title: Great Leap Forward

text: Coale's, Banister's, Ashton "et al."s, and Peng's figures all include adjustments for demographic reporting errors, though Dikötter, in his book "Mao's Great Famine", argues that their results, as well as Chang and Halliday's, Yang's, and Cao's, are still underestimates. The System Reform Institute's (Chen's) estimate has not been published and therefore it cannot be verified.


title: Great Leap Forward

text: The policies of the Great Leap Forward, the failure of the government to respond quickly and effectively to famine conditions, as well as Mao's insistence on maintaining high grain export quotas in the face of clear evidence of poor crop output were responsible for the famine. There is disagreement over how much, if at all, weather conditions contributed to the famine.


title: Great Leap Forward

text: Yang Jisheng, a former communist party member and former reporter for the official Chinese news agency Xinhua, puts the blame squarely on Maoist policies and the political system of totalitarianism, such as diverting agricultural workers to steel production instead of growing crops, and exporting grain at the same time. During the course of his research, Yang uncovered that some 22 million tons of grain was held in public granaries at the height of the famine, reports of the starvation went up the bureaucracy only to be ignored by top officials, and the authorities ordered that statistics be destroyed in regions where population decline became evident.


title: Great Leap Forward

text: Economist Steven Rosefielde argues that Yang's account "shows that Mao's slaughter was caused in considerable part by terror-starvation; that is, voluntary manslaughter (and perhaps murder) rather than innocuous famine." Yang claims that local party officials were indifferent to the large number of people dying around them, as their primary concern was the delivery of grain, which Mao wanted to use to pay back debts to the USSR totaling 1.973 billion yuan. In Xinyang, people died of starvation at the doors of grain warehouses. Mao refused to open the state granaries as he dismissed reports of food shortages and accused the "rightists" and the "kulaks" of conspiring to hide grain.


title: Great Leap Forward

text: From his research into records and talks with experts at the meteorological bureau, Yang concludes that the weather during the Great Leap Forward was not unusual compared to other periods and was not a factor. Yang also believes that the Sino-Soviet split was not a factor because it did not happen until 1960, when the famine was well under way.


title: Great Leap Forward

text: Chang and Halliday argue that "Mao had actually allowed for many more deaths. Although slaughter was not his purpose with the Leap, he was more than ready for myriad deaths to result, and had hinted to his top echelon that they should not be too shocked if they happened." Democide historian R.J. Rummel had originally classified the famine deaths as unintentional. In light of evidence provided in Chang and Halliday's book, he now believes that the mass human deaths associated with the Great Leap Forward constitute democide. On the other hand, scholars Gregor Benton and Lin Chun, in a critical response to Chang and Halliday, state that there is no proof that Mao intended to let people die or that he was indifferent to their deaths.


title: Great Leap Forward

text: According to Frank Dikötter, Mao and the Communist Party knew that some of their policies were contributing to the starvation. Foreign minister Chen Yi said of some of the early human losses in November 1958:


title: Great Leap Forward

text: Casualties have indeed appeared among workers, but it is not enough to stop us in our tracks. This is the price we have to pay, it's nothing to be afraid of. Who knows how many people have been sacrificed on the battlefields and in the prisons [for the revolutionary cause]? Now we have a few cases of illness and death: it's nothing!


title: Great Leap Forward

text: In the later book, Tombstone by Yang Jisheng, "36 million Chinese starved to death in the years between 1958 and 1962, while 40 million others failed to be born, which means that “China’s total population loss during the Great Famine then comes to 76 million.”


title: Great Leap Forward

text: Mao's efforts to cool the Leap in late 1958 met resistance within the Party and when Mao proposed a scaling down of steel targets, "many people just wouldn't change and wouldn't accept it". Thus, according to historian Tao Kai, the Leap "wasn't the problem of a single person, but that many people had ideological problems". Tao also pointed out that "everyone was together" on the anti-rightist campaign and only a minority didn't approve of the Great Leap's policies or put forth different opinions. Jean-Louis Margolin suggests that the actions of the Chinese Communist Party under Mao in the face of widespread famine imitated the policies of the Soviet Communist Party under Joseph Stalin (whom Mao greatly admired) nearly three decades earlier during the Soviet famine of 1932-33. At that time, the U.S.S.R. exported grain for international propaganda purposes despite millions dying of starvation across southern areas of the Soviet Union:


title: Great Leap Forward

text: Net grain exports, principally to the U.S.S.R., rose from 2.7 million tons in 1958 to 4.2 million in 1959, and in 1960 fell only to the 1958 level. In 1961, 6.8 million tons were actually imported, up from 66,000 in 1960, but this was still too little to feed the starving. Aid from the United States was refused for political reasons. The rest of the world, which could have responded easily, remained ignorant of the scale of the catastrophe. Aid to the needy in the countryside totaled less than 450 million yuan per annum, or 0.8 yuan per person, at a time when one kilo of rice on the free market was worth 2 to 4 yuan. Chinese Communism boasted that it could move mountains and tame nature, but it left these faithful to die.


title: Great Leap Forward

text: During a secret meeting in Shanghai in 1959, Mao demanded the state procurement of one-third of all grain to feed the cities and satisfy foreign clients, and noted that "If you don't go above a third, people won't rebel." In the context of discussing industrial enterprises, Mao also stated at the same meeting:


title: Great Leap Forward

text: When there is not enough to eat people starve to death. It is better to let half of the people die so that the other half can eat their fill.


title: Great Leap Forward

text: However, Anthony Garnaut clarifies that Dikötter's interpretation of Mao's quotation, "It is better to let half of the people die so that the other half can eat their fill." not only ignores the substantial commentary on the conference by other scholars and several of its key participants, but defies the very plain wording of the archival document in his possession on which he hangs his case.


title: Great Leap Forward

text: Benjamin Valentino writes that like in the USSR during the famine of 1932–33, peasants were confined to their starving villages by a system of household registration, and the worst effects of the famine were directed against enemies of the regime. Those labeled as "black elements" (religious leaders, rightists, rich peasants, etc.) in any previous campaign were given the lowest priority in the allocation of food, and therefore died in the greatest numbers. Drawing from Jasper Becker's book Hungry Ghosts, genocide scholar Adam Jones states that "no group suffered more than the Tibetans" from 1959 to 1962.


title: Great Leap Forward

text: Ashton, "et al." write that policies leading to food shortages, natural disasters, and a slow response to initial indications of food shortages were to blame for the famine. Policies leading to food shortages included the implementation of the commune system and an emphasis on non-agricultural activities such as backyard steel production. Natural disasters included drought, flood, typhoon, plant disease, and insect pest. The slow response was in part due to a lack of objective reporting on the agricultural situation, including a "nearly complete breakdown in the agricultural reporting system".


title: Great Leap Forward

text: This was partly caused by strong incentives for officials to over-report crop yields. The unwillingness of the Central Government to seek international aid was a major factor; China's net grain exports in 1959 and 1960 would have been enough to feed 16 million people 2000 calories per day. Ashton, "et al." conclude that "It would not be inaccurate to say that 30 million people died prematurely as a result of errors of internal policy and flawed international relations."


title: Great Leap Forward

text: Mobo Gao suggested that the Great Leap Forward's terrible effects came not from malignant intent on the part of the Chinese leadership at the time, but instead related to the structural nature of its rule, and the vastness of China as a country. Gao says "the terrible lesson learnt is that China is so huge and when it is uniformly ruled, follies or wrong policies will have grave implications of tremendous magnitude".


title: Great Leap Forward

text: The PRC government's official web portal places the responsibility for the "serious losses" to "country and people" of 1959–1961 (without mentioning famine) mainly on the Great Leap Forward and the anti-rightist struggle, and lists weather and cancellation of contracts by the Soviet Union as contributing factors.


title: Great Leap Forward

text: According to Frank Dikotter, The Great Leap led to the greatest destruction of real estate in human history, outstripping any of the bombing campaigns from World War II. Approximately 30% to 40% of all houses were turned to rubble. Frank Dikötter states that "homes were pulled down to make fertilizer, to build canteens, relocate villagers, straighten roads, make place for a better future, or punish their owners."


title: Great Leap Forward

text: In agrarian policy, the failures of food supply during the Great Leap were met by a gradual de-collectivization in the 1960s that foreshadowed further de-collectivization under Deng Xiaoping. Political scientist Meredith Jung-En Woo argues: "Unquestionably the regime failed to respond in time to save the lives of millions of peasants, but when it did respond, it ultimately transformed the livelihoods of several hundred million peasants (modestly in the early 1960s, but permanently after Deng Xiaoping's reforms subsequent to 1978)."


title: Great Leap Forward

text: Despite the risks to their careers, some Communist Party members openly laid blame for the disaster at the feet of the Party leadership and took it as proof that China must rely more on education, acquiring technical expertise and applying bourgeois methods in developing the economy. Liu Shaoqi made a speech in 1962 at "Seven Thousand Cadres Conference" criticizing that "The economic disaster was 30% fault of nature, 70% human error."


title: Great Leap Forward

text: A 2017 paper by two Peking University economists found "strong evidence that the unrealistic yield targets led to excessive death tolls from 1959 to 1961, and further analysis shows that yield targets induced the inflation of grain output figures and excessive procurement. We also find that Mao's radical policy caused serious deterioration in human capital accumulation and slower economic development in the policy-affected regions decades after the death of Mao."


title: Great Leap Forward

text: A dramatic decline in grain output continued for several years, involving in 1960–61 a drop in output of more than 25 percent. Causes of this drop are found in both natural disaster and government policy.


title: Great Leap Forward

text: According to Joseph Ball, writing in "Monthly Review", there is a good argument to suggest that the policies of the Great Leap Forward did a lot to sustain China's overall economic growth, after an initial period of disruption. Official Chinese statistics show that after the end of the Leap in 1962, industrial output value had doubled; the gross value of agricultural products increased by 35 percent; steel production in 1962 was between 10.6 million tons or 12 million tons; investment in capital construction rose to 40 percent from 35 percent in the First Five-Year Plan period; the investment in capital construction was doubled; and the average income of workers and farmers increased by up to 30 percent. Additionally, there was significant capital construction (especially in iron, steel, mining and textile enterprises) that ultimately contributed greatly to China's industrialization. The Great Leap Forward period also marked the initiation of China's rapid growth in tractor and fertilizer production.


