COMING HOME
After 20 years as a Ram in exile, Derby County Blog author Ollie Wright returned to the East Midlands with a young family in tow. Once Covid restrictions lifted, Pride Park would once again be in easy reach… unless, of course the Rams’ seemingly endless ownership saga ended not in a takeover, but in liquidation.
This is a story of administration and relegation, interwoven with personal reflections on being a dad, being a son and learning to live with depression and anxiety. It was written at Pride Park at half-time intervals and on trains to and from games.
“Of all the seasons for me to come home, this was the season.”
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0CNYQ4PVS
Amazon review
TD Gibbs - A deeply personal insight into Derby County's darkest days
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 24 June 2024
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As ever with Ollie's work, an excellent read which chronicles his personal odyssey through the traumatic dark days of Derby County's administration period and the start of their re-birth.... It was refreshing that the book did not dwell on these matters but focused on the personal impact on Ollie, his family and his friends at a time when he had returned to live in the East Midlands. The openness and transparency perfectly captured Ollie's personal and emotional journey during these two seasons, whilst also focusing on football matters in equal measure. It was also great to recall how enjoyable, from a footballing perspective, the 2022/23 season was, and the strides that the club has taken under the leadership of David Clowes. I avidly await Ollie's next instalment! (Five stars)
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Tens and Nervous: Derby County in the 2010s: Volume 1 (2010 - 2015) - This was the period in which Nigel Clough patiently built a team that Steve McClaren took to new heights, only for crushing disappointment to follow as the Rams twice fell short of promotion in dramatic style.
But alongside the desperate lowlights were some fine performances to savour - not least the unforgettable 5-0 - as the likes of Craig Bryson, Will Hughes and Chris Martin rose to become Derby heroes.
Ollie Wright's Derby County Blog turned ten years old in 2020. This book compiles the highlights from his first five years of Rams coverage.
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https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B09D5YYKF4
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Amazon review
Peter William Lee - Triggered memories, forgotten players and shadows of the future
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 22 August 2021
A thoroughly enjoyable read... Charting the slow recovery from the disaster of 2007/8 and the sugar rush of the Steve McClaren years, it brought a lot of memories back - the austerity of the Clough rebuild, the moments when we suddenly looked like world-beaters (including the 5-0 deforestation) and then the devastation of Wembley.
Lots of players I’d pretty much forgotten reappeared, many of whom came with high hopes and failed to live up to them, but also some real stars who I loved watching at the time.
So, an enjoyable stroll down memory lane but what made the book especially interesting and even (dare I say) important is the unspoken contrast between that era (careful, prudent husbandry of the club by American owners) and the mire in which DCFC was sunk by Mel Morris (Five stars)
Tens and Nervous: Derby County in the 2010s: Volume 2 (2015 - 2020) - “The biggest risk of all, the thing I dread, is that the Morris story – the local boy made good, the dream owner – turns into a Fawaz al Hasawi-shaped nightmare of instability and kneejerk head loss… Whatever your conception of the ‘Derby County Way’, one thing we can all agree on is this – it is bigger than one man.”
From the departure of Steve McClaren to the arrival of Wayne Rooney, this chaotic era in Derby County history was directed and dominated by executive chairman and owner, Mel Morris. The carousel of managers twirled, millions were spent like confetti and the Rams suffered repeat play-off heartbreak. Mel’s Way was certainly never dull.
Ollie Wright’s Derby County Blog documented the madness as it unfurled.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0BTNSJ2M4
Amazon review
Jimmy McLoughlin - A great summary of five bonkers years in DCFC history
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 24 February 2023
I have followed Ollie Wright's work on the Derby County Blog for almost a decade, this is a superb collection of his lucid writing between the years of 2015-2020.
It was an incredibly exciting period of the club's history, with Derby goes to Hollywood with signings like Frank Lampard, Ashley Cole and Wayne Rooney, amassing almost 350 England caps between them.
But these were also the seeds of destruction that would cripple the club, and almost force it out of very existence. The warning signs were there at the time, when reading the book back, there were more red flags than a Soviet parade.
It is a terrific and painful read at times, I could not recommend it more highly to Derby County fans. Once a Ram, always a Ram (Five stars)
Life During Warnetime - Promotion Special: Derby County's escape from League One
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This ain’t no party
This ain’t no disco
This ain’t no foolin’ around…
This is League One. A second season of slumming it in the backwaters of English football, after the administration crisis that nearly killed Derby County.
2023/4 would be a second and maybe final chance for ‘The King of League One’, Paul Warne, to achieve a promotion that should never have been necessary. From the East Upper, author Ollie Wright tried to make sense of a world in which the Rams took on teams from towns where pastimes such as horse racing, rugby union and sh*thousery.
are more important than football
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0D9Y3F3NL
Amazon review
smk06 - A fantastic book of a successful season told from a Rams fan’s perspective
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 21 October 2024
In Life During Warnetime, Derby County Blogger Ollie Wright captures the emotions experienced by Rams fans throughout the 2023/2024 season which ended with Derby gaining automatic promotion for the first time since 1996.
The cover of the book features a photo of midfielder Ebou Adams waving a black and white flag while hoisted on a fan’s shoulders and surrounded by hundreds of other Rams celebrating promotion on the Pride Park pitch after the final day 2-0 victory against Carlisle. The green tint on the cover and the words ‘Promotion Special’ positioned at the top are a nice contrast that pays homage to the Derby Telegraph Green ‘Un newspaper.
Ollie’s game-by-game descriptions of results throughout the campaign – including the fixtures in the Papa John’s Trophy – are a reminder that despite setting a new club record of 92 points in a season, progress was not smooth and that there were just as many lows as there were highs (Five stars)