Pride: The Inside Story of Derby County

[angieram]

It's a bit too close to home, reading about the early 2000s now. I have to keep putting it down to do something more cheerful! 

[If we shoot we might score]

Just finished it. Absolutely brilliant book.  Loved it !

I’d forgotten some of the shocking players we have had to endure over the years !

[HuddersRam]

4 hours ago, If we shoot we might score said:

Just finished it. Absolutely brilliant book.  Loved it !

I’d forgotten some of the shocking players we have had to endure over the years !

Thank you @If we shoot we might score, glad you enjoyed!

Absolutely agreed @angieram - it's Derby County, so it struggles to be that 'feel good' at times ?

[archram]

Have just received mine- nobody took the hint for Christmas so had to buy my own! So looking forward to reading it! May be a bit of a struggle as I read mostly on kindle and can’t hold a big book for long, but that’ll make it last longer.

[Nuwtfly]

Having started this yesterday, it is fair to say that I am absolutely flying through it at the moment. Just finished The Clough Years: Part 2. 

Perhaps its the ease of the prose or just the genuine intrigue of reliving my lifetime as a supporter, but I have truly enjoyed reading this book. An absolute beaming smile shot across my face on the reminder of Robbie Savage's "Ain't nobody" videos.

Thank you, @HuddersRam- I needed reminding of why I fell so madly in love with Derby County, and your book is doing it for me, sir.

[NG2Ram]

Just finished reading the book and really enjoyed it. Very interesting to get the players and staff perspective on some of the major events surrounding the club over the past two decades.

[HuddersRam]

7 hours ago, Nuwtfly said:

Having started this yesterday, it is fair to say that I am absolutely flying through it at the moment. Just finished The Clough Years: Part 2. 

Perhaps its the ease of the prose or just the genuine intrigue of reliving my lifetime as a supporter, but I have truly enjoyed reading this book. An absolute beaming smile shot across my face on the reminder of Robbie Savage's "Ain't nobody" videos.

Thank you, @HuddersRam- I needed reminding of why I fell so madly in love with Derby County, and your book is doing it for me, sir.

Big effort that, Nuwt. Yeah for the most part I've just ran with the way the interviewees actually spoke, which was just a method I enjoyed doing to be honest.

Glad the book could bring a bit of enjoyment back! Probably best to not read the final paragraph where I say we should take a leaf out of Sheffield United's book - it's not aged well.

Great to hear you enjoyed it as well, NG2!

[IslandExile]

I've already given my "review" FWIW but I just wanted to pick up on a few people saying they're "enjoying" reading it. I'm just not sure "enjoy" is the right word for reflecting on the period in question.

It's an excellent book, well researched with a balanced perspective, a must read for any Derby fan and of interest to football fans in general.

But I'd say, as a Derby fan, it's a tough read. Not the writing, that is exemplary, but going through the events of the past 20 odd years.

It's mostly been a very difficult period in the club's history, with very little success. There have been high points in that time, sure, but the book mostly catalogues a series of troubles, mistakes, wrong turns, missed opportunities and heartbreaks.

I'm sure supporters of other clubs may say the same thing, but I think it's hard being a Derby fan and this past 20 years has been especially difficult.

Ok, that all said, @HuddersRam has done an absolutely brilliant job of documenting this era.

Let's hope the next 20 years brings joy, success and football to make us all proud. COYR ?

Edited January 19, 2021 by IslandExile

[Premier ram]

Great book , finished it last night , the rollercoaster ride of supporting our wonderful football club is brought to life on each page , brilliant stuff

[HuddersRam]

On 19/01/2021 at 01:09, IslandExile said:

I've already given my "review" FWIW but I just wanted to pick up on a few people saying they're "enjoying" reading it. I'm just not sure "enjoy" is the right word for reflecting on the period in question.

It's an excellent book, well researched with a balanced perspective, a must read for any Derby fan and of interest to football fans in general.

But I'd say, as a Derby fan, it's a tough read. Not the writing, that is exemplary, but going through the events of the past 20 odd years.

It's mostly been a very difficult period in the club's history, with very little success. There have been high points in that time, sure, but the book mostly catalogues a series of troubles, mistakes, wrong turns, missed opportunities and heartbreaks.

I'm sure supporters of other clubs may say the same thing, but I think it's hard being a Derby fan and this past 20 years has been especially difficult.

Ok, that all said, @HuddersRam has done an absolutely brilliant job of documenting this era.

Let's hope the next 20 years brings joy, success and football to make us all proud. COYR ?

Apologies for the long old delay in replying mate. Yeah, enjoying is maybe not the suitable word considering everything we've been through in that 20 years.

Obviously I spent loads of time working on it, but hearing the takes of different people almost made different seasons even more depressing in a way - the 'what if' moments like Zamora, McClaren, 04/05 PO's, hearing from the people there just made the realisations of where we could have gone, well, just that bit grimmer.

Hopefully we can look back at those years and laugh, eventually. Glad you 'enjoyed' it, though!

And great to hear @Premier ram. The feedback means an awful lot, a big thank you for reading.

 

[ot-dcfc]

@HuddersRam Congrats on the book. It made it on to the Christmas list after reading about it on here. Finished it in 2 and a half days, and safe to say I thoroughly enjoyed it.

As great as all of the books covering our glory days are, it was great to finally read about a time period that I have lived through and supported the Rams.