title: Great Leap Forward

text: The Great Leap Forward's focus on total workforce mobilization resulted in opportunities for women's labor advancement. As women became increasingly needed to work in agriculture and industry, and encouraged by policy to do so, the phenomenon of Iron Women arose. Women did traditionally male work in both fields and factories, including major movements of women into management positions. Women competed for high productivity, and those who distinguished themselves came to be called Iron Women.


title: Great Leap Forward

text: There were various forms of resistance to the consequences of the Great Leap Forward. Several provinces saw armed rebellion, though these rebellions never posed a serious threat to the Central Government. Rebellions are documented to have occurred in Henan, Shandong, Qinghai, Gansu, Sichuan, Fujian, and Yunnan provinces and in the Tibetan Autonomous Region. In Henan, Shandong, Qinghai, Gansu, and Sichuan, these rebellions lasted more than a year, with the Spirit Soldier rebellion of 1959 being one of the few larger-scale uprisings. There was also occasional violence against cadre members. Raids on granaries, arson and other vandalism, train robberies, and raids on neighboring villages and counties were common.


title: Great Leap Forward

text: According to Ralph Thaxton, professor of politics at Brandeis University, villagers turned against the CCP during and after the Great Leap, seeing it as autocratic, brutal, corrupt, and mean-spirited. According to Thaxton, the CCP's policies included plunder, forced labor, and starvation, which led villagers "to think about their relationship with the Communist Party in ways that do not bode well for the continuity of socialist rule."


title: Great Leap Forward

text: Often, villagers composed doggerel to show their defiance to the regime, and "perhaps, to remain sane." During the Great Leap, one jingle ran: "Flatter shamelessly—eat delicacies... Don't flatter—starve to death for sure."


title: Great Leap Forward

text: Officials were prosecuted for exaggerating production figures, although punishments varied. In one case, a provincial party secretary was dismissed and prohibited from holding higher office. A number of county-level officials were publicly tried and executed.


title: Great Leap Forward

text: Mao stepped down as State Chairman of the PRC on April 27, 1959, but remained CCP Chairman. Liu Shaoqi (the new PRC Chairman) and reformist Deng Xiaoping (CCP General Secretary) were left in charge to change policy to bring economic recovery. Mao's Great Leap Forward policy was openly criticized at the Lushan party conference by one person. Criticism from Minister of National Defense Peng Dehuai, who, discovered that people from his home province starved to death caused him to write a letter to Mao to ask for the policies to be adapted. After the Lushan showdown, Mao replaced Peng with Lin Biao and Peng was sent off into obscurity.


title: Great Leap Forward

text: However, by 1962, it was clear that the party had changed away from the extremist ideology that led to the Great Leap. During 1962, the party held a number of conferences and rehabilitated most of the deposed comrades who had criticized Mao in the aftermath of the Great Leap. The event was again discussed, with much self-criticism, and the contemporary government called it a "serious [loss] to our country and people" and blamed the cult of personality of Mao.


title: Great Leap Forward

text: at the Lushan conference of 1959. Peng Dehuai, one of the great marshals of the Chinese civil war against the nationalists, was a strong supporter of the Leap. But the discovery that people from his own home area were starving to death prompted him to write to Mao to ask for the policies to be adapted. Mao was furious, reading the letter out in public and demanding that his colleagues in the leadership line up either behind him or Peng. Almost to a man, they supported Mao, with his security chief Kang Sheng declaring of the letter: "I make bold to suggest that this cannot be handled with lenience."


title: Great Leap Forward

text: In particular, at the "Seven Thousand Cadres Conference" in January – February 1962, Mao made a self-criticism and re-affirmed his commitment to democratic centralism. In the years that followed, Mao mostly abstained from the operations of government, making policy largely the domain of Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping. Maoist ideology took a back seat in the Communist Party, until Mao launched the Cultural Revolution in 1966 which marked his political comeback.


title: X-Men (film)

text: X-Men is a 2000 American superhero film directed by Bryan Singer and written by David Hayter from a story by Singer and Tom DeSanto. The film is based on the Marvel Comics superhero team of the same name, created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, and features an ensemble cast consisting of Patrick Stewart, Hugh Jackman, Ian McKellen, Halle Berry, Famke Janssen, James Marsden, Bruce Davison, Rebecca Romijn, Ray Park, Tyler Mane, and Anna Paquin. The film depicts a world where an unknown proportion of people are mutants, whose possession of superhuman powers makes them distrusted by normal humans. It focuses on mutants Wolverine and Rogue as they are brought into a conflict between two groups that have radically different approaches to bringing about the acceptance of mutant-kind: Charles Xavier's X-Men, and the Brotherhood of Mutants, led by Magneto.


title: X-Men (film)

text: Development of "X-Men" began as far back as 1984 with Orion Pictures, with James Cameron and Kathryn Bigelow in discussions at one point. The film rights were bought by 20th Century Fox in 1994, and various scripts and film treatments were commissioned from Andrew Kevin Walker, John Logan, Joss Whedon, and Michael Chabon. Singer signed to direct in 1996, with further rewrites by Ed Solomon, Singer, Tom DeSanto, Christopher McQuarrie, and Hayter, in which Beast and Nightcrawler were deleted over budget concerns from Fox. "X-Men" marked the Hollywood debut for Jackman, a last-second choice for Wolverine, cast three weeks into filming. Filming took place from September 22, 1999, to March 3, 2000, primarily in Toronto.


title: X-Men (film)

text: "X-Men" premiered at Ellis Island on July 12, 2000, and was released in the United States on July 14. It was a box office success, grossing over $296.3million worldwide, and received positive reviews from critics, citing its performances, story, and thematic depth. The film's success led to a series of sequels, prequels, reboots, and spin-offs, with the overall success of the series helping spawn a reemergence of superhero films.


title: X-Men (film)

text: In 1944 Nazi-occupied Poland, 13-year-old Erik Lehnsherr is separated from his parents upon entering the Auschwitz concentration camp. While attempting to reach them, he causes a set of metal gates to bend toward him because of his mutant ability to generate magnetic fields, but is knocked out by the guards.


title: X-Men (film)

text: In the not-too-distant future, U.S. Senator Robert Kelly attempts to pass a "Mutant Registration Act" in Congress, which would force mutants to reveal their identities and abilities. Present are Lehnsherr, now going by the name "Magneto", and his telepathic colleague Professor Charles Xavier. Xavier sees Lehnsherr in attendance and is concerned with how he will respond to the Registration Act.


title: X-Men (film)

text: In Meridian, Mississippi, 17-year-old Marie accidentally puts her boyfriend into a coma after she kisses him, because of her mutant ability to absorb the power and life force of others. Adopting the name "Rogue", she runs away to Alberta, where she meets Logan, also known as "Wolverine", a mutant who possesses superhuman healing abilities and metal claws that protrude from between his knuckles. They are attacked on the road by Sabretooth, a member of Magneto's Brotherhood of Mutants, but two members of Xavier's X-Men, Cyclops and Storm, arrive and save them. Wolverine and Rogue are brought to Xavier's school for mutants in Westchester County, New York, where Xavier tells Logan that Magneto appears to have taken an interest in him and asks him to stay while he investigates the matter. Rogue enrolls in the school.


title: X-Men (film)

text: Senator Kelly is abducted by Brotherhood members Toad and Mystique and brought to their hideout on the uncharted island of Genosha. Magneto uses Kelly as a test subject for a machine powered by his magnetic abilities that generates a field of radiation, which induces mutations in normal humans. Kelly later escapes by taking advantage of his newfound mutation. Rogue visits Wolverine during the night while he is having a nightmare. Startled, he accidentally stabs her, but she is able to absorb his healing ability to recover. This is observed by fellow students who arrived to help. She is later convinced by Mystique, disguised as Rogue's crush Bobby Drake, that Xavier is angry with her and she should leave the school. Xavier uses his mutant-locating machine Cerebro to find Rogue at a train station, and the X-Men go to retrieve her. Meanwhile, Mystique enters Cerebro and sabotages it.


title: X-Men (film)

text: Having left ahead of Storm and Cyclops, Wolverine finds Rogue on a train and convinces her to return to the school. Before they can leave, Magneto arrives, knocks out Wolverine and subdues Rogue, revealing it was her who he wants rather than Wolverine. Although Xavier attempts to stop him by mentally controlling Sabretooth, he is forced to release his hold when Magneto threatens the police who have converged on the train station, allowing the Brotherhood to escape with Rogue. Kelly arrives at the school, and Xavier reads his mind to learn about Magneto's machine. Realizing the strain of powering it nearly killed him, the X-Men deduce he intends to transfer his powers to Rogue and use her to power it at the cost of her life. Kelly's body rejects his mutation, and his body dissolves into liquid. Xavier attempts to locate Rogue using Cerebro, but Mystique's sabotage incapacitates him, and he falls into a coma. Fellow telekinetic and telepath Jean Grey fixes Cerebro and uses it, learning that the Brotherhood plans to place their mutation-inducing machine on Liberty Island and use it to "mutate" the world leaders meeting at a summit on nearby Ellis Island. The X-Men scale the Statue of Liberty, battling and overpowering the Brotherhood while Magneto transfers his powers to Rogue and activates the mutation machine. As Wolverine confronts and distracts Magneto, Cyclops blasts him away, allowing Wolverine to destroy the machine. He transfers his powers to Rogue, rejuvenating her while incapacitating himself.


title: X-Men (film)

text: Professor Xavier and Wolverine recover from their comas. The group also learns that Mystique escaped the island battle and is impersonating Senator Kelly, despite being seriously injured by Wolverine. Xavier gives Wolverine a lead to his past at an abandoned military installation in Canada. Magneto is imprisoned in a complex constructed of plastic and is visited by Xavier, and Magneto warns him that he intends to escape one day and continue the fight; Xavier replies that he will always be there.


title: X-Men (film)

text: Additionally, Shawn Ashmore appeared in a minor role as Bobby Drake / Iceman, a mutant student at Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters who takes a liking to Rogue. His powers include generating ice.


