The 2012–13 season was Derby County's 107th season in the Football League and their 114th overall in league football. It was their fifth consecutive season in the second tier following the previous campaign and their 45th overall.
Nigel Clough described the season as being "Frustratingly close to being in the top six (but) we were also very pleased with the level of performances, home and away." Steve Nicholson of the Derby Telegraph added that Derby's 10th-placed finish was "thoroughly deserved" and noted that only the small size of the squad, combined with injuries and a lack of signings in the January transfer window, meant that the club did not qualify for the playoffs. He also praised Derby's home form, their best in six years, and noted that "foundations are in place" for a top six finish.
Six of Derby's players featured in the Actim Index's top 100 players for the 2012–13 Football League Championship; Richard Keogh (19), Paul Coutts (37), Jeff Hendrick (58), Conor Sammon (61), Craig Bryson (84) and Jamie Ward (87).
Team kit On 15 June 2012, Derby County confirmed that Kappa would take over from Adidas as the club's kit supplier, the deal would last until the 2017–18 season. The club's new kit designs were released later in the summer. Derby's away kit design was released on 1 July 2012, an all back design with hints of orange from the kit sponsor buymobiles.net and Kappa, the club also reverted to showing the traditional Ram on the shirt, rather than the full club logo.
The home kit design was released on 16 July 2012, earlier than anticipated due to a website error which leaked to kit designs early. Like the away kit, the traditional Ram instead of the club's logo was on the shirt with kit colours being the traditional white shirts and black shorts. The kit was first worn by the team in the home pre-season friendly against Sunderland, with kit going on general sale from 17 August 2012, a day before the start of the league season.
Review
Pre-season Towards the end previous season, Derby began contract negotiations with players approaching the end of their contracts. Jake Buxton and Gareth Roberts signed new contract to the length of two years and one year respectively. The club also entered into contract talks with Paul Green, whose contract expired at the end of the season and who had attracted interest from Leeds United, among others. The club gave Green until April 2012 to respond. Green rejected Derby's contract offer on 20 April and left the club in the summer. Rams coach Johnny Metgod stated that the club were also in contract talks with Jamie Ward whose contract ended in the summer of 2013. Ward signed a new two-year contract, with an option for a further year which will extend his stay at Derby until at least the summer of 2014. Lee Croft and Miles Addison, both with one year left on their contract, were told that they were free to leave the club in the summer. Defender and captain Shaun Barker, who was injured in a 1–0 win against Nottingham Forest in March 2012 is set to miss the season due to injuries to his medial, anterior cruciate and posterior cruciate ligaments. Barker remains optimistic for a full recovery.
In April 2012 the club finally ended their interest in appointing a director of football, something the club had been considering since May 2011. This meant Derby manager Nigel Clough retained control of the club's player recruitment policy and he was keen to add to his squad, stating a desire to sign a striker and younger left back to cover for Gareth Roberts. Derby said that they expected season ticket sales to be at 15,000 by the end of the early bird deadline on 15 April, down by 2,500 on total season ticket sales compared to 2011–12, CEO Tom Glick was happy with the figures and predicted total season ticket sales to be similar to the previous season. Season ticket prices had increased for the first time in seven seasons. Derby also launched "demand-based ticketing" for single match tickets, with ticket prices fluctuating based on several factors such as local rivalries, team performance, time of the day etc. Derby are the first club to introduced this style of matchday pricing which is popular in North American sports. The club also announced the scoreboard in the stadium would be replaced by a large screen television, which would help improve advertising revenues and show action replays of key moments in the game as well as scores from other games. On 29 May 2012, it was announced that Derby's Chief Executive Tom Glick was leaving the club to take up a Chief Commercial and Operating Officer role at Premier League champions Manchester City. Glick remained in his role at Derby during pre-season.
Following the completion of the 2011–12 season, Derby announced their retained list for the 2012–13 campaign. Goalkeeper James Severn, defender Chris Jones and midfielders Aaron Cole and Ryan Connolly were all told that their contracts would not be renewed and joined Paul Green in leaving the club. Goalkeepers Ross Atkins and Saul Deeney had one-year contract options activated, whilst out of contract pair Conor Doyle and Alex Witham were also retained by the club. Academy players Stefan Galinski, Mats Mørch and Kane Richards all became first year professionals after they completed two-year scholarships. Miles Addison, James Bailey, Lee Croft, Steve Davies and Chris Maguire were all transfer listed by the club on 22 May. Addison attracted the interest of former loan club Bournemouth and several Championship clubs, later joining Bournemouth for an undisclosed fee. Davies, joint top scorer in 2011–12, was transfer listed due to turning down a three-year contract offer due to "family reasons", a decision which Nigel Clough fully respected. Newly promoted Championship club Sheffield Wednesday had two bids for Maguire rejected in May before a third offer in June was accepted and Maguire joined Wednesday for an undisclosed fee. Midfielder Lee Croft joined League One side Oldham Athletic until the end of the season.
