SHEP'S DERBY SHORTS

Richard Shepherd continues the build-up ahead of this evening's game with this selection of City v Derby goodies!

An Amateur From Derby: The first Derby County player that we ever signed was Jim Methven who joined us in the summer of 1914. He was an amateur player working in the Cardiff area and was the son of Derby’s manager Jimmy Methven (senior). But he never played any first-team matches for us and left at the end of the 1914/15 season.

Four For Chops: On September 29th 2009 we defeated Derby 6-1 at home in the Championship. Michael Chopra scored four goals that day, our others came from Peter Whittingham and Chris Burke.

Lower Division Meeting: It is twenty-seven years since we played Derby in the lower divisions – that was in 1985/86 when we were both in what was then Division Three (third tier). They did the double over us, and the attendance at Ninian Park on September 28th 1985 for our 2-0 defeat was just 3,435.

Durban’s Derby Success: One of Derby’s best signings came from Cardiff City. Port Talbot-born midfield player Alan Durban joined them in the summer of 1963 when they were an average Second Division club. He went on to become a Wales International, and following the arrival from Hartlepool of manager Brian Clough and his assistant Peter Taylor in 1967, Derby rose dramatically. They reached the First Division, won the League Championship, and Alan became one of their main players.

The First Time: Our first-ever League meetings with Derby came in the 1926/27 season. They beat us 6-3 at their former Baseball Ground home in early-October 1926, but we won the return First Division game 2-0 at Ninian Park on March 16th 1927 with two goals from Hughie Ferguson. It was just five weeks before our F.A. Cup Final win against arsenal, but such were the economic conditions South Wales that only 10,059 saw that win against Derby.

Signed From Derby: Following the departure of our full-back Peter Rodrigues to Leicester City at the end of December 1965, we immediately signed full-back Bobby Ferguson from Derby County to replace him. Bobby was a major part of our 1967/68 squad that reached the semi-final of the European Cup Winners Cup in 1967/68 and he was with us until the early part of 1968/69 when he became player/manager at Barry Town and then Newport County. He later went on to become assistant to Bobby Robson at Ipswich, becoming manager for five years in 1982 after Robson became England manager.

A Top-Level Meeting: The last time that we played Derby County at top level (the original First Division) was in 1952/53. We had just been promoted while Derby were to go down that season. We beat them 2-0 at Ninian Park on March 14th 1953 with goals from Tommy Northcott and Roley Williams in front of a 38,670 attendance.