1971–72 Derby County F.C. season

Derby County

1971–72 season
Manager	Brian Clough
Stadium	Baseball Ground
First Division	1st (Champions)
FA Cup	Fifth round
League Cup	Second round
← 1970–71 1972–73 →

The 1971–72 season was Derby County's 72nd in the Football League and their 45th season in the top flight. They won their first ever league title to qualify for the 1972–73 European Cup, as well as winning the Texaco Cup. In addition, their reserve side won the Central League for the first time since 1936.

Season summary

Derby began the season strongly with a 12 match unbeaten run in the League although they did exit the League Cup at the second round stage, beaten 2-0 in a replay at Leeds. Defeat at leaders Manchester United triggered a period of inconsistent league form that saw Derby lose five times in 11 matches, the last of these at Elland Road just after Christmas, but they lost just one of their next 13 matches and a 2-0 victory against Leeds at the Baseball Ground over Easter took them to the top of the table. They remained there despite losing to Newcastle in the next match, their only home defeat of the season, and then drawing with West Bromwich Albion but had now played a game more than the three teams below them (Leeds, Liverpool and Manchester City) with only two points separating the four.

Two victories followed but defeat at Manchester City in their penultimate match of the campaign saw Derby slip to third with the title race still wide open. City, having completed their fixtures, now led the table with 57 points with Derby and second-placed Liverpool both a point behind and separated only by goal average. Crucially, the two would meet at the Baseball Ground in Derby's final match although the Reds still had a further game in hand. Leeds lay fourth on 55 points, also with two matches remaining and a superior goal average to the other three challengers.

Derby ended their season with a 1–0 win over Liverpool, John McGovern netting the winner, leaving them on 58 points with Leeds (who beat Chelsea 2-0 on the same night) on 57 and Liverpool on 56. Derby's destiny was not in their own hands and they left the country to escape the pressure - Brian Clough holidayed with his family in the Isles of Scilly while Peter Taylor went to Majorca with the players. Leeds needed a draw and Liverpool a win to overtake Derby. In the event, Wolverhampton Wanderers beat Leeds 2–1 at Molineux and Liverpool could only manage a 0–0 draw at Arsenal. The league was unusually close throughout the campaign and the final table saw Derby champions just one point ahead of the teams in 2nd (Leeds), 3rd (Liverpool) and 4th (City).

Clough had built a balanced team at Derby, one in which every player knew his job. They rarely swept away the opposition, instead building on the foundations of a strong defence, although there were some memorable performances, notably in 4–0 defeats of Stoke and Nottingham Forest at the Baseball Ground and away to Sheffield United.

Although Derby reached the FA Cup fifth round, losing 1–0 to eventual runners-up Arsenal in a second replay at Filbert Street, their primary cup success for 1971–72 came in the Texaco Cup, a competition between 16 English, Scottish and Irish clubs who were not in European competition. With home gates consistently over 20,000, Derby beat Dundee United (8–5 on aggregate), Stoke (4–3 agg.) and Newcastle (4–2 agg.) before playing Airdrieonians in the final. After a 0–0 draw at Broomfield Park, Derby beat their Scottish opponents 2–1 in the second leg at the Baseball Ground with Roger Davies, signed for £12,000 the previous summer from non-league Worcester City, grabbing the decisive goal to give Derby their second cup win in as many seasons.

Record signing defender Colin Todd claimed the club's Player of the Year while Alan Hinton finished the season as top scorer with 15 goals. Kevin Hector netted his 100th for the club in a 6–0 FA Cup fourth round win over Notts County and Alan Durban became the club's most capped international, overtaking Sammy Crooks, with his 27th and final appearance for Wales. Steve Powell became Derby's youngest ever player, a record he held for almost 30 years, when he made his debut in a Texaco Cup tie against Stoke City aged just 16 years and 30 days.

League table

		P	W	D	L	F	A	GA	Pts
1	Derby County	42	24	10	8	69	33	2.091	58
2	Leeds United	42	24	9	9	73	31	2.355	57
3	Liverpool	42	24	9	9	64	30	2.133	57
4	Manchester City	42	23	11	8	77	45	1.711	57
5	Arsenal	42	22	8	12	58	40	1.450	52
6	Tottenham Hotspur	42	19	13	10	63	42	1.500	51
7	Chelsea	42	18	12	12	58	49	1.184	48
8	Manchester United	42	19	10	13	69	61	1.131	48
9	Wolverhampton Wanderers	42	18	11	13	65	57	1.140	47
10	Sheffield United	42	17	12	13	61	60	1.017	46
11	Newcastle United	42	15	11	16	49	52	0.942	41
12	Leicester City	42	13	13	16	41	46	0.891	39
13	Ipswich Town	42	11	16	15	39	53	0.736	38
14	West Ham United	42	12	12	18	47	51	0.922	36
15	Everton	42	9	18	15	37	48	0.771	36
16	West Bromwich Albion	42	12	11	19	42	54	0.778	35
17	Stoke City	42	10	15	17	39	56	0.696	35
18	Coventry City	42	9	15	18	44	67	0.657	33
19	Southampton	42	12	7	23	52	80	0.650	31
20	Crystal Palace	42	8	13	21	39	65	0.600	29
21	Nottingham Forest	42	8	9	25	47	81	0.580	25
22	Huddersfield Town	42	6	13	23	27	59	0.458	25