title: X-Men (film)

text: David Hayter, Stan Lee, and Tom DeSanto make cameo appearances. George Buza, the voice of Beast in "", appeared as the truck driver who drops Rogue off at the bar at which Wolverine fights. Other cameo appearances include Sumela Kay as Kitty Pryde, Katrina Florece as Jubilee, Donald MacKinnon as a young Piotr Rasputin / Colossus sketching a picture in one scene, and Alexander Burton as John Allerdyce / Pyro. Shawn Roberts also made a cameo appearance in the opening of the film as Rogue's first boyfriend. Kevin Feige initially had a cameo as a Weapon X tech, but his scenes did not make the final cut of the film.


title: X-Men (film)

text: Marvel Comics writers and chief editors Gerry Conway and Roy Thomas wrote an X-Men screenplay in 1984 when Orion Pictures held an option on the film rights, but development stalled when Orion began facing financial troubles. Throughout 1989 and 1990, Stan Lee and Chris Claremont were in discussions with Carolco Pictures for an X-Men film adaptation, with James Cameron as producer and Kathryn Bigelow directing.


title: X-Men (film)

text: A story treatment was written by Bigelow, with Bob Hoskins being considered for Wolverine and Angela Bassett as Storm. The deal fell apart when Stan Lee piqued Cameron's interest in a "Spider-Man" film, Carolco went bankrupt, and the film rights reverted to Marvel. In December 1992, Marvel discussed selling the property to Columbia Pictures to no avail. Meanwhile, Avi Arad produced the for Fox Kids. 20th Century Fox was impressed by the success of the television series, and producer Lauren Shuler Donner purchased the film rights for the property in 1994, bringing Andrew Kevin Walker to write the script.


title: X-Men (film)

text: Walker's draft involved Professor Xavier recruiting Wolverine into the X-Men, which consisted of Cyclops, Jean Grey, Iceman, Beast, and Angel. The Brotherhood of Mutants, which consisted of Magneto, Sabretooth, Toad, Juggernaut and the Blob, try to conquer New York City, while Henry Peter Gyrich and Bolivar Trask attack the X-Men with three Sentinels. The script focused on the rivalry between Wolverine and Cyclops, as well as the latter's self-doubt as a field leader. Part of the backstory invented for Magneto made him the cause of the Chernobyl disaster. The script also featured the X-Copter and the Danger Room. Walker turned in his second draft in June 1994.


title: X-Men (film)

text: Laeta Kalogridis was brought on for a subsequent rewrite in 1995. An early script kept the idea of Magneto turning Manhattan into a "mutant homeland", while another hinged on a romance between Wolverine and Storm. Michael Chabon pitched a six-page film treatment to Fox in 1996. It focused heavily on character development between Wolverine and Jubilee and included Professor X, Cyclops, Jean Grey, Nightcrawler, Beast, Iceman, and Storm. Under Chabon's plan, the villains would not have been introduced until the second film.


title: X-Men (film)

text: Fox considered Brett Ratner as director (who would later direct "") and offered the position to Robert Rodriguez, but he turned it down. After the commercial success of "Mortal Kombat" in the United States, Paul W. S. Anderson was offered the position but turned it down, wanting to shift away from making another PG-13-rated film in favour of making an R-rated horror film, "Event Horizon". Following the release of "The Usual Suspects", Bryan Singer was looking to do a science fiction film and Fox offered him "Alien Resurrection", but producer Tom DeSanto felt he would be more appropriate for "X-Men". Singer was hesitant to direct a comic book film, but changed his mind after DeSanto presented the themes of prejudice in the comic that resonated with Singer.


title: X-Men (film)

text: In August 1996, Ed Solomon began work on the script. By December 1996, Singer was in the director's position, while Solomon completed a rewrite that month. Solomon's hiring was publicly revealed in April 1997, and Singer went on to film "Apt Pupil". Fox then announced a Christmas 1998 release date. John Logan and James Schamus provided script revisions, with the latter focusing solely on fleshing out the characters. In late 1997, the budget was projected at $60million. In 1998, Claremont returned to Marvel and, seeing how Fox was still struggling with the script, sent them a four-page-long memo where he explained the core concepts and what differentiated the X-Men from other superheroes. In late 1998, Singer and DeSanto sent a treatment to Fox, which they believed was "perfect" because it took "seriously" the themes and the intent of the Xavier and Magneto comparisons to Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X, unlike the other scripts. They made Rogue an important character because Singer recognized that her mutation, which renders her unable to touch anyone, was the most symbolic of alienation. Singer merged attributes of Kitty Pryde and Jubilee into the film's depiction of Rogue. Magneto's plot to mutate the world leaders into accepting his people is reminiscent of how Constantine I's conversion to Christianity ended the persecution of early Christians in the Roman Empire; the analogy was emphasized in a deleted scene in which Storm teaches history. Senator Kelly's claim that he has a list of mutants living in the United States recalls Joseph McCarthy's similar claim regarding communists.


title: X-Men (film)

text: Fox, who had set the budget at $75million, rejected the treatment, which they estimated would have cost $5million more. Beast, Nightcrawler, Pyro, and the Danger Room had to be deleted before the studio greenlighted "X-Men". Fox head Bill Mechanic argued that this would enhance the story, and Singer concurred that removing the Danger Room allowed him to focus on other scenes he preferred. Elements of Beast, particularly his medical expertise, were transferred to Jean Grey. In mid-1998, Singer and DeSanto brought Christopher McQuarrie from "The Usual Suspects" and together they did another rewrite. McQuarrie was initially slated to work on the script for only three weeks but had not yet delivered his draft by October 1998. Joss Whedon was brought in during production to rewrite the last act. Whedon was highly critical of the script and instead performed a "major overhaul". Whedon's draft featured the Danger Room and concluded with Jean Grey dressed as the Phoenix. According to "Entertainment Weekly", this screenplay was rejected because of its "quick-witted pop culture-referencing tone", and the finished film contained only two dialogue exchanges that Whedon had contributed. Whedon also claimed to have been invited to the table read, completely unaware that his script had been thrown out.


title: X-Men (film)

text: Actor and producer David Hayter, who at the time was working as Singer's assistant, was brought in for rewrites due to his extensive knowledge of the original comics. Hayter took great pride in retaining much of the core elements from the source material, such as Wolverine's Canadian background, as the studio wanted to make him American. He received solo screenplay credit from the Writers Guild of America, while Singer and DeSanto were given story credit. The WGA offered McQuarrie a credit, but he voluntarily took his name off when the final version was more in line with Hayter's script than his. In July 2020, "The Hollywood Reporter" revealed that McQuarrie and Solomon both removed their names from the film due to the studio's "tortuous process". Solomon would later express regret towards removing his name. Hayter claims that 55 percent of his script ended up in the finished film, while other insiders claim that the majority of what is onscreen was written by McQuarrie and Solomon with only small contributions from Hayter.


title: X-Men (film)

text: Glenn Danzig was invited by 20th Century Fox to audition for the role of Wolverine in 1995, as his height and build closely resemble that of the film's protagonist, as described in the original comic books. However, he declined due to scheduling conflicts with his band. With Singer taking over as director, Russell Crowe was the first choice to play Wolverine, but he turned it down, instead recommending his friend, actor Hugh Jackman, for the part. Jackman was an unknown actor at the time, while a number of more established actors offered their services for the role. Singer brought Viggo Mortensen to view storyboards, but Mortensen's son was vocal about the character's imposing appearance. Mortensen was also apprehensive of signing on for multiple films. Dougray Scott was cast as Wolverine in a multi-film deal but was forced to back out due to scheduling conflicts with "" in early October 1999 and sustaining injuries in a motorbike accident. Jackman was then cast three weeks into filming, based on a successful audition.


title: X-Men (film)

text: Patrick Stewart was first approached by Singer to play Xavier on the set of "Conspiracy Theory" (1997), which was directed by "X-Men" executive producer Richard Donner. Michael Jackson actively campaigned for the role of Xavier but was never seriously considered by the studio. Jim Caviezel was originally cast as Cyclops but backed out due to scheduling conflicts with "Frequency". James Marsden was unfamiliar with his character, but he soon became accustomed after reading various comic books. Marsden modeled his performance similar to a Boy Scout. Anna Paquin dropped out of the lead role in "Tart" in favor of "X-Men". Rachael Leigh Cook was considered for the role of Rogue. Cook later admitted that she regretted her decision to turn the role down. Singer and Hayter originally offered the role of Jean Grey to Charlize Theron but she turned it down. Singer cast Ian McKellen, who had acted in his previous film, "Apt Pupil". McKellen responded to the gay allegory of the film, "the allegory of the mutants as outsiders, disenfranchised and alone and coming to all of that at puberty when their difference manifests", Singer explained. "Ian is an activist and he really responded to the potential of that allegory."


title: X-Men (film)

text: The original start date was mid-1999, with the release date set for Christmas 2000, but Fox moved "X-Men" to June. Steven Spielberg had been scheduled to film "Minority Report" for release in June 2000, but he had chosen to film "A.I. Artificial Intelligence", and Fox needed a film to fill the void. This meant that Singer had to finish "X-Men" six months ahead of schedule, although filming had been pushed back. The release date was then moved to July 14.


title: X-Men (film)

text: Filming took place from September 22, 1999, to March 3, 2000, in Toronto and in Hamilton, Ontario. Locations included Central Commerce Collegiate, Distillery District and Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum. Casa Loma, Roy Thomson Hall and Metro Hall were used for X-Mansion interiors, while Parkwood Estate (located in Oshawa, east of Toronto) was chosen for exteriors. Spencer Smith Park (in Burlington, Ontario) doubled for Liberty Island. Post-production was hectic, with Shuler Donner saying that "we had to lock picture and score and edit, sometimes at the same time".


title: X-Men (film)

text: During production, Singer would allegedly arrive late and experience mood swings and "explosive" tantrums. At the time, Singer claimed to be taking medication for back pain. Cast and crew members found Singer's drug use too "problematic". Kevin Feige, the film's associate producer, was flown on-set to ensure that Singer was kept in line. Singer was also accused of giving small roles to younger actors and minors in exchange for sex. A source for Pyro actor Alex Burton says Burton was told the role was created for him by Singer and Marc Collins-Rector. Burton was also flown from Los Angeles to Toronto for filming, an unusual occurrence for an actor with a minor role. Several sources close to "The Hollywood Reporter" claimed that story meetings were "unprofessional, even by eccentric auteur standards", with Singer allegedly bringing "young guys", who were not involved with the project, to the meetings.


