By Chris Wright
Aye up me duck!
As far as the pantheon of football’s great strategists goes, former Derby County boss Jim Smith is seldom ever mentioned – though we have a feeling that one day this maverick thinker’s unorthodox tactical approach may just get the acclamation it truly deserves.
You see, rather than using endless cascades of data and years of coaching know-how to scout his opponents’ weaknesses, Smith instead entrusted the wildfowl of Cheshire to inspire his team selections.
To that end, excerpts from Danny Higginbotham’s new autobiography, ‘Rise of the Underdog’, have appeared in the Independent this week, with one of this week’s extracts proving just why the managerial world owes so much to Smith’s pioneering methods.
Picture the scene: It’s May 2001 and Derby are perilously close to being relegated from the Premier League and need to win one of their two remaining fixtures to secure survival.
The first of which, we might add, was an unenviable trip to Old Trafford to face league-leaders (and eventual title winners) Manchester United.
Here’s where we let Higginbotham take over:
“We travelled over to Mottram Hall (in Cheshire) early on the Friday before the game, trained there and stayed overnight.”
“All of the signs had pointed to me playing, so I was happy. Jim had settled on a 3-5-2 formation – what we’d been playing most of the season – so I was well prepared.
Saturday morning, there’s a bit of a commotion as we’re having breakfast. Jim and the physio, Neil Sillett (son of John, who managed Coventry), are having this debate because Jim has apparently seen a formation of DUCKS through the window and believes it’s a sign.
“It was a bizarre 3-4-3 formation and, remembering the potency of that United team at the time, setting up in such a way at Old Trafford was surely asking for trouble. It was carnage but we pulled off a [1-0] win.”
We think that’s what’s know in the industry as a Flying V.
Genius. We always knew that Smith was a genius. We hope history comes to judge him as such in due course.
You can stick your friggin’ ProZone up yer arse mate. We’ve got ducks.