Derby County Legends List

	KEVIN HECTOR Rams career: 1966-1982 Kevin Hector had scored 113 League goals in 176 games for Bradford when Tim Ward astonished supporters by signing him for £40,000. Derby, pottering along unambitiously in the Second Division, were not expected to pay fees of that size but Hector was an instant success. He was christened the King by supporters and retained the nickname, even when he became one fine player among many in the great days of the early 1970s. He did more than survive the advent of Brian Clough and Peter Taylor; he was an integral part of the teams which won the Second Division and two League championships. He was gifted with pace and a marvellous balance, so the goals flowed regularly. Between 1970 and 1972, he played in 105 consecutive League games. Sir Alf Ramsey should have given him an earlier England run and his debut, against Poland in October 1973, was farcical, a couple of minutes as substitute to try and get England through to the World Cup Finals. He nearly did it too, being denied only by a Polish kneecap on the goal-line. His only other cap was also as substitute. Tommy Docherty sold Hector to Vancouver Whitecaps and he spent the English season playing for Boston United and Burton Albion fore Colin Addison brought him back in October 1980. By the time be bowed out, with a goal against Watford in a match Derby had to win to ensure their Second Division place, Hector had made more appearances than any other play in Derby's history and had scored 201 goals, a total surpassed only by Steve Bloomer. He gave supporters immense pleasure through his style, his goals, his manner on and off the field and he was still a winner in Belper Town's Northern Counties (East) League championship team of 1984-5.
	STEVE BLOOMER Rams career: 1892-1914 Steve Bloomer moved to Derby as a child, learned his football at St James's School and played with Derby Swifts in the Derbyshire Minor League, scoring 14 goals for them in one match. That form brought him to the Rams' attention and in his first game in a Derby shirt, against Darley Dale, he scored four times. Bloomer made his League debut at Stoke in September 1892 and soon established himself as a favourite with the crowd. Pale-faced, almost ill-looking, Bloomer's appearance belied his worth to the side. He scored goals from all angles, plundering them from close range and launching rockets from 25 yards. He was Derby's leading scorer in all matches for 14 seasons and won the first of 23 England caps in 1895, scoring twice in a 9-0 win over the Irish at Derby. Bloomer took his fair share of digging elbows and clogging heels, yet nothing could stop this peerless footballer whose rapier shot was matched by exquisite, defence-splitting passes. Some critics said that he played too much for himself and colleagues dreaded a Bloomer stare when the ball was not put to this feet. Yet Bloomer was a legend. One writer said of him: "He is as crafty as an oriental and as slippery as an eel and is much given to dealing out electric shocks to goalkeepers at the end of a sinuous run." In 1906 he went to Middlesbrough, rejoining Derby to a hero's welcome in 1910 and skippering the Rams to promotion. In 1914 he went to coach in Germany where he was interned during World War One. After the war he played with, and coached, the Rams Reserves, then coached abroad before returning to the Baseball Ground as a general assistant. In failing health, Bloomer was sent on a cruise, but in April 1938, three weeks after returning home, Derby County's greatest player was dead.
	Charlie George Rams career: 1975-1982 Dave Mackay interrupted a holiday in Scotland and flew to London when, in July 1975, he heard that Charlie George might be available. Mackay wanted to add even more skill to his League champions and was exceptionally pleased with himself when he captured George, a member of Arsenal's 1970-71 double side, for £100,000. George made his competitive debut at Wembley in the Charity Shield and had a brilliant first season. His shooting was deadly, his passing both exquisite and uncanny in its vision. Until he dislocated a shoulder against Stoke at the Baseball Ground in March 1976, Derby had a realistic chance of the double. George was the first "Midlands Player of the Year but was bitterly disappointed when Mackay was sacked in November 1976. He never again reached the same heights, although one England appearance was poor reward for his skill. He had knee problems when Tommy Docherty sold him to Southampton for £350,000 in December 1978. John Newman brought him back to Derby in March 1982, a short-term move which helped Derby to stay up for another season but they could not meet his terms for a longer stay.
	Aljosa Asanovic Rams career: 1996-1997 An undeniably talented attacking midfielder who played a big part in the Rams' first Premiership season. Known to the supporters as 'Ace', known to the press and his fellow professionals as 'The Professor' because of the glasses he wore off the pitch. Signed at the start of our first season in the Premiership in 1996, Croation international Asanovic was a snip at £950,000, signed on the recommendation of fellow countryman Igor Stimac. Asanovic was a play-maker of sublime quality, not seen at Derby for many a year, and he also fulfilled the role of midfielder who would also score you goals. But unfortunately the honeymoon first season was soon forgotten as during the 97-98 season, Asanovic lost form quite noticeably. He had the look of the player who wanted to move on and he soon did so. He then went on to play magnificently in the 1998 World Cup and gave Derby fans a glimpse of what they were missing. Great player.
