With 8 days still to come today we turn to a group of Rams players that were some of the best that have ever played in the England.
Our Christmas Countdown today lists the 8 players that made ‘The Football League 100 Legends’ which was a list of "100 legendary football players.
It was produced by The Football League in 1998 as it celebrated its 100th season of League football.
Eight former Derby players made the list and even twelve years later there is no doubt each and every one of them would still easily make the cut.
We list each player as our 8th day treat and give a quick history for each courtesy of Wikipedia.
With 8 days till Christmas RamZone gave to me – 8 Football Legends!
1. John Goodall
Goodall left Preston North End for Derby County in 1889 at the height of his fame. His brother Archie a centre-half, played alongside John at Derby County. He was retained by the Derby club until 1898.
It was at Derby County where the older Goodall became a mentor to Stephen Bloomer. Allegedly credited Goodall with his early development and partly as a result of this combination, the ‘Rams’ came strongly to the fore but were never quite able to convert their talents into silverware finishing third in the League twice, runners-up once (1895), FA Cup semi-finalists twice, and runners-up once (1898).
Goodall did not feature in the 1899 FA Cup Final as he was by now fading as a first-team player.
2. Steve Bloomer
Played for Derby County, Middlesbrough and England during the 1890s and 1900s. Bloomer remains a legend at Derby County and the club anthem, Steve Bloomer's Watchin', is played before every home game.
During his career Bloomer was a prolific goal scorer for both club and country. Although possessing only a slight frame.
In 536 English First Division games he scored 317 goals and, after Jimmy Greaves, he is the second highest all-time goal scorer in the first division. He also scored 28 goals in 23 appearances for England.
3. Hughie Gallacher
Hugh "Hughie" Gallacher scored 463 times in 624 senior games.
Gallacher lacked height and weight. However, he had excellent ball control, guile and instinct, being able to go past opposing defenders with ease.
Gallacher was transferred to Derby County in 1934 and was taken under the wing of fellow Scotsmen Dally Duncan and an old Newcastle United friend, Jimmy Boyd, and was said to have been as good as gold during his Baseball Ground days.
His 38 goals in 51 league games helped Derby finish second in the league to Sunderland in 1935–36, a finish the club have surpassed only twice. Gallacher hit 40 goals in his 55 games for Derby.
He is the Scotland national football team's the most prolific goals per game scorer with 23 goals from his 20 internationals, a remarkable strike rate of more than a goal a game. Gallacher was one of the Wembley Wizards who beat England 5–1 at Wembley Stadium in 1928.
4. Raich Carter
He captained Sunderland to the Football League title in 1936, at that time the youngest man ever to have captained a First Division title-winning side. He followed that up with victory in the FA Cup final a year later, scoring the second Sunderland goal in a 3-1 win over Preston North End.
The Second World War, like many great players of his age, left him bereft of many of his peak years. Afterwards he picked up another Cup winners medal with Derby in 1946, becoming the only player to win Cup winners medals both before and after the war. He scored 34 goals in total over 63 appearances for the Rams.
Carter was also capped 13 times for England as an inside forward.
5. Peter Doherty
Doherty scored 81 goals in 133 league appearances during his time at Manchester City.
During the Second World War years of 1939–1945, Doherty served in the RAF. He remained registered as a Manchester City player, scoring 60 goals in 89 wartime matches, though wartime games are not generally included in official records.
He also had short stints at numerous clubs across the country: Port Vale, Blackburn Rovers, Derby County, Birmingham, Brentford, Grimsby Town, Lincoln City, Liverpool, Manchester United, West Bromwich Albion and Walsall. After the conclusion of the war, he transferred to Derby County, with whom he won the FA Cup and scored a goal in the final.
6. Dave Mackay
David Mackay is best remembered for a highly successful playing career with Heart of Midlothian, the Double winning Tottenham Hotspur side of 1961, and winning the league with Derby County as a manager.
He also represented Scotland 22 times, and was selected for their 1958 FIFA World Cup squad.
In 1968 he was transferred to Derby County for £5,000, after Brian Clough and Peter Taylor persuaded him to sign. In his first season at the Baseball Ground, in which the club gained promotion to the First Division, he was chosen FWA Footballer of the Year.
7. Peter Shilton
Shilton holds the record for playing more games for England than any other player, earning 125 caps.
In a 30-year career, which included eleven different clubs, three World Cups, two European Cup finals and more than 1,000 competitive matches, Shilton emerged as one of the English game's genuine legends.
He has the rare distinction of having played over 100 league games for 5 different clubs. Shilton did not make his World Cup finals debut until the age of 32 but he played in 17 finals matches and shares the record 10 clean sheets in World Cup finals with French keeper Fabien Barthez.
1989 was also a good year at club level for Shilton. He helped Derby finish fifth in the league, and they only missed out on competing in the UEFA Cup due to the ban on English clubs in European competition (which ran from 1985 to 1990) arising from the Heysel disaster.
8. Paul McGrath
Paul McGrath (born 4 December 1959) is a retired Irish footballer, who played as a central defender.
In a career greatly hampered by physical and off-the-field problems, he played 14 professional seasons with Aston Villa and Manchester United (seven apiece). A tough tackler, he often defied medical knowledge, due to the conditioning of his knees.
Also a long-time member of the Republic of Ireland national team, he appeared at the 1990 and 1994 FIFA World Cups, as well as UEFA Euro 1988, the team's first-ever international tournament.
He played for the Rams towards the end of career managing 24 games in the 1996 – 97 season.