Derby County

Kit History

1884 o q

1890-1891 a n o q v

1891-1892 n

1893-1894 q v

1894-1895 j n p

1895-1896 w

1896-1897 j n

1897-1899 j n o

1904-1905 n w

1905-1906 w

1906-1909 k n w

1909-1910 n w

1911-1913 w

1914-1915 k

1919-1924 n u w

1925-1926 n w

1927-1930 c o w

1930-1931 o

1931-1939 h w

1945-1946 w

1946-1956 g

1956-1957 w

1957-1961 u

1961-1962 w

1962-1966 d w

1966-1968 d

1968-1969 n

1969-1971 g

April 1971 g

1971-1973 d

Umbro

1973-1974 s

Umbro

1974-1975 d s

Umbro

1975-1976 d s

Umbro

1976-1978 d

Le Coq Sportif

1978-1980 d

Lettering added to crest in 1979

Le Coq Sportif

1980-1981 d

Patrick

1981-1984 d l t

Admiral

1984-1985 d t

Osca

1985-1986 n t

Osca

1986-1987 e t

Umbro

1987-1989 d m t

Umbro

1989-1991 d t

Umbro

1991-1993 d m

Bukta

1993-1994 d m

Rams Prowear

1994-1995 d m

Puma

January 1995 d

Puma

1995-1997 d m

Puma

1997-1998 d m t

Puma

1998-1999 d m t

Puma

1999-2001 d m

Errea

2001-2003 f

Errea

2003-2005 a

Joma

2005-2006 a

Joma

2006-2007 a r t

Adidas

2007-2008 a

Adidas

2008-2009 a

Adidas

2009-2010 a

Adidas

2010-2011 a

Background

In 1884 attendances at Derby County Cricket Club were falling: a Midland Railway clerk named William Morley discussed the formation of a senior football team for Derby with his father William senior who happened to be a committee member of the county cricket club. When William senior officially proposed the idea the committee embraced the possibility of boosting the ailing cricket club’s finances. The county FA objected to the new club being called Derbyshire County FC so Derby County was settled on as a compromise. Fans generally refer to the club as "Derby" or "The Rams," since "County" is associated with their Nottingham rivals, Notts County. For a period they wore the amber, chocolate and light blue colours of their parent club.

On Saturday 14th November 1885 Derby County came of age when they defeated the mighty Aston Villa in the second round of the English Cup, establishing themselves as one of the country's leading clubs. When the Football League was formed four years later, The Rams were invited to become founder members. It was not until sometime in the 1890s that the ubiquitous white shirts were adopted.

Derby found competiton at this higher level a struggle: they successfully sought re-election in 1889 and 1891 and in 1895 they survived a test match to avoid relegation to Division Two. There followed a period of stability until they were relegated in 1907. In 1912 the club won the Second Division championship only to be relegated in 1914, returning to the top flight the following season as Division Two champions for derby county fc crest 1925 the second time.

In 1921, The Rams were back in Division Two once more but in 1926 they returned to Division One. The first evidence we have of the team wearing the club crest comes from a team photograph dated 1925. It consisted of a shield divided into three with a rams head in the lower section and the clubs initials, intertwined in the two upper sections. This disappeared derby county fc crest 1946 after a few seasons but was revived immediately after World War Two, when the colours were reversed out. This version was used consistently until 1968.

Derby remained in Division One until 1952 when they suffered a serious decline, winding up in Division Three (North) in 1955. From this nadir, they recovered in 1957 when they returned to Division Two as Third Division (North) champions. The club settled into mid-table mediocrity until Brian Clough and Peter Taylor arrived in 1967 and transformed the club. derby county fc crest 1968

One of the innovations Clough and Taylor brought about was a simplification of what was now considered a very old fashioned club crest. The new version dispensed with the shield and complicated monogrammes and consisted simply of the ram's head.

derby county fc crest 1971 Having guided these perennial underachievers back into the top flight as Division Two champions in 1969, Clough and Taylor created a side that won the League championship in 1972 and narrowly missed reaching the European Cup Final the following year. It was Clough who introduced dark blue shorts in 1971 (intended to inspire his players to play as if they were turning out for England) as well as a new crest, which consisted of a modernistic line drawing of a ram. For a club that had played in a virtually unchanged strip for more than 70 years these were radical departures and a much needed breath of fresh air associated with success.

When this extraordinary duo left to manage Brighton, Dave Mackay took over the side and guided them to a second championship in 1975.

In the summer of 1978 Derby signed the first shirt sponsorhip deal in the Football League with Saab, whose name appeared in red on players' derby county crest 1979 shirts in the pre-season photo-shoot. The League would not sanction sponsorship at the time so these shirts never appeared in competitive matches. It fell to Liverpool the following season to carry the first shirt sponsorship in England (Hibernian were the first senior club in the UK to sport sponsored shirts in 1977-78.)

In 1979 the ram crest was slightly modified to include the club's name.

derby county fc crest 1984 In 1981, the club adopted a new white and navy strip designed by French manufacturers, Patrick, who saw fit to make the ram crest face right instead of left (incidentally also removing the text). This coincided with a decline that took Derby into Division Three by 1984, where the club celebrated their centenary with a special crest (with the ram once again facing left). The following season (1985-86) the text was restored but the ram still faced right.

Successive promotions in 1986 and 1987 brought Derby back to the top flight.

During this period Derby were backed by self styled socialist millionaire and international statesperson, Robert Maxwell whose various publishing companies appeared on the team shirts in addition to his own moniker. When Cap'n Bob fell into derby county crest 1995 disgrace and then off his yacht in November 1991, the money dried up and Derby dropped into Division Two. In 1993, Bukta took over from Umbro and Derby's ram once again turned left and the script was removed.

derby county crest 1997 In 1995 Puma took over the contract as Derby's kit supplier and took the opportunity to introduce their own design for the club crest. This was redesigned in 1997, when the diamond was removed as was the date of Derby's formation.

After several seasons in or near the play off places, Derby were promoted to Division One once more in 1996. The club became established in what became the Premiership as a mid table side until 2002 when they were once again relegated. After struggling to maintain a place in the second flight for several seasons, Derby returned to the derby county crest 2007 Premier League in 2007 but found themselves completely at sea. Having won only a single League game all season, they were relegated in last place, 24 points adrift.

Adidas took over in 2007 as the club's kit partner and once again no-one could resist yet another makeover for Derby's long suffering ram.

Historical Football Kits

Kit History

Background

Sources