EPL Talk » Derby County

Legends Of English Football: #2 Steve Bloomer

Paul Bestall — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 20:50:28 +0000

The English First Division came into being in 1888 and within 4 years, a young man named Steve Bloomer signed for Derby County from local league side Tutbury Hawthorn. Whilst he may have been highly thought of in the local area, such was the turnover of young men trying their hand at football; Bloomer could have easily been another statistic of those days of the Football League’s infancy. To say Bloomer had an extraordinary life would be something of an understatement and he would write his name in footballing history.

He made his Derby County debut at the beginning of the 1892-93 season and scored his first goal for County on September 24th in a 3-1 win against West Bromwich Albion. That season saw Bloomer finish with very respectable figures of 11 goals in 28 games and the slightly framed, pale skinned young man quickly established himself as a crowd favourite at the Baseball Ground. Possessing great pace, a thundering shot with either foot and a range of passing rarely seen in a forward, his performances quickly saw him chosen to represent England in 1895.

Scoring 2 goals on his debut for England in a 9-0 romp against Ireland, Bloomer seemed to have the football world at his feet but the first of the tragedies that befell him occurred when his brother, Philip, also briefly a Derby County player died in 1896 of peritonitis. Bloomer continued to build his reputation the following season scoring 35 goals in 36 games which included 5 hat tricks and hit a run of hitting 21 goals in 20 games.

A strange side note to this part of his career is that he actually led Derby County to the British Baseball Championship in 1895, 1897 and the final season of 1898, which is why Derby County’s old ground was known as the Baseball Ground. As the baseball team folded, Bloomer’s football moved in to a different level scoring goals for fun for both club and country. He became the first player to score 5 goals for his country against Wales and then followed it up 5 years later with another 4 goal haul again in a match against Wales, thus also making him the first England player to score two hat tricks.

In his first spell at Derby, Bloomer was the leading goal scorer in the First Division on 5 separate occasions and twice in all European Leagues. He hit 6 goals in one match against Sheffield Wednesday in 1899 and also scored the first goal at West Bromwich Albion’s Hawthorns Ground in 1900. This man set records for fun and couldn’t stop throughout his career and it was interesting to note how his fortune continued to rise as he left Derby County to join Middlesbrough in March 1906 for the princely sum of £750. Shorn of Bloomer’s skills, Derby County were relegated the following season but Bloomer continued to find the back of the net for his new employers.

In his first two full seasons at Boro, he unsurprisingly finished as their leading scorer and played his final match for England in 1907. By 1910, Bloomer was coming up to his 36th birthday, but as Stanley Matthews had returned back to his first love, in 1910, Bloomer returned to a hero’s welcome at Derby County, who were still languishing in the Second Division. Bloomers return almost had an instant impact with another 24 goals but Derby’s promotion charge faltered and they finished 6th.

Bloomer was not being denied the season after and Derby won promotion as Champions in 1911-1912 and he hit another 19 goals for the Rams. Bloomer managed to have another 2 seasons in the First Division, but at 40 years old he finally retired as a player. For most players, that would be the end for their careers in football, but Steve Bloomer’s life then took another amazing turn. In July 1914, he decided to take up the offer to become the manager of the German side Britannia Berlin 92.

3 weeks later, World War I broke out and Bloomer, as a British citizen was interred in a prisoner of war camp in Berlin, Ruhleben. Amazingly, a football season of sorts was organised between the prisoners and Bloomer once again found himself playing regular football, albeit in a prisoner of war league. He also played Cricket in a prison league that was set up to run through the summer months in the camp, and unsurprisingly Bloomer excelled at that game as well.

During his internment, tragedy once again visited Bloomer and he lost two daughters to illness to compound the earlier loss of his brother. Once again, his success was tarred by personal loss. Released in 1918 at the end of the war, Bloomer had a short spell coaching in Holland but by 1922 he had drifted away from football. On the horizon though was one last amazing hurrah.

In 1923, he made a return to management, taking the reins at Spanish side Real Union. Guiding Union to the regional championship, he found his side in the Copa Del Rey. In those days, the cup was used to decide the Spanish Champions and amazingly, Union had got to the semi-final after beating Seville 3-1. Their opponents were the giants of Barcelona and it seemed that their amazing cup run would come to an end. Bloomer had other ideas and Union blew Barcelona away 6-1, an amazing result for a regional team such as Union.

The Copa Del Rey final would surely be one game too many for Bloomers plucky side as who else but Real Madrid were waiting for them, but once again Bloomer’s side turned the form book on its head to snatch the title with a 1-0 win and become Spanish Champions. It was beyond belief for most people but simply another amazing achievement in the life of Steve Bloomer.

Bloomer eventually returned to Derby and passed away in April 1938, aged 64. In January 2009, Derby County erected a bust of him inside Pride Park facing the pitch, placed next to the home dug out. English football’s first superstar will never be forgotten.

684 games for Derby County and Middlesbrough, scoring 430 goals
28 goals in 23 games for England
Won the European Golden boot twice & First Division leading scorer in 5 seasons
Derby’s leading goalscorer in a season an incredible 14 seasons in a row
3rd highest goalscorer in First Division/Premiership history with 314 goals.

