Episode Summary
Hosts
Graham Dunn, Jamie Rooney
Phil Craig
Guest(s)
Release Date
18 September 2025
Duration
65 min
In this episode of By Far The Greatest Team, Graham Dunn and Jamie Rooney and guest Phil Craig turn their attention from Derby County’s Clough-era greatness to their infamous 2007–08 Premier League season — a campaign that ended with just 11 points, the lowest total in English top-flight history.
The hosts unpack what went wrong: poor recruitment, managerial instability, and a squad simply out of its depth. They revisit the chaotic sequence of events that led from Billy Davies’ promotion to Paul Jewell’s doomed rescue mission, analysing how structural missteps and financial realities collided to produce one of football’s most unforgettable disasters.
But this episode goes deeper. Derby’s collapse becomes the lens through which Graham and Jamie explore football’s greatest failures — stories that transcend results to reveal human resilience, fan loyalty, and the absurd beauty of sport’s unpredictability. From Darwen FC (1898–99) — the early pioneers who fell apart under the pressures of professionalism — to Schalke 2020–21, a modern superclub’s implosion, and Brechin City 2017–18, whose winless campaign redefined Scottish endurance, the discussion charts the universality of failure in football.
It’s a darkly comic, oddly inspiring journey through the underbelly of the game — proving that greatness isn’t only found at the top of the table.
Takeaways
Derby County’s record-breaking Premier League disaster (2007–08)
Why managerial decisions and player investment shape survival
Darwen’s pioneering history and tragic Football League exit
Schalke’s financial and on-pitch implosion in 2021
Brechin City’s winless nightmare and what it says about football’s unpredictability
Derby County (2007–08) – The Season from Hell
Was Derby County 2007–08 the worst Premier League team of all time? Many would argue yes — and the stats back it up. Derby entered the top flight with optimism after promotion under Billy Davies, but soon found themselves hopelessly out of their depth. By September, they had recorded what would be their only win of the entire season — a 1–0 victory against Newcastle United that briefly offered hope. From there, the campaign spiralled into a catalogue of heavy defeats, broken records, and a club seemingly paralysed by poor recruitment, low morale, and managerial upheaval.
When Billy Davies departed, Paul Jewell stepped in, but his arrival only deepened the crisis. Jewell managed just a single win across 24 league games, giving him a win rate of 0.20% — one of the lowest managerial records in English top-flight history. Key players like Kenny Miller, Robbie Savage, and Giles Barnes struggled in a team constantly reshuffled, while the fans resorted to gallows humour in the face of relentless misery.
Derby finished the season with just 11 points, the fewest ever in a Premier League campaign. It was a record-breaking failure that continues to serve as a stark reminder of the gap between Championship survival and Premier League competitiveness.
Yet, strangely, Derby’s season has a lasting place in football culture. It is the definitive example of how not to prepare for the Premier League — a campaign infamous for its futility, but remembered with a strange mix of embarrassment and affection by supporters who lived through it.
Main Topics
Iconic Moments
The context of Derby’s promotion under Billy Davies
Financial constraints and recruitment failures
Paul Jewell’s disastrous run as manager
Breaking the record for fewest points in Premier League history
Cultural memory of Derby’s season as a “what not to do” guide
Promotion to Premier League via 2007 Play-off Final
1–0 win over Newcastle — Derby’s only league victory
The long winless streak stretching 32 matches
Relegation confirmed in March — record-breaking futility
Becoming a cautionary tale in modern football finance
Notable Manager
Billy Davies, Paul Jewell
Notable Players
Kenny Miller, Giles Barnes, Robbie Savage, Dean Leacock, Darren Moore ,Benny Feilhaber
Style of Play
4-4-1-1, defensive, reactive, low block, counter-attack, transitional
Derby County’s 2007–08 side embodied struggle more than style. Built around a transitional 4-4-1-1, the system was functional in the Championship but fatally exposed in the Premier League. What worked as compact organisation at one level became passive retreat at the next.
Billy Davies initially sought solidity, relying on hard-working midfielders and a disciplined back four. But the lack of pace, creativity, and cohesion was glaring. After Paul Jewell’s arrival mid-season, Derby oscillated between deep defensive blocks and desperate counter-attacks, yet never found rhythm.
The midfield pairing of Oakley and Jones offered effort but little control, while forwards like Miller and Earnshaw were starved of service. Defensively, Derby conceded 89 goals — not through indifference, but through exhaustion and constant pressure.
What defined their football wasn’t tactical sophistication but survival instinct. In the face of weekly drubbings, their fans stood by them — proud of the struggle, even in defeat. In its own way, Derby’s season became a human story more than a sporting one: an anatomy of effort meeting its limits.
Related Content
If you liked this one, you’ll love these classic episodes. Keep the nostalgia going — explore more from the By Far The Greatest Team Football Podcast archive.
