Since I Was Young…

Article by e-Derby County's Ross Lowe

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It’s tantalisingly close now. As I type from my living room in Breaston with the glorious sun doing wonders for the garden outside, I look at the clock and realise that in exactly 3 days from now I’ll be watching the players of Derby County and Queens Park Rangers on the hallowed Wembley turf going through their final warm-ups.

All of a sudden I’m trembling slightly and trying not to fall off the settee. Wembley. Wembley, for god’s sake!

In my (mumble mumble) years on this planet, I’ve been lucky enough to see Derby County in action at Wembley on three occasions already. The first occasion was the briefly resurrected Anglo-Italian Cup Final, which we lost 3-1 to Cremonese in 1993. The most remarkable fact that I can remember from that particular match was Derby goalkeeper Martin Taylor (later Nigel Clough’s goalkeeper coach) saving a penalty. If memory serves, that was only the second ever penalty save at the stadium after Dave Beasant had broken the drought in 1988 against Liverpool in the FA Cup Final. Feel free to correct me if I’ve got that one wrong though…

Although we lost, it didn’t really matter in the grand scheme of things. The ambiance was unusual - a huge Derby County contingent had made the journey down the M1 to come face to face with (again my memory is a little hazy here) five Cremonese supporters. The atmosphere was a little lacking to say the least. Still – it was a day out at Wembley and it was a treat to see my team there.

However atmosphere wasn’t a problem the next time we played beneath the Twin Towers, only a year later. Local rivals Leicester City were the opponents and it was looking good when Tommy Johnson broke forward to pick up a Paul Simpson pass and bury the ball below Gavin Ward to send the Rams fans into delirium. Despite dominating for most of the game, Roy McFarland’s Rams couldn’t find another goal (despite USA international John Harkes putting an absolute sitter over the bar that still makes me wince even now). Steve Walsh scored a brace for the Foxes and the rest is history. Leicester went up and we stayed down, although automatic promotion and success under Jim Smith and Steve McClaren were just around the corner.

Roll forward to 2007 and I was newly resident in Shepherd’s Bush – home of QPR - as I began a new career. The Rams had a fantastic start to the season under Billy Davies and were looking odds-on for automatic promotion around Christmas. Then things began to sputter a bit, and as the season drew to a close it became clear that we were going to have to rely on the Play-Offs once again. A fantastic couple of semi-finals against Southampton ended in a hugely dramatic penalty shoot-out in the rain which sent Pride Park wild as soon as former Ram favourite Inigo Idiakez skied his penalty over the bar.

The first Championship Play-Off Final at the new Wembley Stadium awaited the Rams, and their opponents that day were West Bromwich Albion. I met up with a pal from home the night before for a few beers in Fulham, and the following day we set off on the tube for Wembley, full of excitement. The game itself was a tense one, as were many during that season. West Brom did everything but score and thanks to some great saves from Steven Bywater and a superb tackle from Tyrone Mears, it stayed that way. Stephen Pearson grabbed his first goal in a Rams shirt and that was it – the Rams were up.

The ‘feel-good’ factor of that day quickly dispersed as Billy Davies began his now infamous one-man attention-seeking sideshow, immediately making it unclear as to whether he would remain at the club and eventually claiming that he wished the ribbons on the cup had belonged to his previous club, Preston North End. Derby went on to endure the worst season in Premiership history and to add insult to injury, Davies’ replacement came in the shape of Paul Jewell.

So how should we approach this weekend’s match with QPR? What should we expect? Well, first and foremost we should expect a fantastic atmosphere. Derby sold out their allocation of over 38,000 tickets in unbelievably quick fashion, with supporters queueing overnight in the rain to get hold of the extra 1,200 allocated by the Football League earlier this week. The city has been buzzing with Play-Off fever since the season ended, with shops and bars all adorned in black and white bunting and conversations always turning towards ‘the big game’ before too long.

Steve McClaren’s boys have really given the people locally something to talk about with their entertaining and attacking style of football, and given that this current Derby County side has had chance to grow and gel over a number of years you can bet that they’ll be fighting and playing for one another as much as for the hordes of Rams fans who have travelled down. This team feels much better, stronger and well – complete - than the one that went up seven years ago.

QPR were well-worthy of their 4th place finish in the league just as much as Derby deserved the 3rd spot. They’ve got some genuine quality and experience in their side and Harry Redknapp will have studied Derby’s style and form meticulously as he aims to get one over his former assistant. Derby have bags of youthful energy and are suited to the wide open pitch where Craig Forsyth and Jamie Ward can make their marauding runs down the flanks.

Put simply, my fourth visit to watch Derby County at Wembley could well be my best yet. This promises to be one hell of a game.

Come on you Rams!

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