title: X-Men (film)

text: The filmmakers decided not to replicate the X-Men costumes as seen in the comic book. Stan Lee and Chris Claremont supported this decision. Claremont joked, "you can do that on a drawing, but when you put it on people it's disturbing!" Producer/co-writer Tom DeSanto had been supportive of using the blue and yellow color scheme of the comics, but came to conclude that they would not work onscreen. To acknowledge the fan complaints, Singer added Cyclops' line "What would you prefer, yellow spandex?"—when Wolverine complains about wearing their uniforms—during filming. Singer noted that durable black leather made more sense for the X-Men to wear as protective clothing, and Shuler Donner added that the costumes helped them "blend into the night".


title: X-Men (film)

text: Oakley, Inc. provided the red-lensed glasses worn by Cyclops, a customized version of the company's own X-Metal Juliet. Wolverine's claws required no cast of Hugh Jackman's hands, and were built so he could easily put them on and take them off for safety reasons. Production had insisted that they be attached at all times under a full prosthetic sleeve but designer Gordon Smith refused to do it. Production also insisted on real metal blades, which Smith also refused to do, making injection-moulded plaster blades instead. Hundreds of pairs were built for Jackman and his stunt doubles.


title: X-Men (film)

text: Rebecca Romijn wore 110 individual silicone prosthetics on her body to portray Mystique; only the edges were glued, the rest were self-sticking. The prosthetics were built flat and wrapped her body. They were internally colored with food coloring and needed additional makeup or paint. The original agreed-to and tested design was to color her skin with cosmetic-grade food coloring as well, but at the last minute Bryan Singer insisted on painting her skin to look opaque, as in the comic book, which added six hours to the time needed to apply Romijn's makeup, making the ordeal very difficult for her. There were also no facilities provided to exhaust paint fumes, during one of Canada's colder winters. Romijn reflected, "I had almost no contact with the rest of the cast; it was like I was making a different movie from everyone else. It was hell."


title: X-Men (film)

text: In the late 1990s, computer-generated imagery was becoming more commonly used. Singer visited the sets of "" and "Titanic" to understand practical and digital effects. Filming had started without a special effects company hired. Digital Domain, Cinesite, Kleiser-Walczak Construction Co., Hammerhead Production, Matte World Digital, CORE and POP were all hired in December 1999. Visual effects supervisor Mike Fink admitted to have been dissatisfied with his work on "X-Men" in 2003, despite nearly being nominated for an Academy Award.


title: X-Men (film)

text: Digital Domain's technical director Sean C. Cunningham and lead compositor Claas Henke morphed Bruce Davison into a liquid figure for Kelly's mutation scene. Cunningham said, "There were many digital layers: water without refraction, water with murkiness, skin with and without highlights, skin with goo in it. When rendered together, it took 39 hours per frame." They considered showing Kelly's internal organs during the transformation, "but that seemed too gruesome", according to Cunningham.


title: X-Men (film)

text: Singer approached John Williams to compose the film score, but Williams turned down the offer because of scheduling conflicts. Then Singer set on his usual composer, John Ottman. However, once Fox pushed "X-Men" from December to July, Ottman's commitment to direct "" made him unable to work with Singer. Michael Kamen was eventually hired. Given the film was only completed shortly before its premiere, Kamen wrote the score to the finished scenes, which were sent to him just as work was done on them. Singer asked him not to use any songs in the soundtrack as he "didn't want to date the movie". Due to Kamen's unfamiliarity with the comics, he only tried to "represent Bryan Singer's filmic tone that he's made, for a comic book, a quite serious movie, which is about the capacity of humanity to categorize people by race, religion or type, and prejudice people against them based on their innate characteristics". Character-specific themes were written to "identify these characters, as you go through the film, because they're not always clear". For instance, Mystique's motif, focused on the cello as Kamen found it "a very erotic-sounding instrument", played in the soundtrack as she was disguised as Wolverine. Due to time restrictions, the producers scrapped their original plan to record the score in London and did it in Los Angeles.


title: X-Men (film)

text: Kamen's first draft of the score had been described as having an abundance of themes and rich orchestrations. During early recording sessions, producer Lauren Shuler Donner expressed her dissatisfaction with Kamen's music and forced him to rewrite the entire score by using fewer themes and more electronic elements.


title: X-Men (film)

text: La-La Land Records, 20th Century Studios, and Universal Music Special Markets released a 2-CD expanded and remastered release of the "X-Men: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack" titled: "X-Men: Expanded Original Soundtrack", was released on May 11, 2021.


title: X-Men (film)

text: Fox aired a special entitled "Mutant Watch" to promote the movie that partially includes in universe scenes of a senate hearing featuring Senator Robert Kelly. This featurette was included as a bonus feature on some of the video releases. On June 1, 2000, Marvel published a comic book prequel to "X-Men", entitled "X-Men: Beginnings", revealing the backstories of Magneto, Rogue and Wolverine. There was also a comic book adaptation based on the film. A console video game, "", was released on July 6, 2000, to take advantage of the film's release, featuring costumes and other materials from the film.


title: X-Men (film)

text: "X-Men" had its premiere at Ellis Island on July 12, 2000, two days before a wide opening in 3,025 theaters in North America. It would also debut in Australia that weekend to take advantage of the school holidays, while most other territories would get the film in August. Marvel Studios was depending on "X-Men"s success to ignite other franchise properties ("Spider-Man", "Fantastic Four", "Hulk", and "Daredevil").


title: X-Men (film)

text: "X-Men" was originally released on VHS and DVD on November 21, 2000, to take advantage of Thanksgiving in the United States. In its initial home video weekend, the film earned $60million in rentals and direct sales alongside "Gladiator", making them earn more than all films in theaters outside from leader "How the Grinch Stole Christmas". "X-Men" finished 2000 as the seventh highest-grossing home release of the year with $141million, with 78% being earned through sales. A new two-disc DVD was released three years later on February 11, 2003 in anticipation to the theatrical release of sequel "X2", titled "X-Men 1.5". It includes the theatrical version of the film along with the option to add deleted scenes and several new additional features. This THX certified DVD release also features audio commentary, sneak peeks for "Daredevil" and "X2", a DTS 5.1 audio track, enhanced viewing mode and behind-the-scenes footage. The first disc has animated menus with four multi-colored orbs and the second disc has two separated sections, which are "X-Men 2" and "Evolution X".


title: X-Men (film)

text: "X-Men" was released on Blu-ray in April 2009, with bonus features reproduced from the "X-Men 1.5" DVD release. Unlike the US edition, the UK release of the Blu-ray includes a picture-in-picture mode called "BonusView" and an in-feature photo gallery.


title: X-Men (film)

text: "X-Men" is included in the 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray set "X-Men: 3-Film Collection", which was released on September 25, 2018.


title: X-Men (film)

text: In North America, "X-Men" opened on Friday, July 14, 2000, and made $21.4million on its opening day. This made it the third-highest opening day of any film, behind "" and "". It also had the third-highest Friday gross, just after the latter film and "Toy Story 2". The film earned $57.5million in its opening weekend, averaging $18,000 per theater, and having the highest-grossing opening weekend for a superhero film (surpassing "Batman Forever"s $52.7million), a non-sequel and a July release (surpassing "Men in Black"s $51.1million). At the time of its release, "X-Men" had the sixth biggest opening of all time and marked the first time in history that three pictures had consecutive opening weekends above $40million in North America, after "The Perfect Storm"s $41.3million and "Scary Movie"s $42.3million. Moreover, it had the second largest opening weekend of that year, behind "". During its second weekend, the film was overtaken by "What Lies Beneath", but made a total of $23.5million.


title: X-Men (film)

text: "X-Men" grossed $157.3million in the United States and Canada and $139million in other territories for a worldwide total of $296.3million, against a production budget of $75million, becoming the eighth-highest-grossing film of 2000 domestically and ninth worldwide. The success of "X-Men" started a reemergence for the comic book and superhero film genre.


title: X-Men (film)

text: On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, of reviews are positive, with an average rating of . The site's critical consensus reads: "Faithful to the comics and filled with action, "X-Men" brings a crowded slate of classic Marvel characters to the screen with a talented ensemble cast and surprisingly sharp narrative focus." Metacritic assigned the film a weighted average score of 64 out of 100 based on 33 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale.


title: X-Men (film)

text: Kenneth Turan found "so much is happening you feel the immediate need of a sequel just as a reward for absorbing it all. While "X-Men" doesn't take your breath away wire-to-wire the way "The Matrix" did, it's an accomplished piece of work with considerable pulp watchability to it." ReelReviews.net's James Berardinelli, an "X-Men" comic book fan, believed, "the film is effectively paced with a good balance of exposition, character development, and special effects-enhanced action. Neither the plot nor the character relationships are difficult to follow, and the movie avoids the trap of spending too much time explaining things that don't need to be explained. X-Men fandom is likely to be divided over whether the picture is a success or a failure". Desson Thomson of "The Washington Post" commented, "[T]he movie's enjoyable on the surface, but I suspect many people, even die-hards, will be less enthusiastic about what lies, or doesn't, underneath".


title: X-Men (film)

text: Roger Ebert of the "Chicago Sun-Times" said he "started out liking this movie, while waiting for something really interesting to happen. When nothing did, I still didn't dislike it; I assume the X-Men will further develop their personalities if there is a sequel, and maybe find time to get involved in a story. No doubt fans of the comics will understand subtle allusions and fine points of behavior; they should linger in the lobby after each screening to answer questions." He also gave it a "thumbs down" on "Ebert & Roeper". Peter Travers of "Rolling Stone" noted, "Since it's Wolverine's movie, any X-Men or Women who don't hinge directly on his story get short shrift. As Storm, Halle Berry can do neat tricks with weather, but her role is gone with the wind. It sucks that Stewart and McKellen, two superb actors, are underused."


title: X-Men (film)

text: "X-Men" was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, but lost to "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon". The film was also successful at the 27th Saturn Awards where it won the categories for Best Science Fiction Film, Director (Bryan Singer), Actor (Hugh Jackman), Supporting Actress (Rebecca Romijn), Writing (David Hayter), and Costumes. Nominations included Best Supporting Actor (Patrick Stewart), Performance by a Younger Actor (Anna Paquin), Special Effects, and Make-up. Singer also won the Empire Award for Best Director.


