BBG and PP best memories.

[Andy_Faber]

To complete that story it was against Spurs I believe, Mackay against his old boys. I was at school but it was on a crackly ethereal (illegal) radio that went in and out of reception.

A broken finger meant I could avoid having to play rugby that afternoon. Almost worth breaking the finger for

Yes Spurs, bad editing on my part!

[Ram59]

Yep, having said it was a great ‘memory’ - it was but mine obviously isn’t - you’re right...Boro’. Both play in red and white and come from the North East...but the atmosphere in that last twenty minutes or so has never been beaten imo.

Yes, it's been matched by other games, but they were all full houses and primed, ie: forest or big games, this was just a run of the mill game in front of an average attendance.

[Manofpride]

I know league cup games now are classed has a hindrance but late 68 early 69 they would pack grounds out, the evening league cup matches at BBG against Chelsea which we won 3-1 and Everton which we won 1-0 are really some of my favourite games ever! Then the next round we draw with Swindon 0-0 and lose 0-1 away to a Don Rogers goal, I was sulking for weeks! What was remarkable Swindon got to the final and beat Arsenal with that man Rogers doing the damage again! My favourite ever Derby County team was Dave Mackay's 1974/75 squad what entertainment we got that season.

The BBG greatest memories without doubt are the seasons we were Champions and the European cup nights, but the cup games mentioned were my real highlights! The move to Pride Park had to be done as you have to move with the times, imagine playing football every week now in a shed like the City Ground. Best PP moment 5-0 against Billy and his red dogs!

[ramAnag]

The 2nd playoff semi against Saints my favourite memory, great tension and release! That team gave their all, and I actually couldn't watch when Jay Mac took his penalty. The monsoon helped add to it in a strange way too.

Worst moment was the following season, our final game against Reading. It's the only time I genuinely felt, "these players are taking the piss". The 1st time I ever heard the "you're not fit to wear the shirt" sung with such anger and disdain.

Strange ‘favourite memory’. I remember the excitement and not being able to ‘switch off’ and sleep that night...but actually we were rubbish and the better side lost.

[Andy_Faber]

I’ll take you forward to 1st April 1972, Good Friday to some but Derby v. Leeds to me. I stood (on a plastic Corona (sic) crate) for this one, my memory says we were towards the Ozzy end, maybe not. I already hated Leeds for turning out a reserve team at the BBG the year before, even more so for taking the piss out of Southampton in March by playing keepball at 7-0 up. But above all that I hated them for playing with a sneer on their faces. Well they had reason to sneer that day. Early doors, Robson harassed Bremner into a mistake, Durban clipped a cross straight over and O’Hare nodded in with the Leeds defence flat footed. Durban was a superb passer of the ball, undervalued as a crosser only by the brilliance of Hinton. Second half, in one of the most incisive moves I’ve ever seen, Hector got the ball well Inside his own half and I could feel the expectation in the crowd. Hectors footballing brain, wow what an asset - he accelerated down the wing, slowed to a trot, looked up and slid the most beeeutiful diagonal pass to O’Hare. His shot hit Sprake then the thug Hunter and into the net. Not sure I’ve ever felt so elated as O’Hare stood both arms aloft saluting the Normanton End. I went with my uncle Pete that day, he called the second goal as soon as Hector got the ball, and on the way home he called Derby as Champions. What did he know that I didn’t? A few weeks later, so we were

[Andy_Faber]

Onwards to 26th April 1975, and unlike the first Championship we could all bask in the glory of this one at the BBG, as we'd won the title the wednesday before through other results. A lovely sunny day, I sat amongst strangers in the A stand to cheer the heroes onto the pitch, along with 38,000 other devotees, a parade of former heroes and the already relegated Carlisle United. A great season obviously although IMO not as exciting as the previous champion campaign, this team IMO were much better in defence and a bit worse in attack, as only three goals in the last five games attest. I agree with Mac that this team was better than the 71-72 team. As the team walked on in triumph, the most obvious anomaly was that the player of the year was absent - Peter Daniel's golden hour was over, but what an hour, never in Derby's history has anyone been so loyal for so long, took his chance and drifted back into the shadows. And so to the game.

