During the 2001β02 English football season, Derby County competed in the
FA Premier League (known as the FA Barclaycard Premiership for sponsorship reasons).
Season summary
Derby started their new season quite well with a 2β1 win over newly-promoted
Blackburn Rovers. Manager
Jim Smith rejected the offer to become Director of Football and resigned on 7 October after more than six years at the helm. His assistant
Colin Todd, who won two league titles with the club in the 1970s, was promoted to the manager's seat, but by this stage the Rams were deep in relegation trouble.[1] A shock 3β1 home defeat against
Division Three strugglers
Bristol Rovers in the
FA Cup proved the final straw for the directors and Todd was sacked days later, after a mere three months in charge.[2] By the end of the month,
John Gregory had taken over at
Pride Park just six days after quitting
Aston Villa.[3] Two quick wins and a draw against
Manchester United suggested that Gregory might be Derby's saviour, but seven defeats from their final eight games condemned Derby to relegation.
^Powell was born in
Lambeth,
England, but also qualified to represent
Jamaica internationally and made his international debut for
Jamaica in 1998.
^Burton was born in
Reading,
England, but also qualified to represent
Jamaica internationally and made his international debut for
Jamaica in September 1997.
^Higginbotham was born in
Manchester,
England, but also qualified to represent
Gibraltar internationally through his maternal grandmother and would make his international debut for
Gibraltar in November 2013.