The 1996–97 season was Derby County's first in the

FA Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football ...

, following their promotion from the First Division the previous season.

Season summary

Back in the top flight after a five-year exile, Jim Smith's Derby County side never looked in any real danger of an immediate return to Division One, and their 12th-place finish in the final table was their highest final position in eight years. Young striker

Dean Sturridge Dean Constantine Sturridge (born 26 July 1973) is an English former professional footballer and football commentator for beIN Sports. As a player, he was a striker who notably played in the Premier League for Derby County, Leicester City and ...

received many plaudits for his goalscoring exploits, which sparked talk of a £7 million transfer to

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

, but the move never happened. The highlight of the season was a 3–2 win against champions

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

Old Trafford Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and is the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,197, it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after W ...

, with

Paulo Wanchope Paulo César Wanchope Watson (; born 31 July 1976), more commonly known as Paulo Wanchope, is a Costa Rican football coach and former professional footballer who is the manager of Deportivo Saprissa. As a player he was a striker who notably ...

scoring a "wonder goal" on his English league debut.

Final league table

;Results summary ;Results by round

Results

''Derby County's score comes first''

Legend

FA Premier League

FA Cup

League Cup

Players

First-team squad

:''Squad at end of season''

Left club during season

Reserve squad

:''The following players did not appear for the first team this season.''

Statistics

Starting 11

* GK: #1, Russell Hoult, 31 * RB: #2, Gary Rowett, 35 * CB: #27, Paul McGrath, 23 * CB: #22,

Christian Dailly Christian Eduard Dailly (born 23 October 1973) is a Scottish former professional footballer who played as a centre-back. Dailly started his professional career as a teenager, playing as a striker for Dundee United. He helped them win the 1993 ...

, 31 * CB: #16, Jacob Laursen, 35 * LB: #3, Chris Powell, 35 * CM: #6,

Igor Štimac Igor Štimac (; born 6 September 1967) is a Croatian professional football manager and former player. In his playing career, Štimac had three spells with Hajduk Split and also played for Cádiz in Spain, and for Derby County and West Ham Un ...

, 21 * CM: #10,

Aljoša Asanović Aljoša Asanović (born 14 December 1965) is a Croatian football coach and former player who played as a midfielder. He was regarded as one of the best players in the Yugoslav First League, emerging as one of five top scorers during the 1989–9 ...

, 34 * CM: #4, Darryl Powell, 27 * CF: 8,

, 29 * CF: #12,

Ashley Ward Ashley Ward (born 24 November 1970) is an English former professional footballer who played as a centre forward. Having come through the Manchester City academy, he notably played in the Premier League for Norwich City, Derby County, Barnsley, ...

, 25

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1996-97 Derby County F.C. season Derby County F.C. seasons

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club in Derby, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. One of the 12 founder members of the English Football ...