What is your earliest link to the past rams?

[Wistaston Ram]

There are many on this board, who like me are fascinated by the history of this great club, I was struck by Turk Thrust’s recent post saying that his grandfather followed the rams during the Victorian era, Also Brailsford Ram who recalls the 1971-72 champions in LeedsCity Ram's thread and warns that soon there will be few alive to tell the tale.

Born 25 miles from Derby, I started watching the rams in the late 70s. I have no older relatives who followed the club and unfortunately no interesting stories were handed down. My earliest link to the rams is the 1946 cup final when as a kid, I was delighted to discover that the elderly gentleman who ran our village youth club had seen our famous victory.  I remember constantly asking him about the day and if he had any souvenirs such as a programme (I was an avid collector at the time).

I’m sure there are many who can go back further, and even if you are less mature than me, you may remember stories passed down from a (great) grandparent. Be interesting to hear how far back we can go.

[MaltRam]

My grandfather told a story about being hit by a shot from Hughie Gallacher, which puts it 1934-1936. That's the earliest I've heard i person, but a great-grandfather was said to have gone to at least one of the cup finals around the turn of the century, so I can date my family supporting the Rams back 120 years. Not too shabby.

[Van der MoodHoover]

Grandfather was at the cup final. Mother still has his ticket framed on the wall. 

[Dillon Crossfield]

Lord Mayor's show London 1946. Dad not back yet from WW2. Mum (Derbyshire Lass living in London) lifts me up ànd tells me (Aged 6) "That is your team". I was born in Bolsover and will never forget the Cloughie era when I was a season ticket holder.

[Crewton]

One of my Grandads, as a youth, saw Steve Bloomer play during his second spell at Derby. Later in the 1930s as a railway employee, he used his travel perks to attend away games when the likes of Bowers, Barker, Crooks and Hughie Gallagher were playing. I'm sure it was his endless stories of those days that got me hooked. 

[IslandExile]

Before the second world war, my Dad was big friends with Bertie Mee, who went on to manage Arsenal to the double in '71.

Anyhow, my Dad (actually a Forest fan) used to rib me that he used to do something I'd never done as a Rams fan - go to watch Derby reserves away. Mee never played for the first team for Derby, moving to Mansfield then guesting for Southampton during the war before injury ended his playing career.

Winter '68, instead of supporting whoever won the cup in any given year, I decided to settle on one club - and chose that from my birthplace....Derby. Good timing, eh?

Edited November 22, 2021 by IslandExile

[Eric the half a ram]

According to family history my Grandad played in a local cup final at the baseball ground in the 1920s, unfortunately he was gone before it became important enough for me to ask, neither my dad nor my uncle were alive when it happened and had no further details!! 

[Foreveram]

I can only go back as far as the early Brian Clough years and my dad was never interested in football but now my son and grandson come to the games with me, so long after I’ve gone maybe he will be talking about grandad saw Derby when they were champions of England twice.

[Eddie]

It might not be the earliest connection, but I'm pretty sure it's one of the best.

My mum and granny both worked in the kitchens at the Midland hotel during and for a few years after the Second World War.

Stuart McMillan had Derby's players holed up there in the days preceding the 1946 FA Cup Final, under strict curfew. A few of the players were friends of the family and got the ladies to turn a blind eye while they sneaked out of the hotel the back way (through the kitchen), so that they could improve team morale by having a couple (purely for medicinal purposes) in the Brunny.

Naturally, if we had lost, there is no way I would be telling you this (likewise, there's no way I would ever have been told the story either), so the teambuilding exercise paid off handsomely and went down in family folklore.

[Bill Curry]

I was born in 1952 and I first watched the Rams in 1958, albeit the Rams Reserves, whose Central League fixtures were played on Saturday afternoons in those days. First team home fixtures alternated with the reserves but I didn't get to watch to first team until my  dad considered it safe for me to do so.  My first 1st team game was the last game of the 61/2 season.  My Dad thought it would be fine for time then as I was 10 and able to cope with the bigger crowds then (which varied anywhere between 8.000 and about 13,000 compared to the 1,000 or so at reserve games.)  Our opponents were Brighton and Hove Albion who were already relegated. The Rams won 2-0.

In 1960, my Dad got a job with DCFC which consisted of manning the players gate at the Osmaston end of the ground next door to the ticket office. On non-matchdays he would assist the groundsman on the upkeep of the billiard table smooth surface (!!) of the BBG and also the training ground pitch.  He would also drive the players and staff minibus between the BBG and the training ground on Sinfin Lane which was next to a large estate type pub - was it called The County?

