Singalonga Rams with Wrighty

We know who they are and we can see what they are doing, but we don’t know why, writes Anton Rippon.

The picture shows six Derby County players singing in Sadler Gate in 1988.

They are, from the left, Mark Wright (holding the baby), Mark Patterson, Michael Forsyth, Nigel Callaghan, Paul Blades and Ted McMinn, all looking slightly self-conscious.

This was a relatively happy time for Derby County, so maybe the players just felt they had something to sing about.

The Rams were in the top flight of English football at the time and, unlike the current squad, were holding their own.

After flirting with relegation in 1987-88, the team went on to greater things and some excellent close-season signings saw them finish fifth in the old First Division.

This was the club’s highest placing since Dave Mackay’s last full season as manager, 13 years earlier.

The undoubted star on this Derby Evening Telegraph archive photograph is Mark Wright.

Signed the previous year from Southampton for £760,000 – a fee that shattered the Rams’ transfer fee record for an incoming player – he, and fellow England star, goalkeeper Peter Shilton, probably kept Derby in the top flight in their first season.

Although he fell out with England manager Bobby Robson after the 1988 European Championships, he was back in the fold for the 1990 World Cup.

Together with Shilton, he gave Derby County unprecedented representation in the competition’s final stages, at least so far as England was concerned.

Wright left the Baseball Ground for Liverpool, for £2.3m, in July 1991.

After this move, his career followed a rather chequered path, which included more England caps, an FA Cup winners’ medal, bad injuries and off-the-field controversies.

But what was he doing in Sadler Gate, busking with his Rams teammates?

Maybe you know the answer. Add your comments by going to the Edit link at the top of the page.

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Singalonga Rams, 1988-style

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