An absolute shocker nil-nil. End Of

[Trickytreesreds]

On this day at the BBG

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cY3npKoX0M

[Andy_Faber]

Lets move forward to 1983. Derby were on the slide, and languished in division 2 whilst rivals Forest crushed all before them, Brian Clough's loss of bottle in returning to Derby meaning that what could have been an all conquering Rams team instead ran out in red and rampaged twice through the weakest European opposition in history. Then came the FA Cup third round draw. By then estranged, who knows what the former Morecambe and Wise of football, Clough and Taylor, REALLY thought about the match-up, scheduled for January 8th. Both towns were buzzing, tickets were in high demand. It was bloody freezing on the day, and I had blagged a ticket in the pop side. The pitch was the traditional mudbath, and from minute 1 it was clear it was going to be a big leveller - Forests silky skills didn't translate well onto mud, Derby's artisan team were at least used to it. The crowd was in a feisty mood, the Pop Side was as mobile as ever and not for the faint hearted - a senior manager where I worked, a big round jolly man, stood near me at the start, but last time I saw him he was on his back, eyes full of fear, and just being hoyed around by the ebb and flow of the crowd, on top of which he had his pocket picked.

From that first minute, I was never in any doubt we'd win, just one of those days where it was just a matter of time. Mid-second half, Archie Gemmill curled a free kick round the wall for goal one, and the icing on the cake came when Derby's finest slaphead Scottish midfielder of the 80's, Mick Brolly, slipped one through for Andy Hill to score. On balance, Derby played just above their current shocking standard, Forest well below theirs, and apart from the result I recall the game for it being Archie Gemmill's last great game - his legs had gone by then, but from somewhere, for just that game, he managed to summon up the drive he had in the mid-70s

Regretably, this was no new dawn for The Rams, there was a long way to fall yet

[AdiSalisbury]

Some wonderful stories!

[Trickytreesreds]

Lets move forward to 1983. Derby were on the slide, and languished in division 2 whilst rivals Forest crushed all before them, Brian Clough's loss of bottle in returning to Derby meaning that what could have been an all conquering Rams team instead ran out in red and rampaged twice through the weakest European opposition in history. Then came the FA Cup third round draw. By then estranged, who knows what the former Morecambe and Wise of football, Clough and Taylor, REALLY thought about the match-up, scheduled for January 8th. Both towns were buzzing, tickets were in high demand. It was bloody freezing on the day, and I had blagged a ticket in the pop side. The pitch was the traditional mudbath, and from minute 1 it was clear it was going to be a big leveller - Forests silky skills didn't translate well onto mud, Derby's artisan team were at least used to it. The crowd was in a feisty mood, the Pop Side was as mobile as ever and not for the faint hearted - a senior manager where I worked, a big round jolly man, stood near me at the start, but last time I saw him he was on his back, eyes full of fear, and just being hoyed around by the ebb and flow of the crowd, on top of which he had his pocket picked.

From that first minute, I was never in any doubt we'd win, just one of those days where it was just a matter of time. Mid-second half, Archie Gemmill curled a free kick round the wall for goal one, and the icing on the cake came when Derby's finest slaphead Scottish midfielder of the 80's, Mick Brolly, slipped one through for Andy Hill to score. On balance, Derby played just above their current shocking standard, Forest well below theirs, and apart from the result I recall the game for it being Archie Gemmill's last great game - his legs had gone by then, but from somewhere, for just that game, he managed to summon up the drive he had in the mid-70s

Regretably, this was no new dawn for The Rams, there was a long way to fall yet

Oh Andy, I love that line. "worst European sides in History"?

Liverpool, the holders/ IFC Cologne/ Ajax/ Hamburg ?

It was a real comeptition then. A champions league. 2 games, **** or bust. No drop outs into another competition either.
But money didn't rule Europe then.