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Pride: The Inside Story of Derby County in the 21st Century
The Inside Story of Derby County in the 21st Century is the fascinating story of one of Britain's most tumultuous football teams, as told by the people at the heart of the club. Ryan Hills gained exclusive access to almost 50 former players, managers and board members to bring you the Rams' modern history. The move to Pride Park in 1997 was supposed to mark an exciting new chapter for the club. But despite initial success, things started to go wrong. Relegation from the Premier League caused huge financial strife, leading to the arrest of three board members. On the pitch, a single promotion brought the worst season in Derby's history and a 362-day wait for a win. Since that fateful season, the club have been on a cyclical and so far fruitless mission to return to the Premier League, while dressing-room turmoil, car crashes and a man named Bobby have stood in their way. Pride gives you the inside track on a football club that refuses to accept obscurity, as revealed by those who know it best.
- GenresFootballNonfiction
384 pages, Hardcover
Published February 1, 2021
7 people are currently reading
24 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
January 2, 2021
When does a non-fiction book read like a nonsensical piece of fiction, the events contained within so damningly ridiculous that there's no chance on god's green turf that they could ever, ever be true?
When it's a book about the last twenty-five years in the history of Derby County Football Club.
You can see why Ryan Hills would choose to get to work on Pride: The Inside Story of Derby County in the 21st Century, as so, so much has happened since the days when Jim Smith's Rams became the first Derby side to grace the Pride Park pitch. Derby is a club that's never been short of a story, plagued as it has been by controversy and bizarre episodes that have left fans and the wider footballing world in utter bemusement. There are scintillating highs that are followed by heartbreaking and almost club-breaking lows, and Ryan Hills does a great job of chronicling them all.
But what lifts this book way, way above the average fan-written footie re-telling of times gone past is the contribution of no less than 70 of the big names involved during the days since Derby left the Baseball Ground in the mid-nineties. Managers, players, former chairmen, physios and backroom staff alike open up with incredible honesty and fantastic personal detail about what went on behind the closed doors of the East Midlands club as they came tantalisingly close to European football, before plummeting out of the Premier League twice, brushing with relegation to the third tier (when that was still a term mostly exclusive to football) and then coming so painfully near to a return to the top flight in successive seasons.
Hills has done a masterful job of getting so many of Derby County's cast from a quarter-century of high drama to open up and talk with a candidness that is really impressive and makes this book an instant classic, not just as a must-have for any Rams fan, but for those who love a pacily-written and genuinely enjoyable football story told well. This book has more than earned the right to sit alongside the works of the late Gerald Mortimer and Tony Francis' 'There Was Some Football, Too' as a go-to book on the history of DCFC. Not only that, it's a terrific book in its own right.
For me, I thoroughly enjoyed all the little things I'd forgotten (no matter how painful) along the way, and the fact that I came away with a more positive and less reptilian feeling towards Gary Rowett.
A great book. Up the Rams... please!
When it's a book about the last twenty-five years in the history of Derby County Football Club.
You can see why Ryan Hills would choose to get to work on Pride: The Inside Story of Derby County in the 21st Century, as so, so much has happened since the days when Jim Smith's Rams became the first Derby side to grace the Pride Park pitch. Derby is a club that's never been short of a story, plagued as it has been by controversy and bizarre episodes that have left fans and the wider footballing world in utter bemusement. There are scintillating highs that are followed by heartbreaking and almost club-breaking lows, and Ryan Hills does a great job of chronicling them all.
But what lifts this book way, way above the average fan-written footie re-telling of times gone past is the contribution of no less than 70 of the big names involved during the days since Derby left the Baseball Ground in the mid-nineties. Managers, players, former chairmen, physios and backroom staff alike open up with incredible honesty and fantastic personal detail about what went on behind the closed doors of the East Midlands club as they came tantalisingly close to European football, before plummeting out of the Premier League twice, brushing with relegation to the third tier (when that was still a term mostly exclusive to football) and then coming so painfully near to a return to the top flight in successive seasons.
Hills has done a masterful job of getting so many of Derby County's cast from a quarter-century of high drama to open up and talk with a candidness that is really impressive and makes this book an instant classic, not just as a must-have for any Rams fan, but for those who love a pacily-written and genuinely enjoyable football story told well. This book has more than earned the right to sit alongside the works of the late Gerald Mortimer and Tony Francis' 'There Was Some Football, Too' as a go-to book on the history of DCFC. Not only that, it's a terrific book in its own right.
For me, I thoroughly enjoyed all the little things I'd forgotten (no matter how painful) along the way, and the fact that I came away with a more positive and less reptilian feeling towards Gary Rowett.
A great book. Up the Rams... please!
