Former England midfielder Frank Lampard began his managerial reign with a victory as his Derby County side came from behind to beat Reading 2-1 with a last-gasp goal in the Championship on Friday when the Football League season got underway.
Derby’s Tom Lawrence headed the winner in the 94th minute after teenager Mason Mount scored on the hour with a low drive to cancel out Jon Dadi Bodvarsson’s powerful header that had put the hosts in front after 53 minutes at the Madejski Stadium.
“What a finish. You can call it a stroke of luck, but those things are hard-earned,” said Lampard. “It’s a last-second winner, so it’s an incredible feeling,” he added after his name rang out among the celebrating away fans at the final whistle.
“This is football and this is why I came into management — the fans at the end of the game and those celebrations, we have to savour them because that’s what hard work can get you.”
The win meant Lampard, who signed a three-year deal in May having ended his playing career with New York City FC, got the better of counterpart Paul Clement in the opposition dugout, having worked as a player at Chelsea with the ex-Blues coach.
He will be aiming for at least a playoff spot but is under no illusions as to how tough it will be to win promotion.
“It’s a tough, tough game. We have to learn because there is loads of room for improvement,” added Lampard.
Reading made the visitors work hard but were made to pay at the end as Wales winger Lawrence powered his header into the top corner from Mason Bennett’s cross after Mount, on loan from Chelsea, had got Derby back in the match with a debut goal.
The 40-year-old Lampard, capped 106 times by England between 1999 and 2014, won three Premier League titles, four FA Cups and one Champions League crown with Chelsea but knows he has a lot to learn this season from his unfamiliar place on the bench.
It is 10 years since former English champions Derby were in the Premier League and the pressure for a return is high.
Derby came sixth last season under Gary Rowett, now in charge at Stoke City, before losing in the playoff semifinals to Fulham, while Reading sacked the former Manchester United defender Jaap Stam in March and finished 20th under Clement.
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 due to their loyalty despite the club’s disastrous campaign.
Almost every home match at Pride Park Stadium was sold out by 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.
Statistically, the club had the 12th-highest average attendance in the country in the 2007–08 season, 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 Leagues’ single largest league match attendance, with 33,079 against Wolverhampton Wanderers on 13 April 2009.
Derby’s celebrity supporters include actor Robert Lindsay, One Direction singer Niall Horan,Blur guitarist Graham Coxon The Gaslight Anthem guitarist Alex Rosamilia adult film star Keiran Lee[44] and actor Jack O’Connell.
It has been reported that O’Connell has persuaded other celebrities to support the club, including actors George Clooney and Angelina Jolie, and model Cara Delevingne.