	ARCHIE GEMMILL Rams career: 1970-1984 Archie Gemmill cost Derby County £66,000 when he was signed from Preston to take over from Willie Carlin in midfield. So keen was Brian Clough to complete the deal that he stayed overnight in the Gemmills' house. Pace was the first important ingredient Gemmill added but he soon developed into one of the finest midfield players in Britain. He began running every August and did not stop until the following May, urging the rest of the team, competing in every area of the field and using his speed as the ace. After a stunning UEFA Cup performance against Atletico Madrid in Spain, Argentine manager, Juan Carlos Lorenzo, embraced an embarrassed Gemmill shouting "Magnifico". Gemmill made 40 appearances for the 1971-2 champions, and, in the absence of Roy McFarland, was an inspirational captain when the title returned to Derby three years later. He won a third championship medal after joining Nottingham Forest in what was for Derby a disastrous exchange deal which brought in goalkeeper John Middleton and £25,000. He played 43 games for Scotland, 22 of them while with Derby, and gained a League Cup winners' medal with Forest. He was the first signing after Peter Taylor's appointment as manager and did more than most in a successful fight against relegation. In 1983-4, Taylor fell out with Gemmill. McFarland restored him to the team, but Gemmill's career ended sadly with relegation to Division Three.
	ALAN HINTON Rams career: 1967-1975 Alan Hinton had won three England caps, one with Wolverhampton Wanderers and two with Nottingham Forest, before Brian Clough and Peter Taylor signed him from the City Ground for £30,000 in September, 1967. Some Forest committee men were heard to suggest that Derby would be asking for their money back but they were absolutely wrong. Hinton's ability to cross the ball from any position and with either foot amounted almost to genius. His explosive goals were a bonus. He was Derby's creator-in-chief as they won the Second and First Division titles in the space of four years as well as their acknowledged artist from free kicks and corners. He had a short run during the 1974-5 Championship success, giving Derby a different shape at a time when they were beginning to lose their way, but played little in the next season after the tragic death of his son Matthew. He went into the North American Soccer League with Vancouver Whitecaps and set a new record for assists in 1978, laying on 30 goals to beat the mark set by Pele and George Best. He was a successful coach, going indoors after the collapse of the NASL. As Peter Taylor predicted, he was fully appreciated at Derby only after he had left.
	COLIN TODD Rams career: 1971-1978 "We're not signing Colin Todd. We can't afford him," said Brian Clough in answer to reporters' persistent enquiries one day in February 1971. Clough promptly got into his car and, 24 hours later, produced Todd to those same reporters. Derby paid Sunderland £170,000 for one of the most promising young players in the country and Clough, once Sunderland's youth coach, knew he had a cast-iron certainty. Todd, paired with Roy McFarland, was a central defender with the capacity both to excite and produce ripples of appreciative applause. He was devastatingly fast and strong in the tackle. He made the game look so easy, because all he did was to catch opponents, take the ball off them and give it to one of his own players. He played 40 games in the 1971-2 Championship side, but 1974-5 was his greatest season. Peter Daniel stood in admirably for the injured McFarland and Todd made scarcely an error. Deservedly, he was elected as the professional Footballers' Association Player of the Year. He could easily have won more than 27 England caps and there was great resentment when Tommy Docherty sold him to Everton for £300,000 in September 1978. Todd helped Birmingham City to promotion from the second Division in 1980 and gave Oxford United a vital thrust towards the Third Division title in 1984.
	ROY MCFARLAND Rams career: 1967-1983 Brian Clough and Peter Taylor had seen Roy McFarland playing for Tranmere Rovers when they were in charge of Hartlepool and made him their second signing at Derby. He was then 19 and had been snatched from under the noses of Liverpool, the team he supported. For less than £25,000, Clough and Taylor had bought a player who, they felt sure, would develop into the best centre-half in England. With Dave Mackay alongside him to speed up his maturing process in 1968-9, McFarland was a key-figure in the team which romped away with the Second Division title. He made his England debut in Malta in February 1971, and led Derby to the 1971-2 League Championship. McFarland had the football world at his feet, although he suffered a black week in 1973 when Clough and Taylor resigned and England were knocked out of the World Cup in the qualifying stages because they were unable to beat Poland at Wembley. It was also at Wembley, in May 1974, that McFarland sustained the severe achilles tendon injury which was to keep him out of all but the last four games in the 1974-5 Championship triumph. He was able to regain his England place briefly and his 28 appearances set a record for a Rams player, passing Alan Durban's 27 for Wales. Sadly for McFarland, the best part of his playing career came first and, in a declining side, he was increasingly susceptible to injuries. He became player-manager of Bradford City, and promptly led them to promotion from Division Four in 1981-2 before returning to Derby in a controversial circumstances. He played a few matches when he was team manager under Taylor in the first part of the sad 1983-4 season. At his peak, he was one of Derby's all-time greats, skilful, consistent and ruthless; a superb professional and one of England's best post-war defenders.
