The 2011–12 season was Derby County's 106th season in the Football League and their 113th overall in league football. It was their fourth consecutive season in the second tier following the previous campaign and their 44th overall. Derby started the season well, winning their first 4 league games in August, which was also club's best league start since the 1905–06 season. However, the club were knocked out of the first round of League Cup against League Two opposition for the third season in a row against Shrewsbury Town. Derby maintained their top 2 position in September, with the main highlight being a 2–1 win at local rivals Nottingham Forest, despite the fact that goalkeeper Frank Fielding gave away a penalty and was sent off after 67 seconds, Jeff Hendrick's winner in the game was his first goal in senior football. October and November were disappointing with Derby picking up only 1 win and 5 points out of a possible 30 as Derby fell to 15th place in the league, with a 4–0 defeat at rivals Leicester City at the start of the month, starting the slump in form. In mid-October, Nigel Clough and his backroom staff signed new -year contracts. Derby picked up form in December and January, losing only twice in 9 games, picking up 17 points as Derby ended the month 12th peaking at 8th in mid-January. February was another disappointing month, where they picked up 1 point, scoring no goals with the club suffering their 2nd 4–0 defeat of the season at the hands of Southampton by the end of the month, Derby were 15th in the table. From the start of April to mid march, Derby picked up 14 points out a possible 21 which lifted Derby to 11th in the table, 5 points off the play-offs with 4 games remaining, Derby manager Nigel Clough however ruled out a play-off place, wishing there was more the 4 games left as the club were showing great form. However defeats to Middlesbrough and Cardiff City in 4 days ended the Derby's play-off chances. Derby finished the season 12th in the league, 11 points off the play-off players, with Nigel Clough being satisfied with the performances of the team, stating a lack of firepower as the reason why they fell short and a target to improve in 2012–13. Derby ended the season with a win and a draw as they finished in 12th place on 64 points, 7 places and 15 points better off than the previous season, the club's first top half finish since promotion in 2007 and best league standing since relegation in 2008.
Derby's summer signings had mixed fortunes with Craig Bryson, Jason Shackell & Frank Fielding all being in contention for the Player of the Year award. Striker Theo Robinson was joint top scorer with Steve Davies on 12 goals and Jamie Ward's form impressed enough to earn him a new contract. Tom Naylor also earned praise from Nigel Clough for his development and impressed when standing in for John Brayford at right-back. Nathan Tyson, signed from local rivals Forest however failed to score in 24 appearances, Chris Maguire struggled to break into the first team and was loaned out to Portsmouth for the final two months of the season. Chris Riggott rejoined the club on a one-year contract, but was released in December due to injuries. The club relied less on loan signings and more on the club's academy as Jeff Hendrick, Mark O'Brien, Callum Ball, Mason Bennett and Will Hughes all broke into the first team, Bennett and Hughes making their debuts with Bennett setting a club record for youngest ever team player, making his first appearance against Middlesbrough on 22 October 2011 at 15 years and 99 days old, beating Lee Holmes' record by 169 days.
The club's reserve side had a less successful year than in the two previous seasons, with the club missing out on the Central League title by one point from Sheffield United, as well as being beaten in the Derbyshire Senior Cup final by Buxton. Derby also reached the final of the Central League Cup final against Manchester City Elite Development squad.
The club recorded an average attendance of 26,020, down by exactly 3 from the previous campaign and still the third highest in the Championship behind West Ham United and Southampton. This was also the 14th best average attendance in the country, higher than the average gate of eight Premier League clubs. In October 2011, Derby County announced that they had submitted plans to Derby City Council for a £7 million development of land outside the stadium, which the club named "The Plaza @ Pride Park". The plans included five cafes/restaurants, two convenience stores and 2,000 square metres of office space. The plans were scaled down from the planned £20 million development proposed in 2007. Derby County CEO Tom Glick, said that the plans would help the club deal with the new Financial Fair Play regulations, due to be introduced in the Football League from 2012, as revenue from the Plaza was intended to be reinvested back into the club. The planned development also coincided with plans from the City Council to build a multi-use sports arena on the same site as the proposed Plaza. Derby City Council's Planning Control Committee gave planning permission for The Plaza @ Pride Pride Park development in January 2012, with Chief Executive Tom Glick stating the club had started looking for a development company to build the plaza.
Team kit The team kit for the 2011–12 season is produced by Adidas and sponsored by website buymobiles.net. The new home kit for was revealed on 4 June 2011. The away kit was revealed on 15 July 2011.
Review
Pre-season In a post-match interview after a 2–0 defeat at home to Bristol City on 30 April 2011, Derby manager Nigel Clough stated that whilst talking with the fellow management staff during the game he had wondered "How many of those players out who started today we want out there on 6 August (and the answer is) not too many" and that he intended to bring in "6, 8, maybe 10" new players in the close season. Flying in the face of such talk was press speculation that Clough, fearing interference, would quit his position at Derby to return to Burton Albion. The Rams ended the season in 19th, their lowest position on the league ladder in 5 years. The final tally of 49 points was the club's lowest ever from a 46-game season and their lowest in the second tier since 1984. At the end of May, the club announced it had sold 16,200 Early Bird Season tickets for the following campaign, just 500 down from the same point last season.
