The history of Derby County Football Club from 1967 to the present covers the major events in the history of the club from Brian Clough assuming control in 1967 up until the 2022–23 season.
Whilst the first 80 years of Derby County F.C.'s existence had been relatively consistent, the era covered here saw the club experience five promotions and five relegations as it rose dramatically to its peak and back. After over a decade in the second tier of English football, Brian Clough took charge at Derby and kickstarted a revolution at the club; it went on to win the Football League First Division twice in the 1970s and reach the European Cup semi finals in 1973 before rapidly declining back to the third tier and near financial meltdown within ten years of its second Championship. A rise back to the top followed towards the end of the 1980s and start of the 1990s before a spell of flitting between top flight and second-tier football followed over the next 20 years.
During this period the club was managed by its greatest ever manager, Brian Clough, and was represented by players such as Kevin Hector, Roy McFarland, Archie Gemmill, Stefano Eranio and Igor Štimac, all of whom where voted into the club's All Time First Eleven in 2010.
The Clough and Taylor years (1967–1973)
Promotion and consolidation Clough and Taylor had guided Hartlepools to an eighth-placed finish in Division Four during the 1966–67 season and was recommended to Derby chairman Sam Longson by former England striker Len Shackleton, who had been working as a journalist in the North East. The duo's first season in charge of Derby saw the club finish one place lower, 18th, than the previous campaign but it saw the recruitment of numerous players, such Roy McFarland, John O'Hare and Alan Hinton, who between them made 1,154 appearances for the club and would go on to form the spine of the club's most successful ever side. Of the inherited squad, eleven players departed and only four were retained: Kevin Hector, Alan Durban, Ron Webster and Colin Boulton. Clough also fired the club secretary, the groundsman and the chief scout, along with two tea ladies he caught laughing after a defeat. The season was notable for a run to the League Cup semi finals, the club's first ever notable run in the competition, where they lost 4–2 on aggregate to eventual winners Leeds United. The campaign also saw Reg Matthews set the club record of 246 appearances by a goalkeeper, as he surpassed Harry Maskrey's previous record of 222.
With the addition of Willie Carlin and the 'inspirational' capture of Tottenham Hotspur's Dave Mackay, whom Clough converted from his famed midfield role into a commanding centre half, Clough's restructuring of Derby County was complete and the embarked on a successful promotion campaign the following season (1968–69), winning the Football League Second Division title at a canter, seven points clear of second-placed Crystal Palace, and equalling the club record 63 points in a season (2 points for a win). The season itself started in unconvincing fashion with two draws and two defeats. Carlin, brought from Sheffield United for £60,000 as the final piece of Clough's jigsaw, made his debut in the fifth game of the season, a 2–2 home draw with Hull City and from there the club lost just three of its remaining 37 fixtures, including winning the final 9, a club record. A 3–2 win at Blackpool on 8 March 1969 kicked started an unbeaten sequence which did not end for 22 matches and the following season with a 1–0 defeat away to Sheffield Wednesday on 27 September 1969, another club record and the final tally of just 5 defeats from 42 league fixtures was also unmatched in the club's history. The club also had another notable League Cup run, reaching the quarter-finals and beating top-flight Everton and Chelsea in successive rounds, before again being knocked out by the competition's eventual winners, falling 1–0 away to Swindon Town in a replay. Promotion saw Derby return to the top flight for the first time in 16 years and Dave Mackay's performances saw him named Football Writers' Association Footballer of the Year, alongside Manchester City's Tony Book, the only Derby County player to earn the honour.
Clough's team entered the 1969–70 Division One campaign more than ready for the challenge of top-flight football and went 11 unbeaten from the opening day, briefly topping the table. A club record 41,826 packed into The Baseball Ground to see a 5–0 victory over Tottenham Hotspur, before an indifferent run of form between September and January saw the club fall of the title pace. The recruitment of Terry Hennessey, Derby's first £100,000 player, from Nottingham Forest in February restored some impetus in the side and the club rallied, finishing the season 11 unbeaten, including a sequence of 6 consecutive wins, and earning a fourth placed finish, which would have claimed the club its first ever European campaign as entrants in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup but a joint FA and League disciplinary panel found the club guilty of 'gross negligence' after an unexplained gap of £3,000 in season-ticket income and payment of fees to Dave Mackay outside of the terms of his contract. The fine of £10,000 and a one-year ban from European competition saw the club appoint Preston North End assistant secretary Stuart Webb as their new secretary to ensure that the administrative efficiency off the pitch matched the playing efficiency on it.
