Howard (Reg Nerps) Sprenger (Southampton)
My first visit to the Baseball Ground was when I must have been about 8 or 9 to see a Derby Boys match (my Dad was a teacher and some of his lads were in the team).We sat somewhere near the Directors box - there must have been at least 100 people there.
My Dad wasn't really in to football at that time ,but we had friends in Yorkshire who were very keen Burnley fans so we visited Turf Moor if there was a match, on while we were up there visiting. I've had a bit of a soft spot for them ever since ,but managed to avoid becoming a Burnley supporter.
When we got promoted to the first division under Cloughie, our first match was against Burnley and our friends in the North came down for it. It was the first time I'd been to a proper match at the BBG and we sat in the Ossie End ,I don't think we were segregated in those days -our Burnley supporting friends picked us up from home on their way to the match ,we just paid on the turnstiles and then all sat together.
I remember how beautiful the place looked .It was absolutely amazing to me that in the middle of 'grim, gritty, industrial' Derby there should be this huge swathe of beautiful green grass- it fair took me breath away!
The Derby boys match had been played in the evening and under the floodlights the grass seemed to shine greener than anything I'd ever seen before- a real magic moment! This was in the days before the Ley/Toyota stand of course and once the bug had bitten, I used to go down with my mates and stand on the Popside. Sadly this was not very often - lots of things competed for my time in those days and with a relative lack of interest from the family I probably only went back a few times each season.
Bill Curry and Willie Carlin (even Cloughie) lived not far away from us and we often saw them around. My clearest memories are of the Clough/Taylor era and they were really heady days. Here was a club that had nothing to it's name other than being a founder member of the league and winning the FA Cup once in living memory and playing at a ground with a funny name . Suddenly we were catapulted in to a highly successful first division outfit entertaining the likes of Juventus.
We all loved Cloughie - it was more than just respect or admiration the players did too. Not only did we have a team that could play with the best of them ,but we had a manager who was always on TV, summarising World Cup matches , and being asked his opinion on anything from man-to -man marking ("I wouldn't man to man mark if we were playing Nott8ngh*m pork butchers") to politics. Derby were really on the map and it had been a long time coming.
The first year we won the Championship, the team had a celebration dinner at the Pennine Hotel and Dad was hired to play the piano through the meal. It was a proud boast to be bale to say that my Father played for the Rams when they won the league!
For someone growing up in Derby at that time ,the way events unfolded was the stuff of dreams .The club seemed to be growing up with us .
Then the bust up happened. Sam Longson (Chairman at the time) didn't like the way Cloughie was becoming bigger than the club. He didn't have the vision to see what benefit this was bringing so he got rid . He thought the club was now big enough to survive without Clough and to an extent he was right- with Mackay at the helm, we still carried on being successful and signing the big names .BUT things were never the same. The media still followed Clough wherever he went and Derby were just another team .
It's been said before that European sliver might have been in our cabinet if Clough hadn't gone down the A52 .I'm convinced it would .It's hard to imagine how things would have developed if Clough had stayed. Maybe it would have gone pear shaped ,but we all like to think that by now we would have been one of the greatest teams in Europe. When things end prematurely ,you're left with the might -have- beens and that's the only comfort when things are going badly.
I saw some great matches at the BBG and when I went away to College , listened to some great ones on the radio too. I remember once being on the Popside against Liverpool, there was a great atmosphere- even between the rival fans- and we beat them . One match I had to listen to was the F*R*ST match where we stuffed them (4-0 was it?). I must have been listening in to Radio2 at the time (I was in Exeter), but national radio later picked up on Graham Richards' frantic Radio Derby commentary as the goals went in .It kept being repeated on the Radio in 'Sporting Bloopers' style programmes as a classic example of commentator's getting carried away.
Another match I remember was Kevin Hectors testimonial game , Rams All Stars vs a 'Tiswas ' team. A lot of old names came back including Frannie Lee and it was just a good nights entertainment. I wonder how much it made for Kevin - probably not a bad haul as there was a good crowd there.
After the first division days ,things went from bad to worse of course and it was hard to believe that the likes of Docherty could so effectively dismantle something that was once so great.There was a sort of high -spot when Taylor came back as Manager- if only for sentimental reasons-but there was no way he was going to turn things round. It was only when Cox and and Pickering became involved that I started to become a bit more optimistic and even that period was frustrating as high value players failed to justify their fees.
On that terible day at Wembley ,it seemed as though we'd never get back.
We had a good side but things just didn't go our way and when Jim Smith came in, it looked as though the board has given up and were content to just consolidate DCFC as a respectable, but not quite top-notch outfit......
Then a minor miracle happened.
The BBG was a wonderful ground and I was very sorry to leave it. For a long time whenever I took my kids up to Derby ,we always had a pilgrimmage to the ground even if there was no match on while we were there. I'd take my lad round to the Ramtique to spend some money and the walk round to Vulcan Street and the Toyota = Normanton corner where it was usually possible to get in to have a look and relive some of the magic.
Now I'm pleased to both son and daughter are Rams fans ,despite having grown upin Hampshire. We usually manage to get to a few games each season -some at home but often the away games at the Dell and White Hart Lane.
Since I moved away ,the 'bond' had become even stronger if anything-you don't realise what you're missing until you're parted from it .Pride Park is a wonderful Stadium and one in which we can have real pride .Now we're going to have a full international there-what a turnaround! Something tells me that 'England on Tour' will be watched by more people than would have done if they'd played the matches at Wembley. Maybe the FA will learn something from that.
You can take the boy out of Derby ,but you can't take Derby out of the boy.
Derby 'till I die !
c2001 Howard (Reg Nerps ) Sprenger