Cult Heroes: Derby County’s Igor Stimac

Cult heroes. Every club has them, every club needs them, every club should appreciate them.

Those players that, although they may not get the credit they deserve from other football fans, are the ones that you will remember most fondly when you talk about your club in years to come.

So, here at SHOOT we want to give these great players the appreciation they deserve and, having looked at Dietmar Hamann’s career at Liverpool last time, it is time to turn to Championship side Derby County, and identify a player whose effort in the Rams defence isn’t given the credit it deserves: Igor Stimac.

Let’s go back to 1995 – Derby County who with Lionel Pickering’s millions had failed for the third season in a row to get promoted to the Premier League. Jim Smith was brought in as manager to try where others had failed, and with him Steve McClaren as his assistant.

Photo: Mark Leech / Offside.

The start of that season did not improve to the extent that everyone had hoped, with just 21 points from their first 14 matches. On October 31 (there were no transfer windows in those days!), Smith bought a 28-year-old Croatian centre-half from Hajduk Split for one and a half million pounds.

Stimac, a Croatian international from what turned out to be a golden era for the national team, made an instant impact on his debut just four days later. He scored the Rams’ only goal on a night to forget as Derby went down 5-1 at Tranmere Rovers.

That was the last time the Rams lost a league game until the following March, an unbeaten run which spanned twenty games and catapulted them to within touching distance of promotion.

A hero was born in that period. A defender who just loved to command his defence, allied with the skill and sheer confidence to bring the ball out of the trickiest situations. Cult status soon followed. All fans love those players who give 100 per cent – but when you give that and you have the quality that Igor had, something special definitely happens.

The affinity he struck with the fans was meant that he he could soon do no wrong, even the odd error was forgiven because Igor felt those errors as much as the fans did. Derby gained promotion that season, in no large part because of the presence of Stimac, and it really was his presence, something not many players possess.

Photo: Mark Leech / Offside.

Stimac played a total of 93 times for the Rams until he moved to West Ham United in 1999. Regarded by many Derby fans as our best ever international signing along with Stefano Eranio, and I’m not going to argue with that!

In 2009, he was voted into a fans’ greatest ever Derby County Team, by the readers of the Derby Evening Telegraph – although I’m sure those lucky enough to have watched the great championship winning team in Cloughie’s reign would argue differently. Igor would’ve certainly not looked out of place among such legends, in fact he would have thrived under it.

Earlier this year, I was lucky enough to be at Shaun Barker’s testimonial. Although it was a wonderful night for Shaun, Igor stole the show with his calm and skillful runs out of defence and the cry of “Igor… Igor” ringing around the iPro Stadium definitely bought back some fantastic memories.

As a rule; legends tend to be players who go on to win things, but cult heroes are born because of whom they are. Stimac will always be remembered with the utmost fondness amongst all Derby fans.