title: X-Men (film)

text: After the film's critical and financial success, a series of films followed, starting with "X2" (2003).


title: Derby County F.C.

text: Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Derby, Derbyshire, England. The club competes in League One, the third tier of English football. Derby has played its home matches at Pride Park Stadium since 1997. Notable for being one of the 12 founder members of the Football League in 1888, Derby County is one of only 10 clubs to have competed in every season of the English football league system, with all but five of those being in the top two divisions.


title: Derby County F.C.

text: The club was founded in 1884 by William Morley as an offshoot of Derbyshire County Cricket Club. Its competitive peak came in the 1970s when it twice won the First Division and competed in major European competitions on four occasions, reaching the European Cup semi-finals as well as winning several minor trophies. Additionally, the club was a strong force in the interwar years – finishing league runner-up twice in the 1930s – and winning the first post-war FA Cup in 1946.


title: Derby County F.C.

text: The club's home colours have been black and white since the 1890s. The team gets its nickname, "The Rams", to show tribute to its links with the First Regiment of Derby Militia, which took a ram as its mascot. Additionally, the club also adopted the song "The Derby Ram" as its regimental song. They have a long-standing rivalry with nearby club Nottingham Forest, with whom they contest the East Midlands derby.


title: Derby County F.C.

text: Derby County F.C. was formed in 1884 as an offshoot of Derbyshire County Cricket Club in an attempt to give players and supporters a winter interest as well as secure the cricket club extra revenue. The original intention was to name the club "Derbyshire County F.C." to highlight the link, though the Derbyshire FA, formed in 1883, objected on the grounds it was too long and therefore would not have been understood by the fans who may mistake it for a Derbyshire FA team. Playing their home matches at the cricket club's Racecourse Ground, 1884–85 saw the club undertake an extensive programme of friendly matches, the first of which was a 6–0 defeat to Great Lever on 13 September 1884. The club's first competitive match came in the 1885 FA Cup, where they lost 7–0 at home to Walsall Town.


title: Derby County F.C.

text: Arguably the most important match in the club's history came in the following season's FA Cup, when a 2–0 victory over Aston Villa, already an emerging force in English football, established Derby County on the English football map, helping the club to attract better opposition for friendlies and, in 1888, an invitation into the inaugural Football League. The opening day of the first ever league season was 8 September 1888, when Derby came from 3–0 down away to Bolton Wanderers to win 6–3, though the club ultimately finished 10th out of 12 teams. In 1891, they absorbed another Derby club, Derby Midland, which had been a member of the Midland League, leaving them as Derby's sole professional football club. Steve Bloomer, generally considered to be Derby County's best-ever player, joined the club in 1892. In 1895, the club moved to a new stadium, the Baseball Ground (so called because it was previously used for baseball), which became their home for the next 102 years. It was then that the club adopted their now traditional home colours of black and white.


title: Derby County F.C.

text: Although Derby were inconsistent in the league, they finished as runners-up to Aston Villa in 1896, and achieved a number of third-place finishes. They were a strong force in the FA Cup, appearing in three finals in six years around the turn of the 20th century, though lost all three, in 1898 (3–1 to Nottingham Forest), 1899 (4–1 to Sheffield United) and 1903 (6–0 to Bury).


title: Derby County F.C.

text: In 1906, Steve Bloomer was sold to Middlesbrough due to financial constraints, and Derby subsequently suffered its first ever relegation the following season, but under Jimmy Methven's management, they re-signed Bloomer and regained their First Division place in 1911. In 1914, they were again relegated, but instantly won the Second Division to earn promotion, though World War I meant they had to wait until 1919 to play First Division football again. After two seasons, they were relegated yet again in 1921. However, the appointment of George Jobey in 1925 kick-started a successful period for the "Rams" and, after promotion in 1926, the club became a formidable force, with high finishes from the late 1920s and all through the 1930s, including finishing as runners-up twice.


title: Derby County F.C.

text: Derby were one of several clubs to close down after the outbreak of World War II but restarted in the early 1940s, in part due to the persistence of Jack Nicholas and Jack Webb. Aided by the recruitment of Raich Carter and Peter Doherty, who had both been stationed in Loughborough during the war, Derby were one step ahead of the opposition when competitive football resumed with the 1946 FA Cup and won their first major trophy with a 4–1 victory over Charlton Athletic.


title: Derby County F.C.

text: The league restarted the following season after a break due to World War II and, under the management of Stuart McMillan, as well as twice breaking the British transfer record to sign Billy Steel and Johnny Morris to replace Carter and Doherty, finished fourth and third in the 1948 and 1949 seasons respectively, before a steady decline set in and the club was relegated in 1953, after nearly 30 years in the top flight, and again in 1955 to drop to the third tier of English football for the first time in their history. Harry Storer led Derby back into the second tier at the second attempt in 1957, though the club progressed no further over the next decade under either Storer or his successor, former Derby player Tim Ward.


title: Derby County F.C.

text: In 1967, Brian Clough and Peter Taylor took over and led Derby to its greatest glory. Starting at 18th in the Second Division in 1968, Clough and Taylor acquired Alan Hinton, Roy McFarland, and John O'Hare, then clinched the influential signing of Dave Mackay to lead the club to 1st place in 1969, and promotion to the First Division. Derby went on to finish fourth in 1970, were banned from competing in Europe due to financial irregularities in 1971, and won their first ever Football League Championship in 1972. Though Derby did not retain their title the following season, they did reach the semi-finals of the European Cup, where they lost to Juventus. Clough's frequent outspoken comments against football's establishment eventually led to him falling out with the board of directors at the club, and Clough and Taylor left in October 1973. Such was their impact on the club that, 37 years later, a 9 ft (2.75 metres) bronze statue of the pair was erected outside Pride Park in commemoration of their legacy.


title: Derby County F.C.

text: Despite the departure of Clough and Taylor, Derby's league success was repeated in the 1974–75 season when they won the title under successor Dave Mackay, who had been a player under Clough when they had returned to the top flight in 1969. However, Derby's form declined towards the end of the 1970s and they went down to the Second Division in 1980 after a string of managers, including former Manchester United boss Tommy Docherty, unsettled the club trying desperately to maintain its place at the top of the First Division. Though they challenged well in their first season, Derby were soon hit hard by rising debts, falling attendances and dismal performances. Peter Taylor returned to the Baseball Ground as manager in early 1983 and kept Derby up that season, but he retired a year later just before Derby's relegation to the Third Division for only the second time in their history. However, Derby did manage to avoid going out of business, and they were soon under the ownership of wealthy businessman Robert Maxwell.


title: Derby County F.C.

text: After relegation to the Third Division in May 1984, the club appointed Arthur Cox as manager. Although they missed out on promotion in Cox's first season as manager, they then won back-to-back promotions and were back in the First Division for the 1987–88 season, with attendances also rising as the club's on-the-field fortunes and financial position improved. The financial backing of new chairman Robert Maxwell saw stars such as Peter Shilton, Mark Wright, Dean Saunders, Trevor Hebberd and Ted McMinn brought to the club and they finished fifth in the 1988–89 season.


title: Derby County F.C.

text: A lack of any further investment from Maxwell quickly led to a decline and discontent amongst the club's fans, culminating in relegation back to the Second Division in 1991 when the club finished bottom of the First Division with just five wins all season. At this time, local newspaper businessman Lionel Pickering became the majority shareholder of the club, taking control just before Maxwell's death in November 1991. In 1992, Derby County paid £2.5 million for Notts County central defender Craig Short, at the time – and for five years afterwards – the most expensive player to be signed by a club outside the top flight, and indeed one of the highest fees paid by any English club for a player at the time. Other expensive signings included strikers Tommy Johnson and Marco Gabbiadini. Cox's resignation as manager in October 1993 saw the appointment of legendary former player Roy McFarland as manager. Derby reached the final of the Division One playoffs that season, but were beaten by local rivals Leicester City. McFarland was sacked a year later after Derby missed out on the playoffs, and his replacement was Jim Smith – a manager whose track record at his previous clubs included four promotions and an FA Cup semi-final appearance.


title: Derby County F.C.

text: Although the 1995–96 season started slowly, the signing of sweeper Igor Štimac in the early autumn proved pivotal. Smith guided the "Rams" to a second-place finish and the Premier League, now the top flight of English football. During that season, it was announced Derby would be leaving the Baseball Ground after more than 100 years to move into a new all-seater stadium, following earlier plans to develop the Baseball Ground as a 26,000-seat stadium.


title: Derby County F.C.

text: After finishing in 12th place in their first season back in the top flight, the club left the Baseball Ground, its home of 102 years, to move into the new 33,597-seat Pride Park Stadium for the 1997–98 season. The Baseball Ground was demolished six years later and a memorial was eventually erected in memory of its role in Derby city history.


title: Derby County F.C.

text: The club settled well into its new home as it recorded back-to-back top 10 finishes for the first time since their 1970s peak, before a sudden decline at the turn of the millennium saw three years of struggle. Smith resigned to be replaced by former players Colin Todd, who lasted just three months, and John Gregory, before the "Rams" were relegated after a six-year stay in the top flight, in 2002.


title: Derby County F.C.

text: Derby County's relegation saw the club enter a serious financial crisis, which forced them to sell many key players. Gregory was later suspended from his managerial duties over alleged misconduct and former Ipswich Town boss George Burley was brought in. The club was put into receivership then sold in October 2003 for £3 to a group led by Jeremy Keith. After finishing 20th in the 2003–04 season, a dramatic improvement in the 2004–05 season saw Derby finish fourth in the Championship, qualifying for a promotion play-off spot, though they lost in the semi-finals to Preston North End. Soon afterwards, Burley resigned citing differences between himself and the board. He was replaced by Bolton Wanderers first team coach Phil Brown. In January 2006, Brown was sacked after a poor run of results. Terry Westley, the academy coach at the time, took over first-team duties until the end of the season and saved Derby from relegation.


title: Derby County F.C.