Results

First Division

Date	Opponents	H / A	Result F – A	Scorers	Attendance
14 August 1971	Manchester United	H	2–2	Hector, Wignall	35,386
18 August 1971	West Ham United	H	2–0	O'Hare, Wignall	30,783
21 August 1971	Leicester City	A	2–0	Hector, Hinton (pen)	35,460
24 August 1971	Coventry City	A	2–2	O'Hare, Wignall	27,759
28 August 1971	Southampton	H	2–2	McGovern, Hector	28,498
31 August 1971	Ipswich Town	A	0–0		18,687
4 September 1971	Everton	A	2–0	Hector, Wignall	41,024
11 September 1971	Stoke City	H	4–0	Todd, O'Hare, Hinton, Gemmill	32,545
18 September 1971	Chelsea	A	1–1	McFarland	42,872
25 September 1971	West Bromwich Albion	H	0–0		30,628
2 October 1971	Newcastle United	A	1–0	Hinton	32,077
9 October 1971	Tottenham Hotspur	H	2–2	Todd, McFarland	35,744
16 October 1971	Manchester United	A	0–1		53,247
23 October 1971	Arsenal	H	2–1	O'Hare, Hinton (pen)	35,480
30 October 1971	Nottingham Forest	A	2–0	Hinton (pen), Robson	37,170
6 November 1971	Crystal Palace	H	3–0	Bell (og), Wignall, Hector	30,388
13 November 1971	Wolverhampton Wanderers	A	1–2	O'Hare	32,957
20 November 1971	Sheffield United	H	3–0	Hector, Hinton 2 (2 pens)	35,326
27 November 1971	Huddersfield Town	A	1–2	McGovern	15,329
4 December 1971	Manchester City	H	3–1	Hinton (pen), Webster, Durban	35,384
11 December 1971	Liverpool	A	2–3	O'Hare 2	44,601
18 December 1971	Everton	H	2–0	Hinton 2	27,895
27 December 1971	Leeds United	A	0–3		44,214
1 January 1972	Chelsea	H	1–0	Gemmill	33,063
8 January 1972	Southampton	A	2–1	O'Hare, Durban	19,321
22 January 1972	West Ham United	A	3–3	Hinton, Durban, Hector	31,045
29 January 1972	Coventry City	H	1–0	Robson	29,385
12 February 1972	Arsenal	A	0–2		52,055
19 February 1972	Nottingham Forest	H	4–0	Hinton 2, O'Hare, Hector	31,801
4 March 1972	Wolverhampton Wanderers	H	2–1	Hinton (pen), McFarland	33,456
11 March 1972	Tottenham Hotspur	A	1–0	Hinton (pen)	36,310
18 March 1972	Leicester City	H	3–0	O'Hare, Durban, Hector	34,019
22 March 1972	Ipswich Town	H	1–0	Hector	26,738
25 March 1972	Stoke City	A	1–1	Durban	33,771
28 March 1972	Crystal Palace	A	1–0	Walker	21,158
1 April 1972	Leeds United	H	2–0	O'Hare, Hunter (og)	38,611
3 April 1972	Newcastle United	H	0–1		38,119
5 April 1972	West Bromwich Albion	A	0–0		32,439
8 April 1972	Sheffield United	A	4–0	Gemmill, Hector, Durban, O'Hare	38,238
15 April 1972	Huddersfield Town	H	3–0	McFarland, Hector, O'Hare	31,414
22 April 1972	Manchester City	A	0–2		55,023
1 May 1972	Liverpool	H	1–0	McGovern	39,159

Football League Cup

Date	Round	Opponents	H / A	Result F – A	Scorers	Attendance
8 September 1971	Second Round	Leeds United	H	0–0		36,023
27 September 1971	Second Round Replay	Leeds United	A	0–2		29,132

Texaco Cup

Date	Round	Opponents	H / A	Result F – A	Scorers	Attendance
15 September 1971	First Round First Leg	Dundee United	H	6-2	Durban, Hector, Walker, O'Hare, Hinton, Robson	20,059
29 September 1971	First Round Second Leg	Dundee United	A	2-3	Hinton, Butlin	6000
20 October 1971	Second Round First Leg	Stoke City	H	3-2	O'Hare 2, Hector	21,487
3 November 1971	Second Round Second Leg	Stoke City	A	1-1	Wignall	23,461
24 November 1971	Semi-Final First Leg	Newcastle United	H	1-0	O'Hare	20,021
8 December 1971	Semi-Final Second Leg	Newcastle United	A	3-2	Walker, McGovern, Todd	37,140
25 January 1972	Final First Leg	Airdrieonians	A	0-0		16,000
26 April 1972	Final Second Leg	Airdrieonians	H	2-1	Hinton (pen), Davies	25,102

FA Cup

Date	Round	Opponents	H / A	Result F – A	Scorers	Attendance
15 January 1972	Third Round	Shrewsbury Town	H	2–0	Hector 2	33,463
5 February 1972	Fourth Round	Notts County	H	6–0	Robson, Hector, Durban 3, Hinton (pen)	39,450
26 February 1972	Fifth Round	Arsenal	H	2–2	Hinton (pen), Durban	39,622
29 February 1972	Fifth Round Replay	Arsenal	A	0–0		63,077
13 March 1972	Fifth Round Second Replay	Arsenal	N	0–1		40,000

References

• Results database from Soccerbase