On matchdays I was a like a pig in poo then as there were many famous players passing through the players gate.  Even when the reserves played there were lots of well known players returning from injury and I could get their autographs very easily indeed.  They rarely refused to sign their pictures, often culled from Charles Buchan's Football Monthly and stuck haphazardly in a scrapbook.  God knows what that scrapbook would be worth now, if I could only find it.

Wonderful memories of those times when Harry Storer and Tim Ward managed the Rams before the advent of Brian Clough & Peter Taylor.

Bill.....

 

 

Edited November 22, 2021 by Bill Curry

[Eddie]

The Memsahib would kill me if I didn't mention that two of her great-uncles played for The Rams, and that one of them (Walter Roulstone) was the first player ever to play 100 league games for Derby.

Seeing as he was almost ever-present during Derby's first few seasons in the Football League (the first league in world football), it's possible that he was the first person in the world to play 100 league games for anyone.

[Zag zig]

My Great grandad was supposedly a Ram but died during WW1 so I have to take others words for that. It’s been conditioned into every sibling down my fathers side since though. Funny he started out at Royce’s, several of his sons including my Grandad did, who then had both his sons start as apprentice’s too. Just about all the male lines became Rams fans (Somehow I part broke the link, I didn’t fancy a career at Royce’s ?).

The only real old story of players I know, was Derek Hines who started out a Ram but ended up playing for Leicester was a mate of my Grandad; he largely had the hump with my family though because in those days, Derby were always the better team and was constantly goaded by us.

My sons are now 5th generation Rams and when they hopefully get around to kids, I’ll be doing my bit to ensure the burden continues!

[Kathcairns]

39 minutes ago, Foreveram said:

I can only go back as far as the early Brian Clough years and my dad was never interested in football but now my son and grandson come to the games with me, so long after I’ve gone maybe he will be talking about grandad saw Derby when they were champions of England twice.

I can only go back to 1968 and my son  and grandson also come with me now.

[jono]

Gerry Daly scored the first live goal I ever saw in professional football, and I shook hands with Franny Lee once when I was still wearing shorts. 

[i-Ram]

I couldn’t get a bloody ticket for the 1903 final. Loads of bloody half fans turning up cos the sun was shining. Listened to the first 20 minutes on the wireless, but could tell early doors it was no day to be a Ram. My arm was aching too turning that bloody handle on wireless. Went to Ale House to raise my spirits and caught Diptheria. Kids today have no understanding of what respiratory illnesses we had to put up with in those days.

[Gaspode]

My personal connections only go back to the early seventies (dad was from Leicestershire and mum had no interest in football....).

Colin Todd came to my school a couple of times - once he brought his PFA Player of the Year trophy to show everyone in the school assembly, the other time was a school sports day when he helped untie my leg at the end of the three-legged race.....I waas completely awestruck.

Also, when I was a kid I used to help my Mum collect those little charity envelopes and met Archie Gemmell when we unwittingly knocked on his front door - I remember he wasn't overly impressed that we'd disturbed him....

[Ram-Alf]

Never knew my Grandad he passed away in 1933 when My Dad was 5 years old, Alice my Grandma never remarried but apparently had a few boyfriends ?.

So I guess it was all down to my Dad, He was born in Joseph Street a 5-6 minute walk to the BBG, A quiet fella he was, Never really spoke about his family or his past...he was ex forces, But would talk about DCFC not a great deal but enough for me to know who they were.

So as a 10 year old instead of going to the local pictures in Chadd the Essoldo I decided to go down town(Derby)and watch the market traders on Cockpit Hill, With 1s-3d(7p)in my pocket I set off from home(Trenton Green area)across Chadd Park, Along Nottingham Road, Through to the old cattle market and to Cockpit Hill, Stalls all set up on the cobbled stones, Me just mooching about watching and listening, Now as a 10 year old they were the times you were chucked out of the house and told not to come back until tea time, Life was pretty safe in those times.

Anyway, I saw lots of folk walking from the bus station heading towards Siddals Road where the old paint factory was(pavement was yellow and red through spilled paint)so I decided to follow them...I was an inquisitive kid(nosey)so followed not knowing where I was going or where I was, Approaching Ivy square, Dairyhouse Road, Cambridge Street then the BBG, Yes it clicked this was what my Dad called Derbys home ground, I never had the money to go in so played/talked with the local kids, They were waiting until around 4-30pm when the gates would open and they could get in the Kids Pen, So I waited and yep we all got in, The last 10mins, We played PNE...won I think 1-0 or 2-0 I could just see over the painted wall at eye level, I remember the noise and the smell of cigarette smoke.