Derby were linked to several players in the media, including West Bromwich Albion striker Simon Cox and Northampton Town winger Michael Jacobs. Derby offered Jacobs a contract, which was accepted. As Jacobs was under 24, Northampton were entitled to compensation, either agreed by the two clubs or set by a tribunal. Derby and Northampton agreed an undisclosed fee for the out-of-contract player and Jacobs joined Derby on a three-year contract. The club also were rumoured to be interested in Sheffield United right-back Matthew Lowton although the club denied interest in Lowton, who later joined Aston Villa. Wigan Athletic striker Conor Sammon, who the club had missed out on in January 2011, was also a target for the club. Derby also turned down two bids in excess of £1 million in June for defender Jason Shackell, both believed to be from Burnley and two more bids from further Championship clubs, with one thought to be Cardiff City. However the club later accepted a bid for Shackell from Burnley of £1.1 million and he transferred to Burnley, signing a four-year contract with the Clarets. Attention immediately turned to who Derby would sign as a replacement, with out-of-contract Nottingham Forest defender Joel Lynch the first target. The club spoke to Lynch but denied rumours that he had undergone a medical with them and he opted to sign for Huddersfield Town instead. Coventry City centre-half Richard Keogh, already attracting from Leeds United and bids from Bristol City and Cardiff City, which were rejected, was the next defender the club was linked to, Keogh later joined the club on a three-year contract, with striker Callum Ball loaned out to Coventry for the season. Nigel Clough said that although Derby may be outbid for players, they would be able to offer "the chance to be a part of what we think is a very exciting young side". At the same time, the club announced that eighteen-year-old former Bolton Wanderers winger James Caton had begun training with them. Other defenders Derby were linked to following Shackell's departure were Bristol City defender James Wilson, Leeds United left-back Aidan White, out-of-contract Dundee United centre-half Garry Kenneth, Cardiff City centre-half Anthony Gerrard and Sunderland centre-half John Egan. Derby offered out-of-contract Crewe Alexandra left-back Kelvin Mellor a three-year contract after Crewe only offered the player a one-year deal, but after extensive talks with Derby Mellor turned down Derby's offer after Crewe offered the player a two-year contract which he signed in July. An angry Nigel Clough hit out at Mellor saying "It must be difficult for him going back to the dressing room after all the things he said to us. And then when everyone was starting back for pre-season he decided to go to Ibiza with his mates for five days." Derby made an enquiry for Preston North End outcast Paul Coutts. After the enquiry was accepted, Derby started talks with Coutts and the Scot joined the club on a three-year contract for a reported fee of £150,000. Ross Atkins rejoined Burton Albion on loan, after spending the previous season at the League Two club.
The club's first pre-season friendly was a 2–1 defeat to Mansfield Town. Trialists James Caton and Swiss centre-half Valentin Gjokaj both featured for the club.
August Versatile Doncaster Rovers defender James O'Connor joined the club for an undisclosed fee at the start of the month. Under the Premier League's controversial Elite Player Performance Plan, Derby County applied for a tier 2 academy, which meant they were entered into the Professional Development League 2 – North, which replaced the Premier Academy League and Premier Reserve League, as a result Derby withdrew their entry of a reserve team in the Central League, with manager Nigel Clough saying "We've had a great few years in the Reserve League, winning it twice, but our resources cannot stretch to fielding a First Team, Reserve Team, Under 21 Team and an Under 18 team at this moment – especially with games falling so close to each other." The club will stay play reserve games in behind closed doors friendlies. Former Newcastle United left back Michael Hoganson joined the club on a one-year contract, after a trial. American attacking midfielder Danny Barrera the club on trial and featured in the reserve pre-season friendly against Belper Town. Finnish Cesena striker, Roope Riski joined the club on trial ahead of the last first team pre-season against Chesterfield, the game also saw Steve Davies, made his first appearance after talks broke down on a move to Ipswich Town, scoring in a 3–1 loss. A fee of £1.2 million was reported to have been agreed Derby and Wigan Athletic over the transfer of Conor Sammon.
Derby started the competitive season in a League Cup against Scunthorpe United new signings Paul Coutts, Michael Jacobs and Richard Keogh all made their debuts and Keogh opened the scoring on the 30th minute after Jacobs corner, Jake Buxton scored a second goal from a Jacobs corner in the 34th minute, Theo Robinson scored on the 3rd on the 40th minute from another Jacobs corner. In the second half Andy Barcham pulled a goal back for Scunthorpe, Buxton got his second of the night a minute later from a Jacobs free-kick, before Mike Grella scored a second for Scunthorpe in the 63rd minute, Robinson had a 72nd-minute penalty saved by Sam Slocombe and Bobby Grant brought Derby's lead down to 4–3 a minute later, Nathan Tyson got his first Derby goal on the 83rd minute against assisted by Jacobs, Connor Jennings made it 4 in stoppage time and Grant from the penalty spot made it 5–5 to take the game into extra time. No goals were scored in the 30 minute extra time period and the game want to a penalty shoot-out, Scunthorpe won the game 7–6 on penalties with Tom Naylor missing the deciding penalty.