The 2010–11 season was Derby County's 112th season in the Football League. It was their third consecutive season in the second tier following the previous campaign and their 43rd overall. The club entered the season with odds of 25/1 for the title, the same as the previous year, 6–1 to be promoted and 8–1 to be relegated. In the event of the season, after a slow start The Rams spent five fixtures in the play-off positions after a run of 8 wins from 11 fixtures before collapsing spectacularly post-November and recording just four wins from their remaining 28 fixtures, with Championship safety not guaranteed until the 44th fixture when, despite losing 3–2 at Norwich City other results left the bottom three unable to overtake them. The club's return of 49 points (from a possible 138) was the club's lowest ever return from a 46-game programme and was their lowest points total in the second tier since 1984, when they took just 42 points from 42 fixtures. The Derbyshire evening telegraph summed up the season as being one in which "with a few exceptions, (Derby) have competed in all the games and yet too often they have come out on the wrong end of the result having been the architects of their own downfall. Mistakes, individually and collectively, carelessness and a lack of concentration have all proved costly. As well as they have played in spells, notably in a wonderful purple patch earlier this season, the bottom line is that at other times they have not been good enough, as their position in the table indicates. That is why an influx of new faces is needed in this most important of summers to make sure they move forward next season."
The club's reserves proved more successful. Consisting of players returning from injury (Russell Anderson, Miles Addison), players on the fringe of the first-team squad (Ben Pringle, Lee Croft) and academy prospects (Callum Ball, Jeff Hendrick) they retained The Central League Division One Central Section, taking 33 points from a possible 42 and scoring 35 goals in the process. They also won the Derbyshire Senior Cup, scoring 24 goals in their four fixtures including a 14–1 win over Shirebrook Town.
The club recorded an average attendance of 26,023, a figure more than 3,000 down on the previous campaign but still the second highest in the Championship behind Leeds United's 27,299 and the 15th best in the country. It was also higher than the average gate of seven Premier League clubs.
Team kit On 1 May 2010 the club announced that website buymobiles.net would be the club's shirt sponsor for the next three years, replacing the two-year association with previous sponsor Bombardier who instead became an "official partner" of the club. The deal was described as the "largest commercial deal in Derby County's history", with sources stating it to be worth around £2m in total. buymobiles already had previous association with the club as it first appeared on the back of the club shirts during the 2004–05 play-off matches against Preston North End and had acted as "Season Presenting Sponsor" during the 2008–09 campaign. The new home kit for the 2010–11 season was revealed at 6pm on 16 July 2010, the day before the club's first pre-season friendly, at a specially arranged Catwalk Show at Pride Park Stadium, with Nigel Clough and his Derby County first team squad all in attendance. It was again manufactured by adidas. The away kit was revealed at half-time in a pre-season friendly against Stoke City.
Review
Pre-season
Clough entered into the 2010–11 season looking to reinforce the squad that had been so badly afflicted by injuries the previous campaign. Of those at the club, new one-year contracts were given to goalkeepers Saul Deeney and Ross Atkins and Russell Anderson signed a new two-year deal. Clough also stated a desire to retain the services of loanees Tomasz Cywka and Michael Tonge for the new campaign. Cywka agreed a deal to sign on a free transfer from Wigan Athletic on 25 May 2010 but interest in Tonge was curtailed when Stoke City announced he was for sale, pricing Derby out of a move and forcing them to look elsewhere. Injuries once again played a part in Derby's preparations, however, as the continuing absence of former Young Player of the Year Miles Addison, who was ruled out for the season after successfully undergoing foot surgery the previous March, was joined by that of Steve Davies, who ruptured cruciate ligaments, ruling him out for the opening six months of the season. Prior to the start of Derby's pre-season friendly fixtures, it was announced Robbie Savage would remain as Captain, with Shaun Barker replacing Addison as Vice Captain and Stephen Bywater being third in line.
The first confirmed signing of the summer was out of contract Doncaster Rovers left back Gareth Roberts, who agreed a two-year deal to join the club on the expiration of his Doncaster contract on 1 July 2010. A long-standing interest in Crewe Alexandra's John Brayford seemed to have reached its conclusion with reports that the club had agreed a deal for £400,000 plus add-ons, though this was denied by Crewe boss Dario Gradi. Rumours resurfaced two weeks later, suggesting Derby were planning a £1m joint bid for Brayford and teammate James Bailey, who was seen as a long-term replacement for Robbie Savage. Crewe confirmed that an offer for the pair had been accepted on 18 May 2010. The deal was finalised on 19 May 2010 for an undisclosed fee with the deal believed to total an initial £800k, rising to over £1m with add ons and a 15% sell on clause The club announced it had agreed a deal to sign ADO Den Haag utility player Danny Buijs once the Dutch football season had finished, though they later pulled out of the deal.
