite a stir. Foremost among them was the charismatic Rams defender Igor Stimac who, with his former Derby team-mate Aljosa Asanovic, starred in Croatia’s shock run to the semi-finals.

In the opening group games they beat a Jamaican side which included Darryl Powell and Deon Burton, both then with Derby, while their teammates Jacob Laursen (Denmark), Taribo West (Nigeria) and Christian Dailly (Scotland) all got games to take the tournament’s representation of current Rams players to an unprecedented five.

And soon to arrive at Pride Park was Craig Burley, who capped yet another dismal tournament for Scotland by being sent off in a 3-0 defeat by Morocco while sporting a very odd bleached yellow haircut!

That brings us to Japorea ’02, jointly hosted by Japan and South Korea. Derby’s Branko Strupar played for Belgium, while ex-Rams Paulo Wanchope (Manchester City) and Mauricio Solis (Alajuelense) turned out for Costa Rica, 2006 Pride Park departure Tomasj Hajto (Schalke ’04) for Poland and Taribo West (Kaiserslautern) for Nigeria.

But both last and least must be the unlucky ex-Rams midfielder Lee Carsley. The Everton man came on for just one minute as a Republic of Ireland substitute!

So, now Germany ’06 awaits. Wanchope and Solis get one final chance with Costa Rica while the recent Derby offload Stern John (Coventry City) looks set to play for super-minnows Trinidad and Tobago against mighty England who, in turn, will be watched by their manager-designate Steve McClaren.

Whether the former Rams favourite will see England become 2006 winners is open to debate...the World Cup is so gloriously unpredictable we might just as well ask if Stern John will end up the tournament’s top scorer.

Peter Seddon is the author of The World Cup’s Strangest Moments, published by Robson Books, at £8.99 (ISBN 1 86105 869 1).

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