The first of four upcoming Derby County Vintage posts collects up retro player and team images featuring the East Midlands club during the 1950s and 60s.

At the start of the era covered here Derby were regular high finishers in Division One, but by 1953 they plunged to relegation and two years later fell into the third tier for the first time. The Baseball Ground club were back in Division Two in 1957 but it was only the arrival of Brian Clough and Peter Taylor in 1967 that saw the club’s fortunes take a genuine upward turn. Promoted back to the top flight in 1970, remarkably just two seasons later Derby rose all the way to the heights of the English game and became champions for the first time.