£750k Derby County transfer was a complete disaster - he went from Premier League to League One in 6 months | OneFootball

Andy Todd was a nightmare signing for the Rams.

Andy Todd had a very respectable football career, although the tough centre-back won't be remembered all too fondly at his hometown club.

Born in Derby, he grew up in Chester-Le-Street - playing in the same youth team as Michael Barron - with both players then going on to play for the Middlesbrough youth team. Todd made eight appearances for Boro before leaving to join Bolton Wanderers in 1995.

He spent four years at the Trotters after signing under the management of his father Colin - who also gave him his debut in senior football at Middlesbrough. He scored two goals in 96 appearances for Wanderers, before spending three years at Charlton Athletic.

The transfer fee for signing for the Addicks was, with add-ons included, a deal that could reach up to £1m - a big price for a defender in that time period (especially given that he was suspended from Bolton two days prior for allegedly breaking assistant manager Phil Brown's jaw in an incident at a team bonding session.)

His time in South-East London was also relatively hit-and-miss, as he did help to keep them in the Premiership, although he did get transfer-listed after a training ground bust-up with an unnamed player at the time, who was later revealed to have been Dean Kiely.

It was at Blackburn Rovers where Andy Todd had his best years

In a very similar deal to his one at Charlton, Todd arrived at Ewood Park for a deal worth up to £1m in add-ons in May 2002.

He started well back in Lancashire, and made his debut during a 1-1 draw with CSKA Sofia in the UEFA Cup.

He only made 19 appearances in his first season after a year of injuries and suspensions and was transfer-listed in the summer by then-manager Graeme Souness, but he was recalled by the Scot in October 2003 due to Rovers' defensive injury crisis.

This led to him getting a regular run of game time at Rovers, and eventually winning the 2003/04 Supporters' Player of the Season award at Ewood Park.

He did the same in the 2004/05 season, winning Player of the Year despite missing large amounts of the season due to suspensions and injury - this time under the tutelage of Mark Hughes.

He fell out with Hughes though in his final two seasons at Rovers, and he eventually left in 2007 having made only 13 appearances in all competitions during the 2006/07 season.

Overall, though his spell at Ewood Park was mostly positive, if not controversial, and he eventually made 113 appearances for Blackburn in total, scoring five goals.

The Derby County transfer didn't work out for Andy Todd

Todd got his chance to continue his strong few years at Blackburn with a £750k move to newly-promoted Premier League side Derby County in the summer of 2007.

It all started off so well for Todd in his first campaign at the East Midlands side too, scoring a late equaliser in a 1-1 draw against Portsmouth on his debut, a club which had been heavily linked with signing him on multiple occasions.

However, things were all set to deteriorate very quickly after that.

He struggled with injuries throughout the first half of the season and then, after getting himself fit in time for their FA Cup tie with Preston North End, mistakes started creeping in, and he eventually was left out of manager Paul Jewell's plans for the 2008/09 season back in the Championship.

To further accentuate the unsuccessfulness of the transfer, Todd then found himself playing outside the top two divisions for the first time in his career later that year, as he was sent on loan to Northampton Town in League One.

He featured in seven league games on loan with the Cobblers before returning to Pride Park for their League Cup semi-final with Manchester United in January 2009.

He played both legs of the semi but was unable to thwart a 4-3 aggregate loss against a star-studded Red Devils outfit.

He did feature a fair amount in the second half of the season under Nigel Clough, but he wasn't offered a new deal, and he left for pastures new.

Andy Todd had an interesting end to his career

And those new pastures turned out to be down under, as he signed for A-League outfit Perth Glory in the summer of 2009.

He played in both midfield and at the back in Australia, and won the aptly named 'Most Glorious Player' award for the 2009/10 season at the Glory.

He couldn't stay fit during his second season though, and he swapped Australia for Greater Manchester, signing for Oldham Athletic on a six-month deal for the end of the 2010/11 season.

He made six appearances at Boundary Park, before going on to play for Hereford United and Armadale back in Australia.

He has been an assistant at many clubs, most notably alongside Gary Bowyer at both Blackpool and Bradford City - whilst also working in Northern Ireland and Bulgaria.