	DAVID NISH Rams career: 1972-1978 Derby County were reigning champions when in August 1972, they broke the British record transfer fee for the third time since the war, signing David Nish for £225,000 from Leicester City to follow Billy Steel and Johnny Morris, their record breakers of the 1940s. Nish had led Leicester in the 1969 FA Cup Final at the age of 21 and was one of the most elegant defenders ever seen at Derby. He was geared to attack and had the delicate touch of a skilful inside-forward. Nish relished the arrival of Charlie George and could always find him on the Derby left. His brief international career of five games was then over. Illness, requiring immediate surgery, put him out of an England tour to Eastern Europe and he was not picked again. His effectiveness was gradually curtailed by three operations on his right knee, the result of an injury sustained when scoring against Sheffield United at Derby in December 1975. He joined Alan Hinton in the North American Soccer League and even at the end of his career, he remained upset that what he thought was an equaliser in the 1976 FA Cup semi-final against Manchester United had been disallowed because other players were offside.
	RON WEBSTER Rams career: 1962-1977 Ron Webster was the local boy made good in Derby County's League Championship teams. First as a player then as youth coach, he served under eight managers at the Baseball Ground. Harry Storer was in the manager's office when the young Webster went to ask why he was not in the first team and his promise brightened considerably in what was then, under Tim Ward, an uninspiring Second Division team. Bigger clubs saw Webster's potential but he stayed at Derby and, under Brian Clough and Peter Taylor, became the regular right-back in the surge towards the top. He was not a flamboyant player and tended to shun publicity. Because he had been around for a long time, managers as well as Press observers often underestimated him but his hallmarks were utter reliability and dedicated professionalism. He was a top-class and his rare goals in the 1970s - one in each of the Championship seasons - assumed a prophetic significance. Dave Mackay bought Rod Thomas to play right-back but Webster, characteristically, made the Welsh international wait. Only when Webster was injured did he lose his place. When he turned to coaching he had made more senior appearances than any other player in the Rams' history. Kevin Hector subsequently took the record off him but Webster was a popular youth coach until he became a victim of Peter Tayor's reorganisation.
	COLIN BOULTON: Rams career: 1965-1977 Only one man played in all 84 games of Derby County's two League Championship seasons, goalkeeper Colin Boulton. He made more appearances than any other goalkeeper in the club's history, beating the record set by Reg Matthews. Boulton was a police cadet in his native Cheltenham when Tim Ward signed him in 1964. He was understudy to Matthews and it came as a setback when Brian Clough signed Les Green from Rochdale in 1968. Not until Green lost form at the end of 1970 was Boulton recalled, but this time he made the most of it. His handling was high-class, greater experience taught him to deal with crosses and, above all, he was consistent, giving away remarkably few soft goals. In 1971-2, he kept a clean sheet in 23 League games as well as six Cup ties of various kinds. For a time Dave Mackay preferred Graham Moseley, but recalled Boulton shortly before he was sacked as manager. Tommy Docherty ended Boulton's Derby career but, to the day he left, Boulton was, by some way, the best goalkeeper on the books. Following an unhappy time with Los Angeles Aztecs, Boulton played under Colin Murphy for Lincoln City but, after four games, a severe injury at Crewe put him out of the game. In the Popside.com poll Boulton beat Estonian Mart Poom and England Legend Peter Shilton to the best Keeper position. Perhaps Poom's famous header against the Rams when he returned as Sunderland keeper' counted against him !
	This section of the site features an All Time XI (as voted for by the members of popside.com). The Popsiders selected an attacking 4-3-3 formation. Defence: Colin Boulton was selected as the best goalkeeper despite competition from Peter Shilton and Les Green. Ron Webster claimed the right-back position, David Nish is the left back and Roy McFarland claimed the first centre-back slot alongside his old partner Colin Todd ! A clean sweep for the defence of the 70's ! Alan Hinton is the choice for a wide left midfielder. Scottish Legend Archie Gemmill took the first midfield Berth. Creative Croat midfielder Aljosa Asanovic fills another midfield slot, being the most modern player in the selection, and the only foreign player in the first XI. Charlie George took the 'creative' slot behind the two strikers. 'King' Kevin Hector was easily voted the first choice striker with Derby legend Steve Bloomer taking the final slot. The substitutes for the team had a more modern and continental tinge being Poom, Powell, Stimac, van der Laan and Baiano.