Throughout history, Derby County has been fortunate to have had some of the best managers of their respective decades.
The Rams won the First Division in 1972 and 1975 under the leadership of Brian Clough and Dave Mackay, and in the two years between 1986 and 1988, Arthur Cox brought the team all the way from the third division to the top division of English football.
But like with anything, there have been dark points in Derby’s 140-year history.
Relegation from the Premier League with just 11 points during the 2007–08 season was perhaps their lowest moment as a team. Recent events, however, saw the Rams demoted from the Championship and placed back in the third division.
On the other hand, Football League World has looked at the five worst managers in Derby’s history based on how many games they won across all categories.
No one really thought Nigel Pearson would have such a successful time at Derby. He may be lucky to be as high as he is now because of a win while he was still technically working as manager but suspended.
The former Leicester City manager joined the Rams ahead of the 2016/17 campaign with the expectation of taking the club to the play-offs at the very least.
However, a rocky start meant that fans never truly got on board, and the team struggled early on. He managed 12 games in all competitions, while Chris Powell took charge of another two matches after Pearson had a fallout with then owner Mel Morris.
In those 14 games when he had the title of manager, the now 61-year-old saw victory in just three, giving
In the 21st century, Phil Brown was another Derby boss who had to deal with a tough situation at Pride Park. Unlike Pearson, however, the squad at his disposal was perhaps not at the level to compete towards the upper end of the Championship in the 2005/06 season.
He was brought in during the summer of 2005 following the resignation of George Burley after Tom Huddlestone was sold to Tottenham Hotspur without his knowledge, and the ex-Hull City boss was on the back foot from the start.
Despite a positive start that saw the Rams pick up two wins and two draws from their first four Championship games, it took another two months for Brown to see another three points arrive at Pride Park.
The now 65-year-old
In 1976–77, Colin Murphy was in charge of keeping the Rams in the First Division. He was not the only manager who had to deal with the fallout from winning the league title 18 months before.
He managed to successfully keep Derby away from the dropzone, but after winning just seven of the 35 games he was in charge of, he was sacked in September 1977 with a win percentage of just 20%.
He later went on to have greater success at Lincoln City and Stockport County, with his last job in football coming in 2006, as he took over as the caretaker manager at Hull.
Murphy passed away in September 2023 at the age of 79…
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