Arthur or Jim?

[tinman]

Jim Smith by a mile. 80’s football was s*** and any Tom, dick or Harry could finish high up or champions. 

the mid to late 90’s is when the money in the premier league kicked in and the gap widened making it harder to bridge the gap. 

[RamInSweden]

Gotta say Jim Smith. I started supporting Derby in 1990, so the season we got relegated under Cox. He then went on to sign the best players the second division had seen at that time, but failed to get us promoted. So strangely enough my memories of Cox are fairly dismal.

When Smith came in, I remember being so excited, as I had watched his Portsmouth team a few times and remember thinking, I wish we had him as manager at Derby.

Those times with Wanchope, Stimac, Baiano, Eranio, Asanovic, Sturridge etc were just a breath of fresh air. Derby felt like a modern forward thinking club.

Maybe Cox was better as the underdog, bit for me Jim Smith just reinvigorated the whole club.

[Chopper]

Better team, better to watch and achieved more?

Better team is so difficult, I'd say peak TBE Derby was better than peak Cox Derby, but average Cox better than Average TBE, so Cox wins that one, just.

Better to watch? TBE at their best and even at their average. It may have been the pitch and the smattering of real footballing quality but I've never felt so much footballing joy than I have watching early PPS Derby.

Achieved more. Cox. TBE snuck us close to the Euros, but if England weren't banned in Coxs day...  and all from Div 3.

[Sufferingfool]

I remember thinking that was it for top tier football for Derby. Relegation to Div 3 for a former great club now a pale shadow of its former greatness. Then along came King Arthur et al and bought about a miracle building a great team, the beauty of Goddard and Saunders, the majestic Wright, and taking us into but not into Europe. However TBE’s team felt like it belonged more somehow, the exotic nature of our foreign stars, the skills of Wanchope, Bianio, Eranio and Sturrage which burned so bright for sadly too brief a period. So for me Cox for the resurrection and Smith for bring Pride to Pride Park. 

[DerbyAleMan]

Both great Derby managers who bought joy to the Derby fans. 

But for me King Arthur edges it, had to rebuild to get us out the old 3rd division then took us to 5th in the old Division one, buying bargin players like George Williams, Gary Micklewhite, Rob Hindmarch and Ross McLaren to start the job, then when in the top division bringing great players in like Shilton, Wright, Dean Saunders, Paul Goddard and  Tinman. Great times, hope these times will be repeated again. 

[RodleyRam]

Slightly too young for Cox but will wax lyrical about TBE till the cows come home.

A real character and out and out football man. Innovative too, adopting wingbacks, searching internationally for talent, convincing experienced internationals to buy into the Derby project. 

Signing Igor for a Div1 side was an insane piece of business, followed up with Asa, Eranio, Baiano, Wanchope, Poom et al. Remarkable to think back on that kind of talent now.

The best, most optimistic football I've seen as a Ram. It's a shame we weren't able to consolidate in the Prem and lost our way towards the end, losing Mac's influence as a coach was a big deal sadly.

[Ken Tram]

I still always sing: "Arthur is my king" at the end of "E I E I E I O, up the football league we go ..."

... not least because King Arthur sounds right!

[Pikeyram]

Both fantastic servants to the mighty Rams, they would both sit in my top 5 managers in the time I've been a supporter of this fine club!

[Jimbo Ram]

4 hours ago, Pikeyram said:

Both fantastic servants to the mighty Rams, they would both sit in my top 5 managers in the time I've been a supporter of this fine club!

1 Clough

2 Mackay

3 Cox

4 Smith

5 Steve Mac

6 Burley

 

[Ramrob]

Cox or Smith? 
 

Prefer a Braeburn myself 😉

[Ramplinho]

Both did great. 

I grew up on Arthur. Some of the forward play at that time was absolutely electric, we weren't out of place in the top 6 as the matches against Arsenal in their championship season show, and the fact we had 2 of the national team in our line up was a great sense of pride. 

Jim had some great characters and really special individual players in his team, including some great foreign bargains. His side arguably acclimatised to the top flight quicker too. 

Both could have pushed on even further if they were allowed. Maybe the Cox side had the greater chance of closing the gap on the top sides but it was a very different league before Sky interfered. 

For me Cox did a better job with less, in an era of just 2 subs and no such thing as a squad. Also the 5th place finish speaks for itself. 

[DavesaRam]

Its a really tough question, with Mark Wright and Dean Saunders to watch being a major plus for our Arthur. Sadly he was undone by the soon to be floating Maxwell, but my vote has to go to Jim boy because his teams were so good to watch. Jim's undoing were two-fold - Manchester United poaching Stevie Mac when h was at his peak so us lose an edge. Jim then made Colin Todd his number two and was training him up to take over, probably the following season. But rumour has it that Toddy went behind his back and suggested that he should take over before Jim got us relegated. I am sure that was a major reason that he never seemed to have the squad behind him, and the plummet downwards was miserable.

So its a Jim for me.

[Macintosh]

A draw.

As it would be with Paul Jewell and Tommy Docherty.

[richinspain]

1 hour ago, Macintosh said:

A draw.

As it would be with Paul Jewell and Tommy Docherty.

Tommy Docherty when he took over or when he left? The side he took over, although aging, was more than good enough.

[Anag Ram]

3 hours ago, Macintosh said:

A draw.

As it would be with Paul Jewell and Tommy Docherty.

Now that’s a film I wouldn’t want to see 🐷🍆🙈

[hintonsboots]

On 07/09/2024 at 13:58, Ramrob said:

Cox or Smith? 
 

Prefer a Braeburn myself 😉

Worked in a fruit and veg shop as a student. An elderly chap came in one day and ordered two large orange pippins, saying his wife liked a big Cox of an evening.😁

[Macintosh]

22 hours ago, richinspain said:

Tommy Docherty when he took over or when he left? The side he took over, although aging, was more than good enough.

Every minute he was here (and the same with Jewell). He inherited a very good mid-table squad that could have been improved to get back to being a top side, but left us struggling in 19th. The next season we were relegated with his replacement Colin Addison at the helm. Players like Nish, George, Boulton, Todd, Hughes, Webster, Thomas, James, Curran, Hector, Gemmill, Masson (and Hales) were just memories. He did leave us Steve Buckley though.