Derby opened the 1970–71 season with a pre-season participation in the inaugural Watney Cup, an invitational tournament in which the top two scorers from all divisions of the Football League who had not earned promotion or European football, took part. As an invitational, the player's participation in the competition is not officially recorded in the club's records but the tournament did give Derby their first cup win since 1946, with a 4–1 win over Manchester United in the final at The Baseball Ground. This was Derby's sole participation in the tournament, which lasted only four seasons, but the victory proved to be the highlight of an otherwise unremarkable season as Derby consolidated their top-flight position with a ninth-placed finish, though Roy McFarland became the first Derby player to represent England since 1950 when he appeared against Malta, and Clough made two more key signings in the shape of Archie Gemmill, £66,000 from Preston, and again broke the club transfer record with the £170,000 capture of Sunderland's Colin Todd. Dave Mackay ended his three-year tenure at the club with his first ever ever-present campaign, a personal goal, and won the club's Player of the Year award.
1971–72: Champions of England Described as Derby's "greatest ever season", the 1971–72 season saw Derby County's first team claim their first ever League title as well as win the Texaco Cup and the reserves win The Central League for the first time since 1936. The season started in encouraging fashion, with a 12 match unbeaten run, though 7 of these were draws, only coming to an end 1–0 defeat away to Manchester United. Following a 3–0 capitulation away to title rivals Leeds United following an inconsistent period of form which saw 5 wins and 6 defeats from 11 fixtures, Clough savaged his squad and produced the desired effect – Derby lost just 3 of their remaining 19 fixtures and did enough to hold off both Leeds United and Liverpool to claim the title. A crucial Easter victory over Leeds United, 2–0 with goals from John O'Hare and a Norman Hunter own goal, was vital but a defeat by Manchester City in City's last and Derby's penultimate match of the campaign left the title race wide open between Derby, Liverpool and Leeds.
Derby ended the season with a 1–0 win over title rivals Liverpool at the Baseball Ground, John McGovern netting the crucial winner, leaving Derby on 58 from 42 games, Leeds on 57 from 41 and Liverpool on 56 from 41. Derby's destiny was not in their own hands and they left the country to escape the pressure; Clough holidayed with his family in the Isles of Scilly whilst Taylor went to Majorca with the players. Fixture congestion meant that Leeds and Liverpool both played their final matches of their season after the 1972 FA Cup Final, in which Leeds had beaten Arsenal, with Leeds needing a draw and Liverpool a win to overtake Derby. In the event of the fixtures, a tigerish Wolverhampton Wanderers overcame Leeds 2–1 at Molineux and Liverpool could only record a 0–0 draw at Highbury against Arsenal. The league was unusually close throughout the campaign and the final table saw Champions Derby just one point of the teams in 2nd (Leeds), 3rd (Liverpool) and 4th (Manchester City). Clough had built a balanced team at Derby, one in which every player knew his job. Although they rarely swept away the opposition, instead building on the foundations of a strong defence as record signing defender Colin Todd claimed the club's Player of the Year, there were some memorable performances; 4–0 humblings of rivals Nottingham Forest and Stoke City at the Baseball Ground and away to Sheffield United. Alan Hinton finished the season as the club's top scorer with 15 goals, whilst Kevin Hector netted his 100th for the club in a 6–0 FA Cup Fourth round win over Notts County and Alan Durban became the club's most capped international, overtaking Sammy Crooks, with his 27th and final appearance for Wales. Steve Powell also became Derby's youngest ever player, a record he held for almost 30 years, when he made his debut in a Texaco Cup tie against Stoke City aged just 16 years and 30 days.
Although Derby reached the FA Cup quarter-finals (losing 1–0 to eventual runners-up Arsenal in a second replay at Filbert Street, Leicester), their primary cup success for 1971–72 came in the Texaco Cup, a competition between English, Scottish and Irish clubs who were not in European competition and featuring 16 clubs. With Derby's home gates always over 20,000 they overcame Dundee United (8–5 on aggregate), Stoke City (4–3) and Newcastle United (4–2) before playing Airdrieonians in the final. After a 0–0 draw at Broomfield Park, Derby overcame their Scottish opponents 2–1 at the Baseball Ground, with Roger Davies, signed for £12,000 the previous summer from non-league Worcester City and who scored many a crucial goal in the successful reserve team, grabbing the winner in a 2–1 victory to give Derby their second cup win in as many season.
Europe and Clough's departure