Derby County: Champions League winner became fan favourite after 2015 arrival - View | OneFootball

Scott Carson joined the Rams from Wigan Athletic and went on to make 171 appearances for the club.

Key Takeaways

Derby suffered late disappointment in the 2014/15 season, losing 3-0 to Reading on the final day to miss out on a spot in the play-offs, after spending much of the season in the top two.

It led to a radical change in both the club's playing and management staff during the summer of 2015, with Paul Clement taking over from Steve McClaren as the former England manager made his way to Newcastle United.

Clement had been the assistant manager at Chelsea, PSG and Real Madrid before heading to Pride Park to set about building a new squad from top to bottom.

The now 52-year-old signed nine new players, with the likes of Andreas Weimann, Bradley Johnson and Tom Ince all joining Derby in big money moves.

But, it was the addition of goalkeeper Scott Carson that proved to be the best of a mixed bag, with the current Manchester City third choice going on to make 171 appearances for the Rams in his six-year stay at Pride Park.

Carson's consistency was excellent at Derby

The Rams had relied on Lee Grant between the sticks for the last two years, and although he had performed well, his once quick reaction times had started to slow as time progressed.

Carson came straight into the starting XI, earning his first clean sheet on his debut in a 0-0 draw away to Bolton Wanderers, before going on to make 36 appearances in his first season at the club.

When he did miss out, it was mainly due to injury, but the then 30-year-old conceded just 32 goals in the Championship in 2015/16, racking up 15 clean sheets as Derby missed out on promotion, losing 3-2 to Hull City in the play-off semi-finals.

The former Liverpool shot-stopper only improved as time went on, aging like a fine wine, playing every minute of the Rams' next two second tier campaigns.

Carson was superb during the 2016/17 season, in what was a relatively poor year by Derby's standards at the time, with his performances earning him the Jack Stamps Derby County Player of the Year award.

But it was the year after that he truly shone, keeping 19 clean sheets as the Rams made it into the play-offs once again, this time losing out to Fulham.

The goalkeeper, who has been capped four times by England, was extremely unlucky to miss out on a place in the PFA Championship Team of the Season, with Rams fans crying out for him to join Gareth Southgate's England squad for the 2018 World Cup.

Carson's Derby career came to a disappointing conclusion for supporters

It seemed as though Carson was undroppable over the course of his Derby career, but new manager Frank Lampard made the choice to bring Kelle Roos into the starting XI towards the end of the 2018/19 campaign.

Just one year earlier, a 32-year-old Carson was making unbelievable stops on a weekly basis, with his save against Barnsley still boggling the minds of those Tykes fans behind the goal at Oakwell in December 2017.

Nevertheless, he was forced to watch on from the bench as his team lost at Wembley to Aston Villa in May 2019, with his final game with the Ram on his chest coming in a 1-1 draw against Sheffield Wednesday.

Carson moved to Manchester City later that summer, originally on loan, helping Pep Guardiola's side fill the homegrown players quota, while also providing the team with an experienced reserve 'keeper.

Although he returned to Pride Park at the end of his loan, he was snapped back up by Man City, and has remained at the Ethiad Stadium to this day – winning the Champions League as well as a host of Premier League titles and other silverware.

Derby supporters, meanwhile, have been left dreaming of that 2017/18 campaign when they all thought he could represent the club at a World Cup.