As a 10 year old in 1966 pre World Cup Winners, It was playing Hide n Seek, Cherry knocking, Cat Creeping, Hop Scotch, Riding your Bike or Marbles in the Gutter, This football was something new to me, Something I wanted more of, Money was tight in our family with both parents and 6 kids, All were fed and clothed and given pocket money of 1s and 3d, That was enough to get me into the pictures 6d to get in and 9d to spend on sweats.

So it was a case of a paper round or saving up, There were no paper rounds as all the bigger lads had got them, So I had to save up for the next season, I still went to the pictures but sneaked in so I saved the 6d and only spent 6d on sweats, So 9d a week could be saved, I walked to the ground from home around 70mins as I didn't want to spend money on bus fare, Season 1966-67 was my 1st season, I went to around 10 games...My 1st game was the 1st of the season Blackburn Rovers we lost, But the excitement being in a crowd of 1000s was something I couldn't forget, A pocket money raise the next year so a few more games were taken in, 1968-69 was my 1st full season and what a season it was...arise one Brian Clough and his assistant Peter Taylor.

Division 2 Champions, 4th in our 1st year, 2 League Championships, Europe, FA Cup, Quiz Ball Champions(TV)the worst pitch in English football...well the rest is history, I've fought, Been clumped by away fans and the Police, I've made a shedload of friends, Travelled North, South, East and West, All weathers, Begged, Borrowed and Stole to get to matches, Have a Ram Tattoo now covered over, Ate, Slept and Drank DCFC, Bought the T shirt, DCFC was my life, If we lost I go into a sulk for a couple of days, Then the weekend was soon upon us and the buzz would start.

There will only be ever...ever one club...Derby County FC.

[SEAO]

An old post I've repeated but I hope fits the topic and may give some new members a little taste of how it was.

November 1955 at the age of seven is my first memory. Remember in those days there was no such thing as football on the television. We had BBC in black and white and that was it. I was aware My Dad went to watch Derby County play. Who they were, what division they played in , why he went was all a mystery. Dad always worked on Saturday mornings and then went to the pub after finishing. Usually he would roll in about 3.00p.m and go to sleep . Occasionally though he went to a football match, and this particular day he came in about six o’ clock and put his bag on the handle inside the door as usual. Mam asked him how they had gone on and I distinctly remember him saying lost 6-1 to Boston ,

                I must have shown some interest because that Christmas I got my very first Charles Buchan annual from my Dad. This was to become his present for me for at least the next six years. It cost 10 shillings and sixpence ( 53p) in today’s money and was always a  prized possession as it was full of stories and  glossy pictures of footballers.

                January 22cnd 1956 I got my first taste of what it was all about. Dad took me to the Baseball Ground to watch Derby play a team called Bradford City. We went by train from Burton Station , catching the 1.18p.m to Derby accompanied by two of Dad’s brothers Stan and Ken. On arrival at Derby I was led up Midland Rd. only for Dad and Stan to go into the Midland Hotel for a pint while uncle Ken took me for a walk somewhere. Sometime later having met up again we went along  London Rd. turning right up Bateman St. on to Osmaston Rd.

For the first time I saw a green trolley bus and was in complete awe as to how those poles coming out the roof of the bus managed to stay on the wires which hung over the road .It was here I first became aware that we were approaching our destination . People wearing black and white scarves and waving noisy rattles , a man shouting all the latest team news as he sold his newspapers and another man selling a little grey booklet called a programme. Dad bought one for 3d ( 1.5p) and gave it to me- my first of many (whatever happened to all them?).

                The noise and babble would have grown as we turned right into Shaftesbury St. up the slight incline and then gently down to the place where there were lots of people milling about which Dad said was the Baseball Ground. there was alweays smoke in the air from the nmerous chimneys and cigarettes. We turned left and queued to go into the Osmaston Upper stand which cost the princely sum of 4/6d (22.5p) to sit down. Through the click of the turnstile,into the building, up three flights of stairs wide enough to take six people and then at the top up a further couple of steps back into the cold January daylight. Wow ! so this is the Baseball Ground football pitch - with a diamond of rolled brown mud and four green corners all marked out with white lines the purpose of which I didn't yet understand .

Looking down and around I could see the crowds coming in at the far end of what was the Popular side and making their way to their favourite standing spot under the roof which was painted with the sign OFFILERS ALES in large white letters. At the opposite end, stood a three tiered stand called the Normanton end with a small area called the boys pen under the scoreboard ,and on our right was the single tier main stand  stretching the length of the pitch where the directors and rich people sat with a  small terrace area in front.

