The history of Derby County Football Club from 1884 to 1967 covers the major events in the history of the club from its formation in 1884 until the end of the 1966–1967 season.
This era saw Derby County F.C. become one of the original twelve founder member of the Football League, finish League Runners-Up on three occasions, reach four FA Cup Finals, winning one, and record the club record for the longest continued presence in the top tier of the English football league system, spending 27 years (and 20 seasons) there between 1926 and 1953. A sharp decline towards the end of the era saw Derby lose their status as full league members for the only time in their history with relegation to the Third Division North in 1955 before they returned at settled in the Second Tier for much of the next 15 years.
In terms of players, it saw the club represented by arguably its greatest ever player, Steve Bloomer, who scored a club record 332 goals in 525 appearances, as well as other Football League greats such as John Goodall, Hughie Gallacher, Raich Carter and Peter Doherty.
Formation and founder member of the Football League (1884–1892) Derby County Football Club was formed in 1884, as an offshoot of Derbyshire County Cricket Club. Derbyshire, which had formed in 1871, had just embarked on a disastrous cricket season, losing all ten of its Championship matches, and was looking for methods of generating extra revenue. With the increasing popularity of football in the areas becoming apparent (Derby Midland had formed the previous year, and 1884 Derbyshire Cup Final had attracted 7,000 spectators, the biggest crowd in the area to ever watch football), William Morley, a bank clerk at the Midland Railway, and several other enthusiasts, saw the establishment of an associated football team as an opportunity to both generate extra revenue and give supporters a winter interest. They approached the Derbyshire FA, formed the previous year, proposing the name "Derbyshire County", to emphasise the connection to the cricket club. This was rejected as being too long, and the name "Derby County" was instead settled upon, with home games to be played at the County Ground.
Adopting a kit of amber, chocolate and blue, the club began to aggressively gather players, including Derby Midland's star winger George Bakewell and Darley Abbey's Ernest Hickinbottom, and embarked on an extensive programme of friendlies, beginning with a 6–0 away defeat by Great Lever on 13 September 1884. The club's official competitive debut in the First Round of the 1885 FA Cup, with a 7–0 defeat at home to Walsall Town on 8 November 1884. The club fared better in the following season's competition, where they recorded victories over Birmingham St. George's and Aston Villa, before losing to Small Heath Alliance in the Third Round. The victory over Aston Villa, who were established was one of the major forces in the English game at the time, was arguably one of the most important in the club's history as it attracted better opposition in friendlies and made Derby a prominent enough club to be one of the 12 founder members of The Football League when it was formed in 1888.
The opening day of the first ever Football League season was on 8 September 1888, and saw Derby come from 3–0 down away to Bolton Wanderers to win 6–3, though the club ultimately finished 10th out of 12 teams. Between September 1888 and 8 December 1888, the club embarked on a run of eight consecutive defeats which, despite being equaled twice, in 1865 in 1987–88, stands as a club record today.
Despite this poor start, the club acquired its first superstar in May 1889, with the shock capture of forward John Goodall. Goodall had just finished the season as the league's top scorer and had been part of Preston North End's famous "The Invincibles", who had just won the League and FA Cup Double and gone the whole league season unbeaten. Despite Goodall's presence the club could only manage a 7th-place finish in the 1890–91 Football League and recorded the club record defeat when they lost 11–2 away to Everton in the FA Cup first round.
The 1890–91 season opened with an extraordinary 8–5 victory over Blackburn Rovers at the Racecourse Ground, which was Indicative of the quixotic nature of the season ahead. Derby conceded 81 goals in just 22 matches, conceding 4 or more in over half the season fixtures. They also recorded the club record league victory of 9–0, which came against Wolverhampton Wanderers just a week after losing 8–0 away to Sunderland. The goalkeeper for much of the campaign was future Scotland international David Haddow, who joined from Albion Rovers in the summer. Haddow played just 16 matches for Derby, shipping 69 goals, before being sent back to Albion. His successor was Charles Bunyan, who had kept goal for Hyde United when they lost 26–0 to Preston North End in 1887. The club eventually recorded a finish of 11 out of 12 teams, largely thanks to the goals of John Goodall, who hit 13 in just 20 appearances.
In the 1891 close season, Derby absorbed Derby Midland, who had just beaten them 1–0 in the Derbyshire Senior Cup Final, leaving The Rams as Derby's sole professional football club. They still struggled in the league, however, finishing a mediocre 10th out 14 teams in the 1891–92 season, though the campaign was notable for the playing of one match, a 1–0 victory over Sunderland, at The Baseball Ground, later to be the club's home, due to a date clash with the County Ground's lessee, the Derby Recreation Company. The season also saw John Goodall become the first player to be picked for England whilst at the club when he played against Wales in March 1891.
In 1892 the Football League invited the Football Alliance to merge with them and a new look Football League Division One, consisting of the previous season's Football League clubs (minus the relegated Darwen) and the three strongest Alliance clubs (Nottingham Forest, Newton Heath and Sheffield Wednesday), was formed. One offshoot of this was the holding of the first ever competitive East Midlands derby, which saw Forest run out 3–2 winners at the County Ground.
