Despite the loss of key players like
Mark Wright and
Dean Saunders, Derby County emerged as genuine contenders for an automatic return to English football's top flight (which would be renamed the
FA Premier League from the start of the next season) after the takeover by
Lionel Pickering made Derby one of the richest clubs in the Second Division. Derby smashed their transfer record twice during the season, signing striker
Paul Kitson for £1.3 million from East Midlands rivals
Leicester City in March, followed by the signing of striker
Tommy Johnson from First Division strugglers
Notts County for the same fee. Club legend
Bobby Davison was also re-signed, on loan from
Leeds United; he scored 8 goals in 10 games to reach a century of goals for the Rams. However, in spite of this flurry of transfer activity and breaking the club's record for away wins (12) Derby were unable to gain automatic promotion, finishing two points adrift of second-placed
Middlesbrough. Derby qualified for the playoffs, but were knocked out in the semi-finals by
Blackburn Rovers on a 5–4 scoreline over two legs.
At the end of the season, Scottish winger
Ted McMinn was named the club's player of the season.
November saw the death of former chairman
Robert Maxwell, who had just sold the club to
Lionel Pickering earlier in the year. Maxwell disappeared from his luxury yacht, the Lady Ghislaine, while it was cruising off the
Canary Islands; his body was later found drifting in the
Atlantic Ocean. His death was officially ruled as accidental drowning after he supposedly fell off the yacht, though commentators have alleged it was murder or suicide.
Kit
Derby's kit was manufactured by English company
Umbro and were sponsored by
Auto Windscreens.