3/1 To Win
The United Kingdom is today beginning a four-day Bank Holiday weekend for Queen Elizabeth II's Platinum Jubilee.
It marks the Queen's 70th year as monarch and the first British monarch to have a platinum jubilee.
Derby County’s Pride Park Stadium home was actually officially opened by Her Majesty The Queen on 18th July 1997, before a crowd of 30,000 people.
After playing at the famous Baseball Ground between 1895 and 1997, the club’s Chairman at the time Lionel Pickering made the decision to move to a brand-new home.
Her Majesty The Queen accepted the invitation to open the Rams’ new surroundings and a plaque takes pride of place in the Main Reception for all visitors to see upon their arrival.
The first-ever match to be played at Pride Park Stadium was against Italian side Sampdoria two weeks later, on 4th August 1997 in a pre-season friendly. Derby fell to a 1-0 defeat with striker Vincenzo Montella scoring the only goal of the game for the visitors.
The first-ever competitive game played at the stadium, against Wimbledon on was abandoned following a floodlight failure. Therefore, the first completed fixture at the club’s new home was the 1-0 win against Barnsley on 30th August 1997 – with Stefano Eranio scoring in a 1-0 Derby win.
That victory was the first of a 12-game unbeaten run at their new home for Jim Smith’s side, with the Rams not tasting defeat on home turf in the league at Pride Park until 7th February 1998 in a 1-0 loss to Aston Villa.
Almost 25 years on, hundreds of matches have been played in that time, plenty of goals have been scored and stacks of memories have been made which will last a lifetime.