In the middle of that was an opening which led under the stand . This Dad said was where the players came out just before kick off at 3.00p.m. A man dressed in black and white top hat and tails walked around path on the perimeter of the pitch with his rattle . encouraging the crowd to use  theirs and boys with baskets over their shoulders moved slowly along the path around the pitch selling peanuts and sweets .

                Of the game I can remember absolutely nothing. I know that Derby won 4-1 and 15285 people  were there but that’s it. The important thing was that from that day on I was hooked and my love affair with the game of football and Derby County had begun. That programme was read from back to front over and over taking in the names of players – fixtures and results so far. I learned Derby were in the Third Division North and the league table showed me they were currently lying second. I looked  on a map to see where Bradford was and also some of the other teams Derby had played. Workington, Barrow and Carlisle it all sounded very romantic. I never went to another game that season , but  Derby stayed second scoring over 100 goals but just missed out on promotion (no play offs in those days) but I now had my heroes and I started to read reports of the games in the papers and cut out the pictures of the players as they appeared in print.        

I watched my first Cup Final in 1956 a match played between Manchester City and Birmingham City. It was i think, the only game televised that season and was memorable in that Manchester City who won 3-1 had a German ex prisoner of war called Bert Trautmann in goal. He had the misfortune to get hurt in a collision and played on holding his neck for the rest of the game (there were no substitutions in those days). Later X-rays showed that he had broken his neck.

 The FA Cup was the competition all footballers most wanted to win and all boys dreamed one day of playing on the hallowed turf at Wembley. The final in front of 100,000 spectators was always a tremendous occasion on the first Saturday in May at 3.00p.m. It was  showed on BBC television and watched by millions. There were no prying cameras on coaches or in dressing rooms, no pundits offering inane pearls of wisdom for hours on end, no adverts to distract the viewer. The brass band played and the crowd, with supporters of both teams standing side by side with no segregation, sang Abide with Me before the teams came out to a mighty roar. The long walk from the tunnel to the half way line on a pristine pitch mowed in contrasting stripes before presentation to a Royal dignitary increased the anticipation of the fantastic game to come. And the final whistle then usually signalled the end of the football season and kids started to play cricket. That was the way it always was   

The following season 1956-57 I went to Derby more often, watching nine games in all. Each time Dad paid for me to sit in the Osmaston end at 4/6d per time. I would have gone to more but I think he found the extra expense a bit draining. I have very good memories of this season as Derby was  now my favourite team and I started to hang on every spoken and written word about them. I had my favourite players – Jack Parry ,Tommy Powell and Geoff Barrowcliffe- when the latter did something good I can still here Dad saying Good old Barrer! I picked up the magic of the FA Cup as Derby beat Bradford City in the first round and I was able to see the goals replayed on television for the very first time but what the programme was I don’t remember at all.  In the second round I saw them knocked out by New Brighton (non league) and the dreams were over for another year. Dad didn’t miss a home game that season and went to several away as well. My programme collection grew, supplemented by ones from places like Hull, Bradford and Doncaster and all read from cover to cover.

Derby won the Third Division North at a canter that year setting up records that still hold today. Most team goals in a season and most goals in a season by one player (Ray Straw). One game that really sticks in the mind was against Barrow- Derby were 0-2 down at half time and for the first time I became aware of the amount of noise that could be generated by the Baseball Ground crowd as the Rams fought back to draw 3-3. It was an eye opener but fell way short of the cacophony of sound that would be created ten to fifteen years later.

 

[Ram-Alf]

25 minutes ago, SEAO said:

 

November 1955 at the age of seven is my first memory. Remember in those days there was no such thing as football on the television.

 

 

A cracking post SEAO.

Television...luxury, We had a scruffy book with figuers in the corner that you flicked and they moved, Were beaten half to death before tea time, Lived in a hole in the road, My Dad worked 25 hours a day for nowt, Mother would boil old shoes so we could eat, And all wore hand me down cloths, Trouble was I had 11 sisters, Wearing dresses for years wasn't fun.

[Foreveram]

1 minute ago, Unlucky Alf said:

A cracking post SEAO.

Television...luxury, We had a scruffy book with figuers in the corner that you flicked and they moved, Were beaten half to death before tea time, Lived in a hole in the road, My Dad worked 25 hours a day for nowt, Mother would boil old shoes so we could eat, And all wore hand me down cloths, Trouble was I had 11 sisters, Wearing dresses for years wasn't fun.

We got all our clothes from the army and navy stores, it was no fun going to school dressed as Japanese sniper.?