Especially living outside of the Derby area, there’s a lot of info and stories (3 amigos for example) that wouldn’t have been covered by my local news at the time, and that I simply had very little knowledge of. (There was even limited internet coverage on us in those days unless you were to really dig deep enough).

Funnily enough, an ex player from Nigel’s years is now dating a close friend of mine. I passed on the message that he got a brief mention in the book and he was thrilled to pieces to even be acknowledged. I told him to buy a copy.

Anyway, thanks for writing and I certainly hope that by the release of the next edition we have finally made it to the PL.

[HuddersRam]

1 hour ago, ot-dcfc said:

@HuddersRam Congrats on the book. It made it on to the Christmas list after reading about it on here. Finished it in 2 and a half days, and safe to say I thoroughly enjoyed it.

As great as all of the books covering our glory days are, it was great to finally read about a time period that I have lived through and supported the Rams.

Especially living outside of the Derby area, there’s a lot of info and stories (3 amigos for example) that wouldn’t have been covered by my local news at the time, and that I simply had very little knowledge of. (There was even limited internet coverage on us in those days unless you were to really dig deep enough).

Funnily enough, an ex player from Nigel’s years is now dating a close friend of mine. I passed on the message that he got a brief mention in the book and he was thrilled to pieces to even be acknowledged. I told him to buy a copy.

Anyway, thanks for writing and I certainly hope that by the release of the next edition we have finally made it to the PL.

I am going to scrupulously go through every former player mentioned from Nigel's day to work out who it is. Give us a clue.

Thank you for the feedback - really appreciated!

Edited January 21, 2021 by HuddersRam
I used a big word and immediately regretted not confirming the spelling of it

[ot-dcfc]

16 minutes ago, HuddersRam said:

I am going to scrupulously go through every former player mentioned from Nigel's day to work out who it is. Give us a clue.

Thank you for the feedback - really appreciated!

I don’t want to name drop in case he regularly Googles himself and stumbles across this.. which he may well do! ? thus throwing out my plot to gain further intel on Nigel and his years with us. 

But you mentioned he was supposed to be the long term replacement for Robbie Savage which should clear it up ?

Edited January 21, 2021 by ot-dcfc

[QuitYourJibbaJivin]

7 hours ago, ot-dcfc said:

I don’t want to name drop in case he regularly Googles himself and stumbles across this.. which he may well do! ? thus throwing out my plot to gain further intel on Nigel and his years with us. 

But you mentioned he was supposed to be the long term replacement for Robbie Savage which should clear it up ?

Has he still got a perma tan?

[Woodley Ram]

On 17/01/2021 at 22:47, HuddersRam said:

Thank you @If we shoot we might score, glad you enjoyed!

Absolutely agreed @angieram - it's Derby County, so it struggles to be that 'feel good' at times ?

so Ryan, have you started your next book.....to Sheikh or not to Sheikh...Derby in the 2020's 

[HuddersRam]

3 hours ago, Woodley Ram said:

so Ryan, have you started your next book.....to Sheikh or not to Sheikh...Derby in the 2020's 

I'm making notes. The decade has started absolutely in tune with the last two, so there's potential there I reckon

[ariotofmyown]

22 hours ago, ot-dcfc said:

I don’t want to name drop in case he regularly Googles himself and stumbles across this.. which he may well do! ? thus throwing out my plot to gain further intel on Nigel and his years with us. 

But you mentioned he was supposed to be the long term replacement for Robbie Savage which should clear it up ?

Giles Barnes?!

[Premier ram]

16 hours ago, ariotofmyown said:

Giles Barnes?!

James Bailey?

[LeedsCityRam]

Just finished it. Its not just a very good book about Derby County, its a bloody good football book full stop. If you haven't bought it, you're missing out.

@HuddersRam that is a seriously impressive writing debut. The 25 years absolutely come to life with the extensive cast of characters recalling the events at the time but that's really well interwoven with wider narrative of the circumstances of the club & footballing world at the time. A very well paced book too with lots of detail on the move to PP, a lot of focus on 2002-2006 and the outstanding job that George Burley did (something that I feel gets often overlooked compared to McClaren in 13/14) and not excessive space given to the last 2/3 seasons.

Extra kudos to Adam Pearson & Peter Gadsby for contributing to the book - Gadsby's recollections in particular really valuable in fleshing out the greed & subsequent removal of the Three Amigos & the madness of Billy Davies. 

Obviously we all think our club is special or unique but there is something peculiarly self-destructive about Derby that marks us out as a bit of a special case. The constant turmoil, lack of continuity & financial mismanagement is a recurring theme - its telling that the quietest period is also the biggest improvement as Nigel Clough rebuilt the squad to have a serious tilt at promotion. Entirely typical of us to squander it 2.5 years after he left. The closing part of the book touches on this recurring theme - does it make us the club we are or is it the millstone round our neck? Not sure.

Like Cameron Jerome rightly said....'Don't you think Derby's a weird club?'

[Pearl Ram]

I loved it, didn’t leave a review because I didn’t think I could add to what already been posted.

One thing I would have liked to have discovered (because I’m a nosey buggar) was if there was any fallout at the club from “Brains” Bywater’s faux pas on Goals On Sunday when he spelt out the worst four letter word on live television seriously reducing Clare Tomlinson’s role at Sky so I assume there wasn’t any but I remember squirming on my settee thinking at what point did he think that was a good idea to say that.