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Over the course of the last 15 years, Derby County supporters have been blessed with plenty of cult heroes.
Nigel Clough expected great things from Craig Forsyth in 2013 as he signed a permanent deal at Pride Park for the first time, while the likes of Chris Martin and Curtis Davies will always be adored by fans and are surely in the Rams’ best XI of the 21st century.
However, there will always be one player who captured the hearts of those in DE24 more than others over the course of his time in the East Midlands.
Craig Bryson joined Derby for just £350k, as per BBC Sport, and he went on to play 276 times in black-and-white but he will forever have one regret that plagued him throughout his eight-year stint.
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Craig Bryson was a hero at Derby County
Signed from Kilmarnock in the summer of 2011, it did not take long for the Scottish midfielder to make an impact as he scored six goals and registered six assists in the Championship in his first year.
In the following campaign Bryson scored the winner against Nottingham Forest at the City Ground in the East Midlands derby, as he started to write his name into folklore at Pride Park.
However, it was in the 2013/14 season when Derby’s former number four reached legendary status. He was a goalscoring machine as the Rams reached the play-offs and a hat-trick against Forest at Pride Park in a 5-0 win in March 2014 will forever live on as one of the great moments in the club’s history.
Bryson was never able to quite reach the same levels in the following years, but there was no denying that for £350k, Nigel Clough had found a bargain.
Craig Bryson won promotion to the Premier League only once in his career
Despite Derby pushing for a top six finish throughout the 2010s, they were never able to return to the top flight, and the Rams’ 17-year wait for Premier League football continues to this day.
However, Bryson did achieve promotion while on loan at Cardiff City in 2017/18. It was a move that few saw coming and fans were aggrieved at the time that such a key player was allowed to depart on loan.
The now 38-year-old finished second in the Championship in South Wales and he spoke a year later about how disappointed he was to never get to do that with the Rams. He said (via: dcfc.co.uk): “I didn’t imagine my time at Derby would have gone this well and, of course, it has gone even better than I thought it could have.
“The only thing missing for me here has been a promotion. Apart from that, it has been excellent for me. To miss out in the play-offs in four of the last six seasons is obviously frustrating. I’ve had enough of the play-offs and Wembley too! I’ve had a lot of great moments.”