1974–75 Derby County F.C. season

Derby County

1974–75 season
Chairman	Sam Longson
Manager	Dave Mackay
Stadium	Baseball Ground
First Division	1st (champions)
FA Cup	Fifth round
League Cup	Third round
UEFA Cup	Third round
Top goalscorer	League: Bruce Rioch (15) All: Kevin Hector (21)
Highest home attendance	38,000 v Carlisle United (26 April 1975)
Lowest home attendance	17,716 v Servette FC (18 September 1974)
Average home league attendance	26,719
Home colours

The 1974–75 season was Derby County's 75th in the Football League and their 48th season in the top flight. They won their second league title in four years to qualify for the 1975–76 European Cup.

Season review

Whereas Brian Clough built his 1971–72 Championship winning team on discipline and a solid defence, Dave Mackay's 1974–75 side relied on attacking power to overwhelm its opponents. Midfielder Bruce Rioch bagged 15 goals to finish as the club's top league scorer, and the front three of Kevin Hector, Francis Lee and Roger Davies all contributed 12 or more. In March, Davies scored all the goals in a 5–0 win over Luton Town, becoming the first Derby player to net five times in a match since Hughie Gallacher in 1934. The Rams also put five past Queens Park Rangers and Burnley to finish the season as the league's leading scorers, though such abandon often left the side defensively frail and there were several heavy defeats along the way.

The season started in worrying fashion, with just one win in the club's opening seven fixtures, and despite a brief rally of six wins in 10 between September and November, a 1–0 defeat at Luton just before Christmas 1974 left them in 10th place. However, a run of just three defeats in their last 20 games, which saw them take 30 points from a possible 40, helped Derby surge up the table. A 0–0 draw away to Leicester City on the penultimate Saturday, combined with Ipswich Town drawing at Manchester City a few days later, confirmed the Rams as champions for the second time in four years.

Boulton

McFarland

Todd

Webster

Nish

Gemmill

Rioch

Lee

Newton

Davies

Hector

Derby County First XI: 1974–75

Although domestic cup progress was limited (reaching the third round of the League Cup and the fifth round of the FA Cup), Derby's UEFA Cup debut proved relatively fruitful. A 6–2 aggregate victory over Servette FC was followed by a 4–4 aggregate draw with Atlético Madrid in the second round, both ties finishing 2–2. As a result, Derby took part in the club's first ever penalty shootout and overcame their opponents, winning 7–6. However, that was to be as good as it got for the Rams as Velež Mostar were able to overturn a 3–1 first league deficit to win 5–4 on aggregate and reach the quarter-finals.

Peter Daniel won the club's Player of the Season award after stepping in for Roy McFarland, who suffered an Achilles tendon injury whilst on international duty and missed all but the last five matches. Ron Webster became only the fifth player to break 500 appearances for Derby during his appearance in the defeat at Luton, while Colin Boulton broke the club record for goalkeeping appearances during the campaign on his way to a total of 344 appearances for the club. Colin Todd received the PFA Players' Player of the Year award, the only Derby County player ever to do so.

Squad

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
—	GK	ENG	Colin Boulton
—	GK	ENG	Graham Moseley
—	DF	ENG	Peter Daniel
—	DF	ENG	Roy McFarland
—	DF	ENG	David Nish
—	DF	WAL	Rod Thomas
—	DF	ENG	Colin Todd
—	DF	ENG	Ron Webster
—	MF	SCO	Archie Gemmill (Captain)
—	MF	ENG	Alan Hinton
—	MF	SCO	Jeff King

No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
—	MF	ENG	Henry Newton
—	MF	ENG	Steve Powell
—	MF	SCO	Bruce Rioch
—	FW	ENG	Jeff Bourne
—	FW	SCO	Eric Carruthers
—	FW	ENG	Roger Davies
—	FW	EIR	Chris Egan
—	FW	ENG	Kevin Hector
—	FW	ENG	Francis Lee
—	FW	ENG	John Sims

Competitions

Division One

Main article: 1974–75 Football League

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GAv	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Derby County (C)	42	21	11	10	67	49	1.367	53	Qualification for the European Cup first round
2	Liverpool	42	20	11	11	60	39	1.538	51	Qualification for the UEFA Cup first round
3	Ipswich Town	42	23	5	14	66	44	1.500	51
4	Everton	42	16	18	8	56	42	1.333	50
5	Stoke City	42	17	15	10	64	48	1.333	49

Source: World Football
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal average; 3) Goals scored
(C) Champions