Dave Martin, who had had a successful loan spell with the club the previous campaign, formally completed his free transfer to the club following the completion of his contract with Millwall on 1 June 2010, signing a two-year deal. After sealing five signings within a month of the end of the 2010–11 season, the club stated that the playing staff was "shaping up more for how we would like it" Additionally, the club tied down five of its academy squad to professional deals on 8 July 2010, with goalkeeper James Severn, defender Kallum Keane, midfielders Jeff Hendrick and Graham Kelly and attacker Ryan Connolly all signing deals to become part of Nigel Clough's first team squad. Kelly was sent out on loan to League of Ireland Premier Division side Bray Wanderers the next day. The club also took on several trialists with Ilkeston Town's Amari Morgan-Smith, American Conor Doyle, Woking striker Joel Ledgister and Australian duo Marc Hatvani and Courtney Chipperfield taking part in the club's pre-season fixtures. Doyle impressed sufficiently enough for the club to sign him on a two-year deal which he signed ahead of the opening day of the season. Despite the addition of Doyle, there was a continued hunt for a new forward. The club where heavily linked with Scunthorpe United's Gary Hooper, who Clough highlighted as a player he admired, though Scunthorpe's fee proved too prohibitive for the club and he eventually joined Celtic for £2.4m, with Clough saying the move was not "right for (Derby) at this stage". Other players to attract attention were West Bromwich Albion's Simon Cox, Everton's James Vaughan, Wigan Athletic's Jason Scotland and Sheffield United's Billy Sharp, though Sharp eventually joined Doncaster Rovers.
Of those leaving the club, it was announced that the contracts of first team players Jay McEveley, Gary Teale, Lee Hendrie, Lewis Price and Mark Dudley, as well as reserve team players Jermaine Johnson, Henrik Ojamaa and Alex Forde, would not be renewed. Paul Connolly was the first under contract player to leave the club, joining Championship rivals Leeds United on a 3-year deal. Leeds, alongside Q.P.R. and Burnley, also expressed an interest in top scorer Rob Hulse, who entered into the final year of his contract and was valued at £1.5m by the club. Derby coach Gary Crosby stated, "As much as we'd like to keep Rob, financially, we will maybe look to sell him" though CEO Tom Glick later dismissed any financial need to sell the striker. He was later linked with a £1m move to newly promoted Premier League side Blackpool, though his rumoured £600,000 yearly wage was suggested to be a stumbling block. Newly capped Irish international Paul Green was the subject of interest, this time from Celtic, though Derby moved quickly to dismiss any talk of a sale, describing Green as "untouchable." Temporary exits came when Lee Croft, who had made just one appearance in the last 8 months at the club, moved on a six-month loan deal to Football League One side Huddersfield Town. and youngsters Greg Mills and Ross Atkins joined AFC Telford United and Tamworth respectively.
The club announced that Season ticket sales matched those of the previous campaign, with 2,000 season ticket sales on Friday 16 April 2010 being "one of the single busiest days in the Ticket Office's history." By close of the club's Early Bird offer (which froze 2010–11 Season Tickets at 2009–10 prices) on 18 April 2010, the club had sold 17,357 season tickets, 471 ahead of sales at the same point the previous summer, and claimed they had received calls from "several hundred" supporters who had been prevented from purchasing by the events of the eruption of Eyjafjallajökull. It was also revealed that the club's CEO, Tom Glick, had been elected to The Football League Board.
August
Derby began the 2010–11 season away to newly promoted Leeds United. John Brayford, Gareth Roberts and James Bailey made their débuts in a 2–1 win, with Rob Hulse and Kris Commons scoring their first goals of the season as Derby inflicted Leeds first opening day defeat for 21 years and recorded only their second win at Elland Road in 35 years. The win was followed by a 1–0 defeat away to League Two side Crewe Alexandra in the League Cup first round, the club's second successive defeat by a lower league side in the competition's opening stage, and saw injuries to Russell Anderson and Chris Porter weaken the Rams squad further. They were later joined by Ryan Connolly, who was ruled out for six months with a cruciate knee ligament injury incurred during an Under-18's friendly. Luke Varney, who was linked with another loan spell away from the club, made a shock return to the first team line-up after a year when Rob Hulse was ruled out for the home game against Cardiff City, leaving Varney as the only available striker on the books. Although Varney laid on Derby's goal for Tomasz Cwyka, the club fell to a second consecutive defeat as Cardiff ran out 2–1 winners. Despite being the sole forward fully fit and available, Varney was left out of the trip to Coventry City, to prevent a risk of injury ahead of a proposed loan move to an unidentified club. Left-back Dean Moxey was employed as a lone striker and scored his first for the club as it fell to another 2–1 defeat. After the match, it was revealed that Varney had joined Premier League club Blackpool on a season long deal, with a view to a £500k permanent move. The month's fixtures finished with a visit from league leaders Queens Park Rangers. Derby took a 2–0 lead, with James Bailey scoring his first for the club to add to Kris Commons opener, before QPR scored twice in second half injury time to snatch a 2–2 draw. It was the second consecutive season in which QPR had come from two down to claim a result at Pride Park Stadium, after recovering from two down to win 4–2 at Derby the previous campaign. Bailey's performance say him earn a place in the Football League Championship Team of the Week, the first Derby player to do so in the 2010–11 campaign.