Don’t Be Fooled By The Damned United

Paul Bestall — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 20:49:38 +0000

Well this may come as some surprise, but a film about a manager that only had one season in the Premiership may not garner the most interest outside of the United Kingdom but Brian Clough is a legend in European football. Today sees the film version of David Peace’s tome have its World Premier in London and let’s hope it’s a better attempt than the tissue of lies his book is.

I read the book when it came out and found it to be quite a dishonest work of fiction masquerading as a work of truth. Fundamentally, its the fact that it uses peoples reputations and names and fictionalises the 44 day period that Brian Clough spent as manager of Leeds United in 1974. It’s allowed itself to be pushed as a work of fact when the author had no connection with any of the major characters portrayed in the book and they were all dead at the time of the books release with one major exception, Irish midfielder Johnny Giles, who successfully sued the publishers for libel. Norman Hunter hardly says anything, but he’s still alive so escapes Peace’s hatchet job. If you don’t know anything about football, I suppose you may enjoy it but then again, if you do, what’s the point?

Do not be fooled by this film being advertised as a factual representation, the caricature of Brian Clough is as far removed from reality as is possible, factually incorrect and tries to garner controversy in how Clough behaved and acted during his duration as manager of Leeds United. I’m deeply concerned that anyone who sees this film or reads the book will think the events actually happened as they appear in the book and is an honest representation of Brian Clough. David Peace has since claimed that he wished he never written the book and having had the misfortune of reading it, I have to agree with him.It gets fact after fact wrong but claims them as truthful, disgracefully so.

It’s a disgusting, libellous portrait of one of the greatest managers in modern English history and has allowed an author to claim fame using a man who the author isn’t fit to lick the boots of. He has tried to justify his untrue account as a novel, yet has used real people and real events and distorted, lied and besmirched people’s reputations and feels any criticism is unfair. How would David Peace feel if someone took his life story and wrote a completely untrue version of it just because they fancied they wanted to do so. He claims he never wanted to upset Brian Clough’s family yet writes about him as a drunken, chain smoking buffoon who hides away in his office, safe in the knowledge that Clough can’t sue him from beyond the grave.

Whilst Clough’s battle with alcoholism is well documented, it didn’t appear until the late 80’s and certainly never drank in front of his players at any time during his career as a manager at Hartlepools, Derby County, Leeds United and Nottingham Forest. Peace has taken a legend of football and danced on his grave for his own self publicity from his ivory tower in Tokyo, knowing that this dreadful novel will certainly not be the talk of the sushi and karaoke bars.

People will defend it, but the majority of the book is a lie. Clough was a flawed man and of course he made mistakes, but to make up the majority of the incidents is just plainly wrong. It also paints an inaccurate depiction of Billy Bremner, claims Dave Mackay was at Derby when he’d been gone two years, falsehood after falsehood.

If The Damned United encourages you to do anything, buy both of the brilliant Brian Clough autobiographies, or try and search for some of his wonderful interviews on YouTube. It’s a tragedy that Clough didn’t have more time in the Premiership or get to manage England as he should have done. Just don’t give David Peace a penny of your hard earned cash.

Brian Clough, Legend

Manchester United’s Pride Park Night, The Busy Day in Newcastle and Other Various Musings

Johnathan Starling — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 05:11:32 +0000

Congrats to Derby County. On a day where Cricket was the headline in England throughout (thanks ECB), Derby County came up with another dozy…technically being 180 minutes away from European competition.

However that’s where the hyperbole stops for me. Sir Alex Ferguson obviously had a plan in mind for tonight’s game, damage control. While yes the 1-0 scoreline could be considered flattering for the number of chances Derby County had, Derby were unable to really punish Manchester United and the lighthearted nature they took this first leg. When the ninety was up, the scoreline should have read at least 2-0.

But let’s be honest about this game. Manchester United have a big tie Sunday against Chelsea at Old Trafford and they host the return leg to this tie in two weeks time. Sir Alex killed one bird when tonight’s game ended 1-0. He was able to rest key players and with the damage held to a minimal, should be able to turn over a Derby County side that will have the post manager change glow wearing off in a fort night. So let us all not over blow this result. While yes it’s a bit of a shock, let’s put this into perspective first. If Derby manage to hold on at Old Tafford for the Wembley final, then we can wonder about the what ifs of this night.

Busy day at St. James Park. First we find out Shola Ameobi signed a new 3 year deal. Let’s hope he gets healthy to play a large part of those 3 years. Secondly we find out that Obafemi Martins is off to see the hernia guy in Germany. See ya in six weeks. However if I was Martins, I’d tell his agent to shut up about blasting the club and the medical staff saying ‘The Newcastle medical staff is woeful’. Why state the obvious when at any time you can look at their injury list and go ‘is this West Ham from last season’? And finally we find out that Alan Smith looks to be sold from the club. For some odd reason that will probably come to me later, that surprises me.