text: In April 2006, a consortium of local businessmen led by former vice-chairman Peter Gadsby purchased the club, reducing its debt and returning Pride Park Stadium to the club's ownership in the process. In June 2006, former Preston North End boss Billy Davies was appointed Derby County's new permanent manager. In his first season, Davies took Derby to the Championship play-offs, where they beat Southampton on penalties in the semi-finals before defeating West Bromwich Albion 1–0 with a second-half Stephen Pearson goal at the new Wembley Stadium to secure a return to the Premier League and the associated £60 million windfall.


title: Derby County F.C.

text: After failing to win any of their opening five matches of the season (one draw and four consecutive defeats), Derby scored their first victory with a 1–0 win over Newcastle, where Kenny Miller scored the only goal of the game. In October 2007, Peter Gadsby stepped down as chairman to be replaced by former Hull City owner Adam Pearson, who immediately began searching for investment from overseas. After a poor start to the season, manager Billy Davies left by mutual consent in November. He was succeeded by Paul Jewell, who failed to save the club as Derby suffered the Premier League's earliest ever relegation, in March, recorded the Premier League's lowest-ever points total, and equalled Loughborough's 108-year Football League record of going through an entire season with only one win, which occurred during the 1899–1900 season when Loughborough finished bottom of the Second Division. In January 2008, Derby was taken over by an international investment group led by General Sports and Entertainment, with Pearson remaining as "de facto" chairman.


title: Derby County F.C.

text: Derby's match at home to Sheffield United on 13 September 2008 generated much media coverage as it was approaching a year since Derby's last league win, a run which saw the club break the English league record for most matches without a win. Just four days short of the anniversary of the 1–0 victory over Newcastle United, Rob Hulse scored against his former club as Derby ran out 2–1 winners, earning Paul Jewell his first league win as Derby boss at his 27th attempt. Despite taking the club to the League Cup semi-final, the club's first major cup semi-final since 1976, where Derby lost 4–3 to Manchester United over two legs, Jewell resigned as manager in December 2008 after a run of just two wins in 11 matches. He was replaced by Nigel Clough, son of former manager Brian Clough. Nigel Clough led the club to 18th place and safety. After four years of midtable obscurity, Clough was replaced by Steve McClaren in September 2013; McClaren led the club to a 3rd-place finish in the 2013–14 season, but lost the play-off final to Queens Park Rangers.


title: Derby County F.C.

text: The following season local businessman Mel Morris assumed ownership of the club. Morris initially oversaw a level of spending unprecedented in Derby's history, breaking the club's transfer record four times in his first three years, but also oversaw an equally unprecedented managerial turnover, with nine managers in six years from June 2015. In that period, the club endured three unsuccessful play-off campaigns, failing in the semi-finals twice and losing in the 2019 final to Aston Villa. In May 2021, the club, by then managed by Wayne Rooney, narrowly avoided relegation to League One. Earlier, in October 2020, it was announced that Morris was intending to sell the club and was actively seeking new owners. A potential deal with a Middle Eastern-backed company was discontinued in March 2021, after which an agreed sale to a Spanish businessman, Erik Alonso, also fell through after doubts about Alonso's funding emerged, alongside possible EFL sanctions regarding breaches of financial fair play regulations and a deduction of nine points remained under consideration in mid-September 2021. On 8 July 2021, the EFL imposed a transfer embargo on the club, leaving Rooney with a squad of just nine contracted senior professionals. The EFL later relaxed the embargo but said any deals would have strict wage limits. Following a long-term injury to Colin Kazim-Richards in the early stage of the 2021–22 season, the club were given special dispensation by the EFL to bring in veteran defender Phil Jagielka and striker Sam Baldock.


title: Derby County F.C.

text: On 17 September 2021, the club's board of directors announced that the club was to go into administration, and the EFL confirmed Derby faced a 12-point deduction. Having invested "in excess of £200m" in the club, owner Mel Morris apologised to fans and staff about the club going into administration. Relegated in May 2021, former Championship club Wycombe Wanderers considered legal action against Derby County following the administration announcement, as did Middlesbrough. On 22 September 2021, the club formally went into administration and were deducted 12 points, leaving them bottom of the Championship. During October and November 2021, former Derby owner Andy Appleby, US businessman Chris Kirchner, and Sandy and James Easdale, were named as interested parties as administrators looked for a buyer for the club, planning to shortlist three preferred bidders by the end of 2021. However, a quick sale was unlikely pending discussions with HMRC, and confirmation of Derby's full liabilities. On 16 November, the club had a further deduction of nine points for breaching EFL accounting rules, leaving the club on −3, 18 points from safety. A further three-point deduction, for breaches of EFL profitability and sustainability rules, was suspended. Derby and related companies were reported to owe £29.3m to HMRC. Other liabilities included a £20m loan from US investment group MSD Holdings, plus various football and trade creditors owed around £15m.


title: Derby County F.C.

text: On 21 November 2021, Quantuma said it hoped to identify a preferred buyer "in the next two to three weeks", with Kirchner the only potential buyer to have publicly confirmed his interest. On 2 December, after press speculation that the club might go into liquidation due to the scale of its debts, Rooney insisted that was not an option. On 18 December, he said three bids had been received and a preferred bidder should be announced by Christmas, and administrators hoped to complete a sale "in or around February 2022". On 24 December, Kirchner withdrew his bid. Then, on 7 January 2022, former Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley was reported to be interested in buying the club.


title: Derby County F.C.

text: On 14 January 2022, with no immediate prospect of Derby County's purchase (hampered by the legal actions involving Middlesbrough and Wycombe), the EFL gave administrators until 1 February 2022 to provide information about how they intended to fund the club until the end of the season. The Middlesbrough and Wycombe claims, if proved, could leave Derby with liabilities running into millions (the BBC suggested as much as £60 million), because football debts must be paid in full. Consequently, potential purchasers were unwilling to commit to buying the club. As a result, the BBC reported on 17 January that Derby's administrators could seek a legal ruling that the claims do not fall within the normal "football-related" agreements over issues such as transfer fees and ticket sales. Middlesbrough and Wycombe subsequently said they were willing to discuss a possible compromise. On 20 January, the club's administrators committed to providing the EFL with funding information "within days", after the EFL said "the club will run out of cash by February". The following day, another bid to buy the club, from the Binnie family, founders of US investment company Carlisle Capital, was reported, but the £28m offer did not include the stadium, against which the MSD Holdings loan was secured. Following the Binnie bid, and reports that former chairman Andy Appleby was working on an alternative bid that included the stadium, the EFL and administrators Quantuma were due to meet on 25 January to discuss the club's future.


title: Derby County F.C.

text: On 27 January 2022, Quantuma and the EFL announced that administrators had been given an extra month to provide proof of how Derby would be funded for the rest of the season. The EFL also rejected Derby's efforts to reclassify its footballing debts relating to the Middlesbrough and Wycombe legal actions. On 3 February, a source close to the Binnie bid told the BBC they feared the club was heading for liquidation because of financial risks relating to the legal actions. During the January transfer window, nine players left Derby, which remained under a transfer embargo and seven points from safety in the Championship, after a defeat at Huddersfield. On 4 February, trying to "unlock the impasse" over Derby's sale, former owner, Mel Morris, invited Middlesbrough and Wycombe to take their compensation claims to the High Court against him personally. On 11 February, it was announced that Morris had reached a private "accord" with Middlesbrough's owner and details had been shared with the administrators, but there was no update regarding Wycombe's claim. As the 28 February deadline approached without news of a sale, the EFL called for an urgent funding update from Quantuma. On 1 March, it was reported the EFL had no plans to expel the club despite administrators missing the deadline, and a defeat at Cardiff City left Derby eight points from safety with 11 Championship games to play. On 2 March, the administrators said they had sought "further requests for clarity from prospective purchasers" and hoped to be able to name a preferred bidder "shortly". The EFL said the "lack of progress" in naming a preferred bidder, or providing proof of funding, was "threatening the very future of Derby County". Even after Quantuma provided a forecast showing the club had "sufficient cash" to get to the end of the season, the EFL still felt "a number of challenges" remained.


title: Derby County F.C.

text: On 4 March 2022, Quantuma said it was in "active dialogue" with potential buyers: "Due to the complex nature of the mechanics of the bids received, it is necessary for us to work through each of these matters individually, to ensure the bids meet our terms of purchase. ... We remain confident that we will be in a position to name a preferred bidder shortly." However, on 10 March, the Binnie family ended their bid to buy the club after a £30 million offer was rejected by Quantuma as too low, with the administrators thought to be seeking bids of around £50 million. Meanwhile, and subject to completion of international paperwork, Derby sold Polish international winger, Kamil Jóźwiak, to US MLS side Charlotte FC for £2 million - funds that would help the club survive to the end of the season. A preferred bidder had still not been announced by the end of March 2022, with Quantuma disappointed at "attempts by some parties to delay and undermine the process". Manager Wayne Rooney said: "I don't know where the club's going, I don't know if the club's going to be here next season."


title: Derby County F.C.

text: On 6 April 2022, with the club nine points from safety with six matches remaining, Chris Kirchner was confirmed by Quantuma as the preferred bidder, having recently renewed interest in Derby County following a failed attempt to buy Championship rivals Preston North End. The administrators said his offer "represents the best deal for creditors and one which will secure the long-term future of the club", but did not include the stadium (owned by former majority shareholder Mel Morris), about which further negotiation would be needed. The arrangements were also subject to review by the EFL. With games running out and a third spell of third-tier football looking increasingly likely, Rooney talked about the continuing transfer embargo ("You cannot just pick players out of thin air"), and a 15-point penalty remained a possibility if outstanding debts were not settled in line with EFL insolvency rules.


title: Derby County F.C.

text: Following a defeat at QPR on 18 April 2022, Derby County were relegated to League One. With a final-day defeat by Cardiff City, the club ultimately finished 23rd on 34 points, seven points from safety. Kirchner subsequently confirmed that Derby's business plan would be handed to the EFL for approval on 22 April, with the club set to abide by EFL rules on paying creditors to avoid a 15-point penalty next season. On 28 April 2022, Rooney said he expected Kirchner's takeover to be completed within 10 days. Until the sale was agreed, and EFL checks had been completed, Derby remained under a transfer embargo, with only five first-team players contracted beyond June 2022. Rooney also said that Derby City Council was working towards a deal to purchase the club's ground, but on 8 May an "impasse" in negotiations over the ground's purchase was reported to be holding up the takeover deal, and the exclusivity period for the Kirchner takeover bid was extended. On 17 May 2022, Quantuma exchanged contracts for the club's sale to Kirchner with completion scheduled by 31 May 2022, later revised to 1 June 2022. Local businessmen, 'Team Derby' MPs and city council bosses continued to work on a deal to purchase Pride Park, so that the Kirchner takeover can be completed. However, the takeover remained incomplete into early June, and Kirchner was given until 5pm on Friday, 10 June 2022, to provide evidence that he could complete the club's purchase. Quantuma also engaged with other interested parties, including Mike Ashley, as "a contingency measure". The deadline passed without any confirmation from Kirchner, and the BBC said the hold-up related to funds awaiting anti-money laundering approvals. With fixture announcements imminent, the EFL sought to become more closely involved in the sale, "increasingly concerned" that the delays presented "a real risk to the integrity of next season's competition".


