dcfc.co.uk profiles Darren Wassall, who was appointed as Derby County's Head Coach until the end of the season earlier this week.
KEY FACTS* Darren Wassall was born in Edgbaston, Birmingham, on 27th June 1968
* He began his footballing career across the East Midlands at Nottingham Forest and came through their youth system in the 1980s
* A centre-back, Wassall made 45 appearances in all competitions for the Reds and also had loan spells at Hereford United and Bury in the late 1980s to gain first-team experience
* At Forest, he won the Zenith Data Systems Cup in 1992 and was a Rumbelows Cup Runner-Up in the same year, losing to Manchester United in the Final
* Wassall moved to Derby County in summer of 1992 from Forest at the end of his contract, but still commanded a fee of £600,000, signed by Arthur Cox
* His Rams debut came on opening day of the season away to Peterborough United on 15th August 1992
* In the 1992/93 season, he made 24 league appearances, with his playing time limited due to injury
* He did, however, help the Derby register a club record of seven successive away wins in his first season at the club, running from the start of October through to late December
* Wassall made 25 league outings in 1993/94 under Roy McFarland, with Derby missing out on promotion with a 2-1 Play-Off Final defeat to Leicester City
* He started, 25 league games, making a further seven as a substitute, in 1994/95 in what was McFarland’s final season in charge
* He made 17 league appearances in 1995/96 and was part of the team that achieved promotion to the Premiership under Jim Smith
* During that promotion-winning campaign he started nine of the first ten games of the season
* In 1996/97, he spent time on loan at Manchester City and Birmingham City before sealing a permanent move to his hometown in the summer of 1997 for a fee of £160,000
* In total Wassall made 122 appearances in all competitions for Derby, including league, FA Cup, League Cup and the Anglo Italian Cup
* Wassall’s professional career ended at Birmingham in 2000 at the age of 32, as he was forced to retire professionally after five operations on his Achilles tendon, which he injured at the age of 29
* He quickly moved into non-league football at Burton Albion, playing over 150 games before retiring altogether in 2005 and was part of the Brewers side promoted to the Conference
* He moved into youth development whilst in Staffordshire and set up Burton’s youth team in 2004 and won the Conference youth league two years in a row
* Wassall returned to Derby County as Academy Manager in April 2009 to oversee the running of all of the club’s youth teams and coaches
* In his tenure, a number of players have become established first-team squad members, including Jeff Hendrick, Will Hughes and Jamie Hanson
* Academy graduate Mason Bennett became Derby’s youngest-ever player in October 2011 and scored his first professional goal in January 2013, after impressing in the Academy under Wassall
* The likes of Callum Ball, Mark O’Brien and Kwame Thomas have also made their first-team debuts during Wassall’s tenure in the Academy, as well as Farrend Rawson and Offrande Zanzala out on loan
* Wassall has overseen one first-team game previously, as Caretaker Manager in October 2013 in a 4-4 draw at home to Ipswich Town after being 4-1 down at half-time
* In the summer of 2014, Wassall successfully oversaw Derby’s Academy achieving Category One status in the Elite Player Performance Plan
* Towards the end of 2015, Wassall’s title changed to Academy Director to recognise his effort and commitment to the Academy as well as his contribution to the club
Tweets by @ dcfcofficial