Derby County: Champions of England 1971-72 & 1974-75

This gripping tale begins and ends with Brian Clough, by common consent the greatest manager Derby County ever had - and the most controversial. Centred on the Rams two League championship seasons of 1971-72 and 1974-75, it revives memories of one of the most momentous periods in the clubs long history - from 1967, when Clough and Taylor swept in from the North-East outpost of Hartlepool, to the 1983-84 season that ended with descent back to the old Third Division after Taylors ill-fated return from brief retirement. Triumph turned to turmoil as the outspoken Cloughs stormy departure provoked a players rebellion, and again when Dave Mackay, whose inspiring captaincy had been at the heart of the Rams meteroric rise from years of obscurity, was ousted from the managers chair so soon after claiming that second title and going close to a League and Cup double. Readers are taken on a roller-coaster ride from the heights of the First Division and European glory, coupled with memorable nights in domestic cup competitions, to the depths of a financial crisis that almost drove the club out of existence. As managers and chairmen were changed with bewildering rapidity, so the team of some of the games most glittering stars, assembled with the breaking of several transfer records, disintegrated in the nosedive of two relegations. And to cap it all came the signing that caused the irreparable break-up of the friendship between Brian Clough and Peter Taylor.