Following the completion of the 2010–11 season, Derby announced their retained list for the 2011–12 campaign. Goalkeeping trio Saul Deeney, Ross Atkins and James Severn were all given new deals to their expiring contracts, whilst Callum Ball, Alex Witham, Aaron Cole and Chris Jones become first-year professionals after completing their scholarship programmes. The next month Ball also signed a new three-year contract, which extended his stay at the club until at least 2014. The club also confirmed the departures of Michael Boulding, Chris Porter, Greg Mills and Arnaud Mendy, alongside the retiring Robbie Savage, as they would not be offered new deals, and that loanees Brad Jones, Daniel Ayala and Alberto Bueno would all return to their parent clubs.
The club quickly entered into the transfer market, tying up permanent deals for loanees Frank Fielding, Jamie Ward and Theo Robinson within 48 hours of the end of the season, with Fielding signed for £400k and Ward and Robinson signing for undisclosed fees, rumoured to total £500k. The first "new" capture of the summer came in the shape of Kilmarnock captain Craig Bryson, who signed for £350k, rising to £450,000 after add-on clauses. Later that same month, Derby added two additional signings in the shape of Jason Shackell and Chris Maguire. Barnsley captain Jason Shackell was the club's biggest signing of the Summer Transfer window. After several unsuccessful offers, Derby had a bid in the region of £1m accepted and the player joined on a three-year contract. Miles Addison, who signed a contract extension until 2013 on the same day, joined Barnsley on loan for six months as part of the deal. Another protracted transfer concerned Scottish international striker Chris Maguire. On 1 June, it was announced Chris Maguire would sign for the club on the expiration of his Aberdeen contract after agreeing a three-year deal at Pride Park. However, after Derby failed to match Aberdeen's £400,000 compensation claim, it was revealed that the final fee would be decided by a FIFA Tribunal. However, after much discussion between the two clubs, on 29 June, two days before the expiry of his contract, Maguire's signing was formally announced, with the two clubs agreeing to a compensation in the region of £400,000.
Despite capturing six new permanent signings by the end of June, Derby still hadn't finished rebuilding and added two more captures on 1 July. The most controversial was that of Nottingham Forest's Nathan Tyson. On 7 June, it was confirmed that Nathan Tyson was in contract talks with the club, despite a controversial incident where Tyson waved a Nottingham Forest flag in front of the Derby fans after the final whistle of the East Midlands derby match in August 2009, a game which Tyson scored in and Forest won 3–2. Tyson was hit with a two-game suspended ban and a £5,000 fine for the incident. Tyson was confirmed as a Derby County player on 13 June, signing a 3-year pre-contract agreement and formally joining on 1 July. A less contentious signing came in the shape of Burton Albion goalkeeper Adam Legzdins, who joined from League Two club Burton Albion on a three-year deal, Clough stating that he would return to first choice goalkeeper Frank Fielding. The close seasons final captures came late on.
Former defender Chris Riggott was invited to train with the club in an attempt to regain fitness and impressed enough to earn a contract offer from the club, which he subsequently signed. The other signing came in the form of a six-month loan deal for Hull City defender Kevin Kilbane, who would challenge Gareth Roberts for the club's left-back position.
Uncompleted moved included a rejected £1.25m move for Leicester City striker Martyn Waghorn and an approach for Watford midfielder John Eustace, who had had a loan spell at the club in 2009. Rumoured targets included Birmingham City pair Kevin Phillips and Lee Bowyer, and Adam Rooney of Inverness Caledonian Thistle The start of July also saw a rumours of a move for former Forest midfielder Guy Moussi. There were also rumours of an audacious swoop for Manchester United and England striker Michael Owen, which Clough himself later dismissed as "silly season" speculation.
With the capture of ten players, there came the necessity of shifting out those not in the first team picture to balance the club's wage bill. The biggest sale, and the only one from which Derby received a fee, was Luke Varney, who joined Portsmouth for a fee of £750,000 after lengthy speculation. The only other permanent departure, not counting contract expirations, was Ben Pringle. Pringle was told he was free to find another club, despite being handed a new 18-month contract just 3 months earlier, and subsequently agreed personal terms with Rotherham United. signing for the club on a free transfer later the same day. The only other departures saw goalkeeper Ross Atkins join Burton Albion on a season-long loan move and another young goalkeeper, James Severn joined Eastwood Town until 1 January. There was also rumour of an Aberdeen move for Russell Anderson being accepted, but the player rejected the chance of a move, preferring to remain at Pride Park.