title: Derby County F.C.

text: On 13 June 2022, Kirchner withdrew his bid to buy Derby County. Quantuma resumed negotiations with a consortium led by former chairman Andy Appleby. Mike Ashley was reported as having renewed his interest in purchasing the club, but had started a court action regarding comments allegedly made by Quantuma's Carl Jackson. Housebuilding tycoon, and former Wolves chairman, Steve Morgan, was also reported to be interested. Discussions were not reopened with the Binnie family, but at least eight groups were reportedly interested, but the EFL was prevented by privacy agreements from dealing directly with bidders. The Appleby group submitted its bid on 16 June 2022, with Appleby potentially a "trusted" buyer after years of previous involvement. Quantuma had earlier revealed that HMRC's claim for unpaid taxes had risen to £36m, while the club owed finance company MSD £24m. Quantuma had also incurred costs of £2.1m in the first six months of the club's administration. Payment of the club's June wages bill was likely to require external funding, adding to the costs to be borne by any successful bidder. It was also unclear if any bidder would pay the sum Kirchner had agreed to, including paying football creditors in full and a minimum of 25p in the pound to other creditors, raising the potential of a 15-point deduction for Derby in the 2022–23 season. On 24 June 2022, Rooney quit as Derby's manager with immediate effect; Liam Rosenior became interim manager.


title: Derby County F.C.

text: On 26 June 2022, after Derbyshire-based property developer David Clowes had purchased Pride Park, his bid to buy the club was accepted, and Quantuma granted Clowes preferred bidder status. The administrators said Clowes's offer complied with EFL insolvency policy, meaning Derby would avoid a further points deduction. Completion of the acquisition of the business and the assets of the club was initially targeted for 29 June; the deal - and the club's exit from administration - was eventually confirmed on 1 July 2022, though some constraints on transfers were agreed by the EFL and Derby's new owners.


title: Derby County F.C.

text: Like most old football clubs, Derby County did not initially have any badge displayed on their shirts. Their first badge was introduced in 1924. The badge consisted of a circular shield split into three equally sized sections, representing the club, its fans and the area, all containing items traditionally associated with the city of Derby: a Tudor rose and a crown in one section, a buck in a park in the second and a ram's head in the final section. The badge was worn on the players' shirts for just two seasons before they reverted to plain shirts.


title: Derby County F.C.

text: By 1934, another badge had been introduced. This time it was a traditionally shaped shield, again with three sections. The buck in the park had been removed and the rose and the crown had been split up and now occupied a section each. The ram's head also remained and was now given the largest section of the shield. The badge never appeared on the players' shirts. The shield was modified in 1946 when the rose and crown were removed and replaced with the letters "DC" (Derby County) and "FC" (Football Club) respectively. The badge, right, was featured on the player's shirts from its introduction onwards, though the ram's head on its own was used from the late 1960s (the full shield, however, remained the club's official logo).


title: Derby County F.C.

text: A new club badge was introduced in 1971, featuring a more modern design that, with modifications, is still in use. The badge initially consisted of a stylised white ram facing left. The badge was first modified slightly in 1979 to include the text "Derby County FC" under the ram (though the ram remained on its own on away kits). In 1982, the ram turned to face to the right and the text under it was removed. The ram was surrounded by a wreath of laurel and the text "Centenary 1984–1985" was printed underneath for the club's centenary season. The laurel was removed and the text reading "Derby County FC" returned from the next season. In 1993, the ram faced left again and the text was removed once more. From 1995, the ram faced right and was enclosed in a diamond, with a gold banner reading "Derby County FC" underneath and the text "1884" (the year of the club's foundation) underneath that. The design was changed again in 1997 (see left): the ram now faced left and the golden banner now simply read "Derby County"; the diamond and year of formation were removed.


title: Derby County F.C.

text: A decade later, in 2007, the badge was modified again with the ram still facing left and the text "Est. 1884" now in the middle of a circular frame featuring "Derby County Football Club" in gold lettering, with the colours being modified to the club colours of black and white in 2009 (see top of page). In July 2012, the club announced its intention to show only the iconic ram, now just an outline, on future shirts, rather than the full club logo. In July 2013, this traditional ram became the club's full logo again.


title: Derby County F.C.

text: Derby County's original colours (right) were amber, chocolate and blue, though by the 1890s the club had adopted its now traditional colours of black and white, which are still in use today. In the 1970s and 1980s, colours for home matches were white shirts with small blue or red touches (on the club badge or shirt makers insignia), blue shorts and socks that were blue, red, white or a combination of the three. The colours of away kits have varied widely, and although they are usually yellow/gold or blue, the colour for the away kit for the 2008–09 season was fluorescent green. The club also introduced a surprise third kit in August 2008. Similar in design to the club's away kit of the 1970s, with blue and white stripes and reminiscent of the Argentina national team strip, the style was re-introduced following feedback from fans who said it was one of their favourite kits from the club's past.


title: Derby County F.C.

text: Derby's mascot is a ram named Rammie, who also works to maintain the club's links with fans and the East Midlands in general, such as school visits to promote literacy and charity events. Rammie originally emerged as a more friendly option to the club's traditional links with the British Army and the Mercian Regiment in particular.


title: Derby County F.C.

text: Rammie was the first full-time mascot in British football. Rammie's traditional activities include penalty shoot-outs with members of the crowd at half-time, with Rammie as goalkeeper, and warming the crowd up before the match and encouraging the Derby fans during matches. Rammie is a very popular figure amongst Rams fans and, in 2005, released his first DVD, which features the character reading from Aesop's Fables in the Derbyshire countryside.


title: Derby County F.C.

text: Shortly thereafter, Rammie was joined by a female equivalent and his sister, named Eweie. However, Eweie did not last very long at Pride Park, and took a reported "vacation" to the United States. She returned from a 10-year exile on 3 October 2015 at a home match against Brentford.


title: Derby County F.C.

text: As an offshoot of the cricket club, Derby County's first home stadium was the County Cricket Ground, also known as the Racecourse Ground, where the club played between 1884 and 1895. Although the ground itself was good enough to hold the first FA Cup final match outside London, when Blackburn Rovers beat West Bromwich Albion 2–0 in the 1886 FA Cup final replay, and a full England international, disputes over fixture clashes between the football and cricket clubs meant that when the opportunity to play at Sir Francis Ley's Baseball Ground arose, the club accepted.


title: Derby County F.C.

text: Commonly referred to amongst supporters as "the BBG", the club moved to the Baseball Ground in 1895 and remained there for the next 102 years, despite opportunities to move in the 1920s and 1940s. Derby had already played there, a 1–0 win over Sunderland during the 1891–92 season, as an alternative venue after a fixture clash at the County Ground. At its peak during the late 1960s, the ground could hold around 42,000 – the club's record attendance achieved following the opening of the Ley Stand with a 41,826 crowd watching a 5–0 defeat of Tottenham Hotspur on 20 September 1969. From this peak, the continued addition of seating saw the capacity drop over the next 15 years to 26,500 in 1985.


title: Derby County F.C.

text: Following the Taylor Report in 1989, and the legal requirement for all-seater stadia, the ground's capacity dwindled to just 18,500 by the mid-1990s, not enough for the then ambitious second-tier club. Despite initially hoping to rebuild the Baseball Ground to hold 26,000 spectators, and rejecting the offer of two sites elsewhere in Derby, then-chairman Lionel Pickering announced in February 1996 the intention to move to a new, purpose-built stadium at the newly regenerated Pride Park, with the last first-team game at the Baseball Ground being in May 1997, a 1–3 home defeat to Arsenal, though it continued to host reserve matches until 2003. Derby's new ground, named Pride Park Stadium, was officially opened by the Queen on 18 July with a friendly against Italian club Sampdoria following on 4 August.


title: Derby County F.C.

text: Derby hold the unique distinction of being the only club to have had three home grounds host full England internationals. England beat Ireland 9–0 at the Racecourse Ground in 1895, beat Ireland again, 2–1, at the Baseball Ground in 1911 and, most recently, Pride Park hosted England's 4–0 win over Mexico in May 2001.


title: Derby County F.C.

text: Pride Park was renamed the iPro Stadium on 7 December 2013, as part of a 10-year, £7 million sponsorship deal with global sports drink company iPro. At the beginning of 2017, it reverted to its original name of Pride Park Stadium.


title: Derby County F.C.

text: Derby is often acknowledged as a "passionate football town" by rival supporters and the press alike. Tony Francis of "The Daily Telegraph" noted, "Derby is a passionate football town... Even in Division Two, it's a reasonable bet that crowds at Pride Park would not fall far below 20,000. It's historical, it's geographical, it's in the blood. Some places have it, some don't." During the 2007–08 Premier League season, Derby County fans were repeatedly referred to as the best in the country (England) due to their loyalty despite the club's disastrous campaign. Almost every home match at Pride Park Stadium was sold out to the Derby fans and the club also had a large following away from home. The recognition included them being named fans of the season in much national coverage of the season, winning an award from "Nuts" magazine, and being named the most loyal supporters in the country in a 2008 survey by "Sky Sports Magazine". In 2013, Derby supporter Nick Webster was voted Championship Fan of the Year.


title: Derby County F.C.

text: Statistically, the club had the 12th-highest average attendance in the country in the 2007–08, 2008–09, and 2009–10 seasons, despite only having the 15th-largest club ground and finishing 18th or lower in their respective division. In 2008–09, they were the best supported club in the Championship, with a larger average attendance than nine Premier League clubs, and had the Football League's single largest league match attendance, with 33,079 against Wolverhampton Wanderers on 13 April 2009. Since moving to the Pride Park Stadium in 1997, Derby's average attendance has never dropped before 23,000 and they have finished in the top 20 for highest average attendances in 19 out of 23 seasons, despite spending the majority of the time in the second tier.