The Bloomer years (1892–1906)
The opening day of the 1892–93 season saw the league debut of 18-year-old Steve Bloomer in a 3–1 win away to Stoke City. Bloomer, widely regarded as the finest goalscorer of his generation and Derby County's finest ever player, was mentored by John Goodall, crediting John Goodall with his early development, and over the next 13 consecutive seasons Bloomer was the club's leading League goalscorer, as well as the overall top league scorer on five occasions in 1896, 1897, 1899, 1901 and 1904. Despite Bloomer's presence, the Derby could only finish the season in 13th out of 16 teams, though several notable records occurred during the campaign Archie Goodall's appearance in the 3–2 defeat at home to Nottingham Forest on 1 October was the first of his club record 167 consecutive appearances for the club, which took Goodall all the way up until 2 October 1897. Additionally, the 4–5 home defeat of 19 October to Notts County saw Walter Roulstone become the first player to register 100 League and Cup games for the club. There was also controversy in the FA Cup, when the 1st round tie against Sheffield Wednesday was declared void not once, (a 2–3 defeat) but twice (a 1–0 win) when the losing club on each occasion successfully questioned the eligibility of an opposition player. The tie was finally settled, at the third attempt, when Sheffield Wednesday ran out 4–2 victors.
The combination of Goodall and Bloomer began to bring Derby County to the fore as they embarked on their first spell of success, though they never achieved any silverware. The spell included finishing runners-up to Aston Villa in the (1895–96 First Division) and two third-place finishes (1893–94 and 1896–97). They also became a strong presence in the FA Cup, reaching the FA Cup Semi-finals twice in consecutive seasons in 1896 and 1897 and then the Final itself in both 1898 and 1899, though they lost out to Nottingham Forest and Sheffield United, 3–1 and 4–1 respectively. The period also saw three other significant occurrences in the club's history – in 1894 the club adopted its, now familiar, black and white kit colours, in 1895 moved to The Baseball Ground permanently and, in 1896, after becoming a limited company, appointed W.D. Clark as the club's first-ever manager. However, as the Rams approached the 1900s, John Goodall, so influential in the success of the last five seasons, was in his mid 30s and no longer a regular fixture in the Derby County line-up. His move to New Brighton Tower in 1900 coincided with a decline in the club's fortunes.
Derby started the new century with a sixth-place finish and appointed its first full-time manager in Harry Newbould, the first time a single man was in sole control of first team affairs. Newbould had previously served as secretary, and combined the role with his new post. He took Derby to the FA Cup semi-final in 1902, and went one better the following season, taking Derby County to its third final in six seasons in 1903, but had the ignomy of setting the record, which still stands, of the biggest defeat in FA Cup final history as Derby lost 6–0 to Bury. Despite cup success, and the bringing in of international players, such as Charlie Morris and Ben Warren, to the Baseball Ground, alongside the continuing form of Steve Bloomer, who scored his 200th Derby County goal in just 279 appearances in a 3–1 win over Everton in November 1902, Derby—under the cloud of increasing financial worries—began to suffer from a drop in league form and played out several finishes in the lower half of the table in 1903–04, 1904–05 and 1905–06.
Bloomer departs and first relegation (1906–1911)
The close of the 1906 season saw Bloomer, against his wishes, sold to Middlesbrough, forcing Harry Newbould – who saw the enforced selling of Bloomer as a sign of things to come – defect to become manager/secretary at Manchester City in July 1906. Former Derby player Jimmy Methven, who was nearing the end of a career spent at right-back with The Rams, was appointed as Newbould's successor, but faced without a regular goal-scorer, found himself in the position of overseeing Derby's first ever relegation, as they finished 19th out of 20 in the 1906–07 First Division table.
Methven had to rebuild the team ahead of the 1907–08 Second Division season, and attempted to replace Bloomer with Alf Bentley, whom he signed for £50 from Alfreton Town. Despite Bentley proving a worthy successor to Bloomer, breaking Bloomer's records of Most Goals in a League Season as he struck 27 goals in 35 matches, Derby struggled to challenge for promotion, finishing just 6th in the table, eight points off of Champions Bradford City. The following campaign saw Derby reach another FA Cup Semi-final, where they lost out 2–1 to Bristol City in a replay, but could only finish 5th in the league, despite another exceptional season from Bentley, who broke another Bloomer record, this time of most League and Cup Goals in a Single Season, as he hit 32 goals in all competitions, including a hat-trick in a 3–0 victory over Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup Fourth round. Derby again improved by one place in the 1909/10 season, finishing fourth, just one point behind Champions Manchester City, and behind Oldham Athletic and Hull City on goal-difference. The nickname of 'The Busy B's' was given to the attacking trio of Bentley, Horace Barnes and Jimmy Bauchop, who, between them, accounted for 59 of Derby's 72 league goals that season, with Bentley becoming the first ever Derby player to hit thirty goals in a single campaign.