1990–91 Derby County F.C. season

During the 1990–91 English football season, Derby County F.C. competed in the Football League First Division.

Derby County

1990–91 season
Chairman	Robert Maxwell
Manager	Arthur Cox
Stadium	Baseball Ground
First Division	20th (relegated)
FA Cup	Third round
League Cup	Fourth round
Full Members Cup	Quarter finals (Northern Area)
Player of the Year	Dean Saunders
Top goalscorer	League: Dean Saunders (17) All: Dean Saunders (21)
Highest home attendance	21,729 vs Nottingham Forest (24 Nov 1990, First Division)
Lowest home attendance	7,270 vs Coventry City (19 Dec 1990, Full Members Cup)
Average home league attendance	16,257
Home colours

Season summary

In the 1990–91 season, the Rams endured an even worse season than the one before. Between December 1990 and April 1991, Derby went a club record 20 games without a win and equalled the worst ever home league defeat when they crashed 7–1 at home to Liverpool. Gates dropped to 11,000 from an opening match crowd of 18,011 against Sheffield United and the team looked a shadow of the one that had finished fifth two years before as they were relegated and finished bottom of the table with just 5 wins and 24 points from 38 games, a massive 13 points from safety.

Final league table

Main article: 1990–91 Football League

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
16	Coventry City	38	11	11	16	42	49	−7	44
17	Aston Villa	38	9	14	15	46	58	−12	41
18	Luton Town	38	10	7	21	42	61	−19	37
19	Sunderland (R)	38	8	10	20	38	60	−22	34	Relegation to the Second Division
20	Derby County (R)	38	5	9	24	37	75	−38	24

Source: World Football
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored
(R) Relegated

Results

Derby County's score comes first

Legend

Win

Draw

Loss

Football League First Division

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
25 August 1990	Chelsea	A	1–2	24,652	Saunders
29 August 1990	Sheffield United	H	1–1	18,011	Saunders
1 September 1990	Wimbledon	H	1–1	12,469	Saunders (pen)
8 September 1990	Tottenham Hotspur	A	0–3	29,614
15 September 1990	Aston Villa	H	0–2	19,024
22 September 1990	Norwich City	A	1–2	13,258	Patterson
29 September 1990	Crystal Palace	H	0–2	15,202
6 October 1990	Liverpool	A	0–2	37,076
20 October 1990	Manchester City	H	1–1	17,884	Saunders
27 October 1990	Southampton	A	1–0	16,328	Harford
3 November 1990	Luton Town	H	2–1	15,008	Callaghan, Saunders (pen)
10 November 1990	Manchester United	H	0–0	21,115
17 November 1990	Leeds United	A	0–3	27,868
24 November 1990	Nottingham Forest	H	2–1	21,729	Ramage, Saunders
1 December 1990	Sunderland	A	2–1	21,212	Saunders, Harford
15 December 1990	Chelsea	H	4–6	15,057	Hebberd, Micklewhite, Saunders (2)
23 December 1990	Queens Park Rangers	H	1–1	16,429	Saunders
26 December 1990	Arsenal	A	0–3	25,538
29 December 1990	Everton	A	0–2	25,361
1 January 1991	Coventry City	H	1–1	15,741	Harford
12 January 1991	Wimbledon	A	1–3	4,724	Harford
20 January 1991	Tottenham Hotspur	H	0–1	17,747
26 January 1991	Sheffield United	A	0–1	18,390
2 February 1991	Aston Villa	A	2–3	21,852	Harford, Sage
23 February 1991	Norwich City	H	0–0	14,102
2 March 1991	Sunderland	H	3–3	16,027	Saunders (3, 1 pen)
16 March 1991	Crystal Palace	A	1–2	14,752	Micklewhite
23 March 1991	Liverpool	H	1–7	20,531	Saunders
30 March 1991	Arsenal	H	0–2	18,397
1 April 1991	Queens Park Rangers	A	1–1	12,036	Harford
10 April 1991	Nottingham Forest	A	0–1	25,109
13 April 1991	Coventry City	A	0–3	11,961
16 April 1991	Manchester United	A	1–3	32,776	P Williams
20 April 1991	Manchester City	A	1–2	24,037	Harford
23 April 1991	Leeds United	H	0–1	12,666
4 May 1991	Southampton	H	6–2	11,680	Phillips, Saunders (2), P Williams (3, 1 pen)
8 May 1991	Everton	H	2–3	12,403	Saunders, Harford (pen)
11 May 1991	Luton Town	A	0–2	12,889

FA Cup

Main article: 1990-91 FA Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R3	5 January 1991	Newcastle United	A	0–2	19,584

League Cup

Main article: 1990-91 Football League Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R2 1st Leg	26 September 1990	Carlisle United	A	1–1	7,628	Saunders
R2 2nd Leg	10 October 1990	Carlisle United	H	1–0 (won 2–1 on agg)	12,253	Saunders
R3	31 October 1990	Sunderland	H	6–0	16,422	Harford (3), Bennett (own goal), Ramage (2)
R4	28 November 1990	Sheffield Wednesday	A	1–1	25,649	Saunders
R4R	12 December 1990	Sheffield Wednesday	H	1–2	17,050	Micklewhite

Full Members Cup

Main article: 1990-91 Full Members Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
NR2	19 December 1990	Coventry City	H	1–0	7,270	Callaghan
NQF	22 January 1991	Leeds United	A	1–2	6,642	Saunders

Squad

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
—	GK	ENG	Scott Cooksey
—	GK	ENG	Peter Shilton
—	GK	ENG	Martin Taylor
—	DF	ENG	Robbie Briscoe
—	DF	ENG	Jonathan Davidson
—	DF	ENG	Michael Forsyth
—	DF	ENG	Jason Kavanagh
—	DF	ENG	Mark Patterson
—	DF	ENG	Justin Phillips
—	DF	WAL	Mel Sage
—	DF	ENG	Alex Watson (on loan from Liverpool)
—	DF	ENG	Paul Williams
—	DF	ENG	Mark Wright
—	MF	ENG	Nigel Callaghan (on loan from Aston Villa)
—	MF	ENG	Martyn Chalk

No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
—	MF	ENG	Steve Cross
—	MF	ENG	Steve Hayward
—	MF	ENG	Trevor Hebberd
—	MF	SCO	Ted McMinn
—	MF	ENG	Gary Micklewhite
—	MF	ENG	Nick Pickering
—	MF	ENG	Craig Ramage
—	MF	WAL	Geraint Williams
—	MF	SCO	Ian Wilson
—	FW	ENG	Bobby Davison (on loan from Leeds United)
—	FW	SKN	Kevin Francis
—	FW	ENG	Phil Gee
—	FW	ENG	Mick Harford
—	FW	WAL	Dean Saunders
—	FW	ENG	Jason White

Transfers

Out

Date	Pos	Name	To	Fee
18 July 1990	DF	Paul Blades	Norwich City	£700,000
7 February 1991	GK	Scott Cooksey	Shrewsbury Town	Free transfer
21 February 1991	FW	Kevin Francis	Stockport County	£45,000

Transfers in: £0

Transfers out: £745,000

Total spending: £745,000