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The 2007/08 campaign has gone down in infamy at Derby County, and supporters will never forget that awful year in the Premier League.
A record-breaking season in the top flight saw the Rams relegated back to the Championship with just 11 points, while they became the only club to date to have officially dropped out of the Premier League in the month of March.
While Southampton did their best to break some of those records last season, that wretched Derby team will live long in the memory of fans and the summer of 2008 was a big one as Paul Jewell looked to fix some of the problems that they had.
However, he also needed some of his better players to remain, and for Tyrone Mears, that was not exactly how he planned the transfer window going.
Tyrone Mears tried to escape Derby County for Marseille in 2008
Right-back Tyrone Mears had played 25 times for Derby in the Premier League, and he was going to be a key player for Jewell in the Championship.
That was until an offer from French giants Marseille was faxed through to the East Midlands outfit. A spokesperson for the club said (via: The Guardian): “The faxed offer from Marseille yesterday was for a two-day trial, with the possibility of a free loan.
“That is completely and utterly unacceptable – in fact it’s laughable. Both the chairman Adam Pearson and the manager Paul Jewell communicated this to the player directly and to Marseille and made it clear that as the offer stood there would be no deal.”
Jewell urged Mears to stay and he refused to let his player leave for Birmingham Airport. However, the then 24-year-old reportedly climbed into the club’s training ground through a window to get his boots before proceeding to crawl past his manager’s office to leave.
He went on to make the move to Marseille, but his dream move became more of a nightmare as he played just seven games before departing permanently to Burnley ahead of the 2009/10 campaign, after they had won promotion to the Premier League thanks to Wade Elliott’s incredible Wembley goal.
Tyrone Mears made a name for himself in America later in his career
Mears spent two years at Turf Moor, but he was unable to stop the Clarets from relegation and he made the move to Bolton Wanderers soon after.
However, after bouncing between the top flight and second tier, the Stockport-born defender wanted a fresh start, and he took the decision to move to the MLS with Seattle Sounders capturing his signature.
In four years, Mears made 96 appearances in the American league, but those days of sneaking around at Moor Farm felt a long time ago and he eventually returned to England with West Bromwich Albion in 2018.
He faced Frank Lampard’s Derby team that season, playing against the likes of Mason Mount as the Rams reached the Championship play-off final before retiring from professional football.