February 11, 2021
A very important book for any fan of Derby County Football Team logging the ups and downs ( spoiler alert - lots more downs than ups ) in the club's 21st century history.
The author has done a remarkably good job here for one who is not an established journalist with an accompanying full contacts book - he has managed to get dozens of the cast of characters over these last twenty years to speak on the record - players, managers, journalists and executives and that is some significant achievement.
This book fills in some gaps on events that us fans could only view from the outside - the changes of manager, the sackings, the boardroom tussles and when read in one long sweep I realised just how awfully this club of ours has been managed for much of those 20 years from the executive point of view ( notable exception GSE ownership group - take a bow ) and how also the management on the field has been lacking.
A number of the managers do not come off well in the uncovering of the detail and , interestingly, they often were the ones that did not co-operate with the author, which is a shame as they had an opportunity to cast a different light on events though, in the case of Jewell, Davies and Clough , some of the testimony from others ( particularly in Clough's case as to how he treated certain people) would have been hard to argue against
This century has been rough for Rams fans but despite the risk of flashbacks this is an important read that will earn its place in the story telling of the club that some of us are far too invested in.
The author has done a remarkably good job here for one who is not an established journalist with an accompanying full contacts book - he has managed to get dozens of the cast of characters over these last twenty years to speak on the record - players, managers, journalists and executives and that is some significant achievement.
This book fills in some gaps on events that us fans could only view from the outside - the changes of manager, the sackings, the boardroom tussles and when read in one long sweep I realised just how awfully this club of ours has been managed for much of those 20 years from the executive point of view ( notable exception GSE ownership group - take a bow ) and how also the management on the field has been lacking.
A number of the managers do not come off well in the uncovering of the detail and , interestingly, they often were the ones that did not co-operate with the author, which is a shame as they had an opportunity to cast a different light on events though, in the case of Jewell, Davies and Clough , some of the testimony from others ( particularly in Clough's case as to how he treated certain people) would have been hard to argue against
This century has been rough for Rams fans but despite the risk of flashbacks this is an important read that will earn its place in the story telling of the club that some of us are far too invested in.
June 16, 2021
You just don’t realise what is going on behind the scenes of the soap opera that is Derby County football club. For any Rams fan, it is a cracking good read, and will keep you up for many an hour past your bedtime.
December 15, 2020
A really good account of Derby over the last 10 years written in an engaging way. The author managed to get interviews with a lot of the key figures (players and backroom staff) involved and it is these insights that make the book for me. They really helped to bring home how team spirit, team dynamics and personal relationships play such a massive part of success and failure at a football club.
I think I've found a kindred spirit since the author is, like me, rather sympathetic to Steve McClaren.
A very enjoyable read
I think I've found a kindred spirit since the author is, like me, rather sympathetic to Steve McClaren.
A very enjoyable read
September 14, 2023
So unbelievable it could be fiction. Honestly a great book and such a joy to read. The pain of being a Derby fan is real. I’m sure Ryan wishes he had kept writing for another two years as amazingly it only got madder, which is crazy considering what’s covered in this.
November 19, 2020
Take away the sackings, the courtroom battles, the financial collapses, the wrath of foreign imports, the Wembley capitulations, the car crashes, the prison sentences, and what do you have...’ well a pretty dull book! Netflix and Amazon take note, a series in the making and here is the screenplay. Excellently written with a free flowing and casual style, mixing player narrative with excellent background context and detail; Pride takes you on a breathless tour of life as a Derby fan in the 21st Century.
A must read for all Derby fans but an enjoyable read for anyone interested in football. Its never dull - The Derby Way
A must read for all Derby fans but an enjoyable read for anyone interested in football. Its never dull - The Derby Way
August 13, 2021
Difficult to review this. Clearly very well researched with a suprising amount of access obtained to many of the key players involved. Not particularly well written though, to the extent that you end up re-reading quite a few sentences and paragraphs to try and work out what the author was actually trying to say!
May 29, 2022
A good read no doubt. I'd forgotten some of the bizarre and bewildering things that have happened at our club this century. The author has done an excellent job interviewing a wide variety of people. It's not brilliantly written to be honest: some mangled grammar and syntax could have been smoothed out, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.
January 6, 2025
What a whirlwind, this book covers pretty much my whole time supporting the Rams, from my first game at the BBG in the promotion season to the Cocu/Rooney era, really makes me laugh that the book ends talking about the car crash and hopefully things are getting better, little did we know eh! A great read, really enjoyed it!
February 25, 2021
Brilliant book from start to finish. Ryan's managed to get insight from a range of people at the club over the years that gives you a better idea of why Derby are constantly in the headlines for the wrong reasons. Highly recommend to any Derby fans or just football fans in general.
October 19, 2021
Great insight into the club, lots of great interviews & well written.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews