1996–97 Derby County F.C. season

The 1996–97 season was Derby County's first in the Premier League, following their promotion from the First Division the previous season.

Season summary
Back in the top flight after a five-year exile, Jim Smith's Derby County side never looked in any real danger of an immediate return to Division One, and their 12th-place finish in the final table was their highest final position in eight years. Young striker Dean Sturridge received many plaudits for his goalscoring exploits, which sparked talk of a £7 million transfer to Arsenal, but the move never happened.

The highlight of the season was a 3–2 win against champions Manchester United at Old Trafford, with Paulo Wanchope scoring a "wonder goal" on his English league debut.

Final league table

 * Results summary


 * Results by round

Results
Derby County's score comes first

First-team squad

 * Squad at end of season

Reserve squad

 * The following players did not appear for the first team this season.

Starting 11

 * GK: #1, 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Russell Hoult, 31
 * RB: #2, 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Gary Rowett, 35
 * CB: #27, 🇮🇪 Paul McGrath, 23
 * CB: #22, Christian Dailly, 31
 * CB: #16, Jacob Laursen, 35
 * LB: #3, 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Chris Powell, 35
 * CM: #6, Igor Štimac, 21
 * CM: #10, Aljoša Asanović, 34
 * CM: #4, 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Darryl Powell, 27
 * CF: 8, 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Dean Sturridge, 29
 * CF: #12, 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Ashley Ward, 25