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What’s So Special About The FA Cup

The Gaffer — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 10:30:57 +0000

On Monday, expect several of the talking heads on English football podcasts and radio to whinge and joke about the FA Cup. How the top football clubs don’t treat it seriously anymore. How the FA Cup has lost its glamor. And how there are literally very few upsets compared to how many there used to be (cue memories of Hereford beating Newcastle in 1972).

While the respect and interest in the FA Cup is mostly lost on those in England, the tournament still has a lot of appeal elsewhere in the world especially in the United States where the FA Cup is seen as a novelty item. Outside of the U.S. Open Cup, the concept of having an amateur side compete against a professional club is completely unheard of in the States especially to non-soccer sports fans.

Despite the charm of watching amateurs battle it out against professionals, the experience of watching FA Cup on television feels like a time warp back to the late 1970s and early 1980s. For example, watching Forest Green Rovers against Derby County and Everton versus Macclesfield, it seemed so unlike the Premier League. Both grounds, understandly so, featured ramshackle stadiums. Watching the Forest Green Rovers match on TV, large shadows cast over the pitch making it difficult to watch periods of the game (this began from the opening kickoff when the Derby County defender fluffed the ball and the Forest Green Rovers striker shot at goal into what seemed like darkness).

And lastly, there was the football. While the Forest Green Rovers match was entertaining, thanks to some shoddy defending, that match and the one at Macclesfield featured the classic up and under English football of yesteryear where the ball is up in the air more than it is being played on the ground. The Everton against Macclesfield match was dire with the Toffeemen looking very ordinary against a weak but determined Macclesfield side.

So while those of us outside England warm to the charm of the FA Cup, I believe we also warm to how different the FA Cup feels. The primitive and antiquated stadiums. The route one football that gives mediocre clubs a chance to beat the Premier League opposition. The different football commentators we hear that we don’t often get when watching Premier League matches, and the sometimes different camera angles that seem so un-ordinary after watching globs of Premier League football. Plus, of course, the novelty of seeing football fans standing on the terraces.

To me, the FA Cup is the perfect diversion from the Premier League that we all love. For a few weekends through the year, it gives us a chance to experience our football in a different way. To learn about lower league and non-league clubs from the far corners of England. To watch dried up footballers play out their dying moments in their twilight of their career. And lastly, since the other 16 clubs in the Premier League seem incapable of doing so, to root and hope for the Big Four to lose against the underdogs. That’s why I love the FA Cup. Long let it continue.

Derby County Need a Penalty to Survive While Preston Shoot Themselves in Foot

Johnathan Starling — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 02:03:15 +0000

Personally, I think the weekend of the FA Cup Third Round is the most exciting weekend of the English Football campaign. The one weekend where all sixty-four teams are equal and the weekend where it doesn’t matter how strong your squad it, it’s a matter of wanting it more than your opposition…regardless of the gulf in class.

Viewers of Fox Soccer Channel were fortunate to see two entertaining ties live (depending on your defintion of live as the games were on at least a 2-3 minute delay…typical for a FSC broadcast) in Forest Green Rovers/Derby County and Preston North End v Liverpool.

Those at The New Lawn were probably treated to the most entertaining tie of the round. Forest Green threw everything into getting a 2-0 lead that was gone before halftime. They got it back, for it to only be short lived. But the critical moment on the nearly frozen pitch has to be the Forest Green red card and penalty that Derby County put away. Forest Green were caught out going for the winner and Kris Commons ends up on the breakaway one v one with Terry Burton. Commons unsure of taking the shot ends up not having to worry about it as Darren Jones comes barrelling in from behind.

I won’t argue the penalty as Jones made no attempt at playing the ball. However I am unsure if there should have been a red card given. From my vantage point watching the replay, Commons looks to be coming to a stop and is unsure if he should continue on the run to set up another player to score. In my mind, that becomes the moment when ‘denying a goal scoring opportunity’ ceases. The most I think Jones should have received was a yellow card.

Had Jones been allowed to stay on the park, who knows. Maybe Derby County still win 4-3, but I think with the way Forest Green were playing on the day, we may have just seen a replay at Pride Park.

The other critical decision of the day happened at Deepdale. Liverpool had their chances in the first half and in all honesty should have had this tie put to bed before this. However their lack of fire power up front allowed Preston to stay in this match. The circumstances surrounding Preston North End’s disallowed goal are bizarre to say the least. A free kick not cleared and it eventually finds it way to the back of the net, only to have the goal ruled out.

During live play it seemed a perfectly legit goal, that is until you see the love Jon Parkin decides to give Jamie Carragher inside the Liverpool six yard box. At the moment the ball is crossed into Sean St. Ledger, Parkin makes the mistake of holding Jamie Carragher to the ground. The foul has to be given and the goal disallowed. What’s more disheartening if you’re a Preston fan is Parkin didn’t have to hold him down. The ball was crossed in with enough pace that if Parkin had just let him up, I don’t think Carragher could have done anything to stop St. Ledger from equalizing.

Had Preston equalized from this moment, I think the game swings into Preston’s favor and Liverpool are hanging on for an Anfield replay. However, one moment of stupidity cost Preston the game as their push for a goal late gave Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres a training ground run up to goal…an opportunity Fernando Torres isn’t missing. Then possibly we aren’t seeing the celebration above.