title: Derby County F.C.

text: Derby's celebrity supporters include actors George Clooney and Robert Lindsay, former Labour MP Dennis Skinner, Irish singer Niall Horan, Blur guitarist Graham Coxon, The Gaslight Anthem guitarist Alex Rosamilia, adult film star Keiran Lee and actor Jack O'Connell. It has been reported that O'Connell has persuaded other celebrities to support the club, including actress Angelina Jolie, and model Cara Delevingne.


title: Derby County F.C.

text: Forest, based in Nottingham, east of Derby, are by far the fiercest rivals; a 2008 survey named the rivalry the 11th-largest in English football, revealing that nine out of 10 fans from both clubs point to the other as their fiercest rival, whilst a 2020 survey listed it joint-12th. Meetings between the side are known as East Midlands derbies and the winning team is awarded the Brian Clough Trophy. The rivalry as a whole largely developed from the 1970s, due to former Derby manager Brian Clough taking over at Forest, much to the anger of the Derby fans. The rivalry has been seen to be as much about which club owns Clough's heart as the proximity of the clubs geographically.


title: Derby County F.C.

text: The rivalry with Leicester City stems largely from geographical location rather than any shared history.


title: Derby County F.C.

text: Leeds United are disliked due to ongoing friction from the early 1970s when Derby and Leeds were two of the top English teams and the scarcely concealed hostility between their respective managers, Brian Clough and Don Revie and is documented in the novel and film "The Damned United". This rivalry is traditionally stronger on Derby's side: while Derby consider Leeds their second or third-biggest rivals, Leeds fans focus more on their dislike of Manchester United and Chelsea, however the rivalry intensified once more in the 2018–19 season following the 'Spygate' scandal, play-off semi-final and increased animosity between the managers, staff and fans of both clubs.


title: Derby County F.C.

text: A 2019 study called ‘The League of Love And Hate’ reported Derby fan's top five rivals as Nottingham Forest (88%), Leicester City (64%), Leeds United (63%), Stoke City (43%) and Aston Villa (30%). Derby themselves appeared in the top fives of Forest (1st – 77%), Leicester (2nd – 60%), Burton Albion (3rd – 56%), Leeds (5th – 30%) and Stoke (5th – 28%).


title: Derby County F.C.

text: Several ex-players/managers associated with Derby County are represented in the English Football Hall of Fame, which was created in 2002 as a celebration of those who have achieved at the very peak of the English game. To be considered for induction players/managers must be 30 years of age or older and have played/managed for at least five years in England.


title: Derby County F.C.

text: The Football League 100 Legends is a list of "100 legendary football players" produced by The Football League in 1998, to celebrate the 100th season of League football. Eight former Derby players made the list.


title: Derby County F.C.

text: Derby County's Player of the Season award is voted for by the club's supporters and named in honour of Jackie Stamps, who scored two goals in Derby's sole FA Cup final victory in 1946. It was first introduced in the 1968–69 season.


title: Derby County F.C.

text: To mark the 50th anniversary of Derby's First Division Championship, the BBC polled fans to identify the Rams' best players for the five decades since 1972. For the 1970s, Kevin Hector received most votes; for the 1980s, Bobby Davison; for the 1990s, Dean Saunders; for the 2000s, Mart Poom, and for the 2010s, Craig Bryson.


title: Derby County F.C.

text: Below is a list of all the permanent managers that Derby County have had since the appointment of Harry Newbould in 1900. In the 16 years prior to Newbould's appointment, the team was selected by club committee, a standard practice by football clubs at the time.


title: Derby County F.C.

text: Derby County's academy, called Moor Farm, is a purpose-built complex situated near the city suburb of Oakwood. It was built in 2003, at a cost of £5 million, to replace the club's previous academy, The Ram-Arena, which was based at Raynesway. It covers and features six full-sized training pitches plus an indoor pitch and includes a gym, restaurant, ProZone room and a laundry. When opening the academy, then-Chairman Lionel Pickering said that the intent was to have "at least eight players from the Academy... in the first-team within three years." Although this was not achieved, the academy produced a number of notable players, including England international midfielder Tom Huddlestone, Wales international defender Lewin Nyatanga, Northern Ireland international goalkeeper Lee Camp, England under-21s players Miles Addison and Lee Grant, as well as England under-19 player Giles Barnes.


title: Derby County F.C.

text: In April 2009, new manager Nigel Clough announced his intention to restructure the academy, appointing former Derby players Darren Wassall and Michael Forsyth and Wolverhampton Wanderers Academy director John Perkins to the backroom staff, replacing the departed Phil Cannon, David Lowe and Brian Burrows. Following this, and an increased investment of £1 million per year from the club, a number of players broke through to the first team squad; ahead of the 2010–11 season, almost a third of the Derby squad were academy graduates, with Mason Bennett setting the club record for youngest first team appearance when he made his full debut with a start in a defeat at Middlesbrough on 22 October 2011 at the age of 15 years and 99 days old. This helped strengthen the academy's reputation and reinforced CEO Tom Glick's stated desire to make Moor Farm "the academy of choice in the Midlands." In August 2012, Derby's academy became a tier 2 academy under the new controversial Elite Player Performance Plan. It was awarded Tier 1 status two years later in July 2014. Focus on the academy continued during the ownership of Mel Morris after his purchase of the club later that year and, at the end of the 2019–20 season Derby had given more first-team minutes to players aged under 21 than any other club in the Football League Championship, with academy graduates such as Max Bird, Louie Sibley, Jason Knight, Jayden Bogle, Morgan Whittaker and Lee Buchanan getting a total of 7,946 minutes in the league during the campaign. When discussing targets for the 2020–21 campaign, Morris stated "We are not going to see a team of 11 players from the Academy featuring this season (2019/20) but the target for next season (is) 50% of our starting 11 should be Academy players. That (is) our target, and I think there is a possibility we could get there."


title: Derby County F.C.

text: Derby first competed in Europe when they entered the 1972–73 European Cup after winning the 1971–72 First Division Title, reaching the semi-final stages, where they lost 3–1 on aggregate to Juventus in controversial circumstances. They had qualified for the 1970–71 Fairs Cup after finishing the 1969–70 First Division in 4th, but were banned from entering the competition for financial irregularities. The 70s was Derby County's peak in English football, and they qualified for Europe in three of the next four seasons, competing in the UEFA Cup or the European Cup in each of the three seasons between 1974–75 and 1976–77.


title: Derby County F.C.

text: The club then declined rapidly and has not appeared in the top European competitions since, though it finished in 5th in the 1989 First Division which would have guaranteed entry into the 1989–90 UEFA Cup had English Clubs not been banned from Europe following the Heysel Stadium Disaster.


title: Derby County F.C.

text: Outside of major competition, the club competed in the Anglo-Italian Cup between 1992–93 and 1994–95, reaching the final in 1993, losing 3–1 to Cremonese at Wembley.


title: Derby County F.C.

text: Kevin Hector holds the record for Derby County appearances in all competitions, appearing 589 times in two e spells with the club between 1966 and 1982. He sits ahead of Ron Webster, who played 535 times for the club, often in the same team as Hector. Just counting league appearances, Hector is again in the lead with 486 appearances, ahead of Jack Parry, who played 483 times for the club between 1948 and 1967.


title: Derby County F.C.

text: The club's all-time top goalscorer is Steve Bloomer, often referred to as "Football's First Superstar", who netted 332 goals for the club in two spells between 1892 and 1914. He is over 100 goals ahead of second in the list Kevin Hector, who netted 201 goals for the club. Jack Bowers holds the club record for most goals in a single season, when he scored 43 goals (35 in the league and a further 8 in the FA Cup), during the 1932–33 season.


title: Derby County F.C.

text: The club's record attendance is 41,826, for a First Division match against Tottenham Hotspur at the Baseball Ground on 20 September 1969, which Derby won 5–0. The record is unlikely to be broken in the near future as Derby's current stadium, Pride Park Stadium, has a limit of 33,597 spectators. The record attendance at Pride Park for a competitive Derby County match is 33,378 for a Premier League match against Liverpool on 18 March 2000. The largest crowd to ever watch a Derby County game is 120,000 when Derby County played Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium in the 1975–76 European Cup.


title: Derby County F.C.

text: Derby's historically poor 2007–08 Premier League campaign saw the club set and equal several unwanted records in English football. The club equalled Loughborough's all-time league record of just one win in an entire league season. They also equalled or set several Premier League records (1992–present), including fewest home wins in a season (1, joint with Sunderland), least goals (20, initially set, but now held jointly with Sheffield United) fewest away wins in a season (0, joint with five other clubs), and most defeats in a season (29, joint with three other clubs). Unmatched records include fewest points in a season (three points for a win) with 11; and worst goal difference (−69). The club also holds the joint record for most consecutive league games without a win (with Macclesfield Town), with 36 matches over two seasons between 22 September 2007 and 13 September 2008.


title: Derby County F.C.

text: Derby also own (alongside Watford), the joint record for most lopsided defeat in an FA Cup final, a 6–0 loss to Bury in 1903.


title: Derby County F.C.

text: As part of the club's 125th Anniversary celebrations, it was announced that during 2009 each month a vote would be carried out to decide on the club's official All Time XI, starting in February 2009 with the goalkeeper, with the following eight months offering opportunities for Derby's support to select a team based within a 4–4–2 formation, with December's vote being reserved for the manager. Voting closed on the 25th of each month, with the winner being announced in the following few days.


title: Derby County F.C.

text: On 2 June 2009, the club announced the supporters choice of the Top 10 Goals in the club's history, with the fans then asked again to choose their favourite from the 10 nominated. The list was obviously biased in favour of more recent goals, largely thanks to the increased coverage modern football enjoys. Three goals featured from the club's 2008–09 campaign. The winners were announced on 22 June 2009.


title: Derby County F.C.

text: "Note: the leagues and divisions of English football have changed somewhat over time, so here they are grouped into their relative levels on the English football league system at the time they were won to allow easy comparison of the achievement"