Matches

Date	Opponents	H / A	Result F – A	Scorers	Attendance
17 August 1974	Everton	A	0–0		42,193
21 August 1974	Coventry City	H	1–1	Lee	25,717
24 August 1974	Sheffield United	H	2–0	Hector, Davies	23,088
27 August 1974	Coventry City	A	1–1	Davies	18,586
31 August 1974	Tottenham Hotspur	A	0–2		20,770
7 September 1974	Newcastle United	H	2–2	Davies, Lee	21,197
14 September 1974	Birmingham City	A	2–3	Rioch, Davies	27,345
21 September 1974	Burnley	H	3–2	Hector, Rioch (pen), Lee	21,377
25 September 1974	Chelsea	H	4–1	Rioch, Webster, Daniel, Hector	22,036
28 September 1974	Stoke City	A	1–1	Lee	23,589
5 October 1974	West Ham United	A	2–2	Lee, Hector	32,900
12 October 1974	Leicester City	H	1–0	Rioch	24,753
15 October 1974	Sheffield United	A	2–1	Lee 2	21,882
19 October 1974	Carlisle United	A	0–3		13,353
26 October 1974	Middlesbrough	H	2–3	Hector, Hinton	24,036
2 November 1974	Leeds United	A	1–0	Lee	33,551
9 November 1974	Queens Park Rangers	H	5–2	Rioch, Lee, Hector 3	23,339
16 November 1974	Arsenal	A	1–3	Rioch (pen)	32,286
23 November 1974	Ipswich Town	H	2–0	Hector, Rioch	24,341
7 December 1974	Liverpool	A	2–2	Bourne, Davies	41,058
14 December 1974	Everton	H	0–1		24,991
21 December 1974	Luton Town	A	0–1		12,862
26 December 1974	Birmingham City	H	2–1	Bourne, Rioch	26,121
28 December 1974	Manchester City	A	2–1	Newton, Lee	40,188
11 January 1975	Liverpool	H	2–0	Newton, Lee	33,463
18 January 1975	Wolverhampton Wanderers	A	1–0	Newton	24,515
1 February 1975	Queens Park Rangers	A	1–4	Rioch	20,686
8 February 1975	Leeds United	H	0–0		33,641
22 February 1975	Arsenal	H	2–1	Powell 2	24,002
25 February 1975	Ipswich Town	A	0–3		23,078
1 March 1975	Tottenham Hotspur	H	3–1	Rioch, Daniel, Davies	23,000
8 March 1975	Chelsea	A	2–1	Daniel, Hinton	22,644
15 March 1975	Stoke City	H	1–2	Hector	29,985
22 March 1975	Newcastle United	A	2–0	Nish, Rioch	31,010
29 March 1975	Luton Town	H	5–0	Davies 5	24,619
31 March 1975	Burnley	A	5–2	Rioch, Nish, Davies, Hector 2	24.276
1 April 1975	Manchester City	H	2–1	Rioch 2	32,966
5 April 1975	Middlesbrough	A	1–1	Hector	30,066
9 April 1975	Wolverhampton Wanderers	H	1–0	Lee	30,109
12 April 1975	West Ham United	H	1–0	Rioch	31,336
19 April 1975	Leicester City	A	0–0		38,943
26 April 1975	Carlisle United	H	0–0		38,000

League Cup

Main article: 1974–75 Football League Cup

Date	Round	Opponents	H / A	Result F – A	Scorers	Attendance
11 September 1974	Second round	Portsmouth	A	5–1	Hector 2, Lee, Rioch, Roberts (og)	13,582
8 October 1974	Third round	Southampton	A	0–5		14,911

FA Cup

Main article: 1974–75 FA Cup

Date	Round	Opponents	H / A	Result F – A	Scorers	Attendance
4 January 1975	Third round	Orient	A	2–2	Todd 2	12,490
8 January 1975	Third round replay	Orient	H	2–1	Lee, Rioch	26,501
27 January 1975	Fourth round	Bristol Rovers	H	2–0	Hector, Rioch (pen)	27,980
18 February 1975	Fifth round	Leeds United	H	0–1		35,298

UEFA Cup

Main article: 1974–75 UEFA Cup

Date	Round	Opponents	H / A	Result F – A	Scorers	Attendance
18 September 1974	First round 1st Leg	Servette FC	H	4–1	Hector 2, Daniel, Lee	17,716
2 October 1974	First round 2nd Leg	Servette FC	A	2–1	Lee, Hector	9,600
Derby County win 6–2 on aggregate
23 October 1974	Second round 1st Leg	Atlético Madrid	H	2–2	Nish, Rioch (pen)	29,347
6 November 1974	Second round 2nd Leg	Atlético Madrid	A	2–2 (aet)	Rioch, Hector	35,000
4–4 on aggregate, Derby County win 7–6 on penalties
27 November 1974	Third round 1st Leg	Velež Mostar	H	3–1	Bourne 2, Hinton	26,131
11 December 1974	Third round 2nd Leg	Velež Mostar	A	1–4	Hector	15,000
Velež Mostar win 5–4 on aggregate

Statistics

Players statistics

Substitute appearances indicated in brackets

No.	Pos	Nat	Player	Total		Division One		League Cup		UEFA Cup		FA Cup
				Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
	GK	ENG	Colin Boulton	54	0	42	0	2	0	6	0	4	0
	DF	ENG	Ron Webster	34	1	24	1	2	0	6	0	2	0
	DF	ENG	Peter Daniel	49	4	37	3	2	0	6	1	4	0
	DF	ENG	Colin Todd	50	2	39	0	2	0	5	0	4	2
	DF	ENG	David Nish	49	3	38	2	2	0	5	1	4	0
	MF	SCO	Bruce Rioch	54	20	42	15	2	1	6	2	4	2
	MF	SCO	Archie Gemmill	52	0	41	0	2	0	6	0	3	0
	MF	ENG	Henry Newton	48	3	35+1	3	1+1	0	6	0	4	0
	FW	ENG	Roger Davies	49	12	39+1	12	2	0	2+1	0	3+1	0
	FW	ENG	Kevin Hector	48	21	38	13	2	2	6	5	2	1
	FW	ENG	Francis Lee	46	16	34	12	2	1	6	2	4	1
	GK	ENG	Graham Moseley	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	DF	WAL	Rod Thomas	25	0	22	0	0	0	1	0	2	0
	MF	ENG	Steve Powell	18	2	12+3	2	1	0	1	0	1	0
	MF	ENG	Alan Hinton	19	3	8+5	2	0	0	0+4	1	0+2	0
	FW	ENG	Jeff Bourne	27	4	7+10	2	0+1	0	4+1	2	3+1	0
	DF	ENG	Roy McFarland	4	0	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	MF	SCO	Jeff King	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	FW	SCO	Eric Carruthers	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	FW	EIR	Chris Egan	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	FW	ENG	John Sims	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

• Source:

References

• Results database from Soccerbase