In the latest instalment of our series of interviews with players from Derby County’s 1974/1975 Division One title-winning team, we catch up with former midfielder Bruce Rioch. Signed by Derby manager Dave Mackay from Aston Villa for £200,000, Bruce went on to play a pivotal role in the Rams’ second league title in three years.

Playing squash with Dave Mackay

By the time Bruce Rioch arrived at the Baseball Ground in February 1974 he had already made over 300 appearances for Luton Town and Aston Villa, scoring 81 goals. But how did the move to Derby County come about?

 “I had been at Aston Villa for five years and we finished third in Division Two when only two teams were promoted”, Bruce recalls. “I went to see the manager Vic Crowe and first team coach Ron Wylie and said I really wanted to play in the First Division. They said they understood my situation and to keep playing to the level I was playing at. They called me in one day as they had an enquiry from Birmingham City in Division One but said that Villa were a bigger club. Afterwards, there was an enquiry from Arsenal but Vic and Ron felt their style of play might not suit me and I trusted my manager and coach. We didn’t have agents in those days so I didn’t know who else might be interested. I was training on Bodymoor Heath on a day off, practising taking free kicks into an empty net, when the kit man told me the manager wanted to see me. He had taken a call from Derby and an offer had been accepted.”

“I met Dave Mackay while the first team were having a break in Cala Millor. Dave told me that he was bringing me to Derby to score goals and that I would get a lot of freedom to get forward. I knew the calibre of players at the club and knew it would be a forward move, so we agreed a deal, which didn’t take long. They could not get the doctor down until later for a medical so Dave asked me if I played squash. I told him that I would have a go. We went on court to warm up and Dave told me if I beat him in three sets, he would double my wages. I chased every single ball and ran everywhere, but he pipped me two sets to one. After, when I had my medical and was on the scales I had lost nine pounds in weight!”

“Dave’s enthusiasm was immense. He made me feel ten feet tall. He didn’t do a lot of coaching in terms of team organisation, like putting pressure on the opposition. He wanted us to go forward, express ourselves and create chances. We didn’t practice patterns of play or shape, we knew our roles and he signed players for those roles. He was a very confident man with no negativity whatsoever. I remember in training taking a penalty and the ball hit Dave right on the chest. His response was: ‘Bruce – I think a fly landed on me!’ I wanted to play for him, and for the club. He was inspirational as a player and was good for me.”

How did Bruce find the transition from being captain at Aston Villa to playing in a new team?

“I knew very quickly I was with a good group of players. It was a team of strong personalities and strong characters as well as a lot of ability and talent. My room partner was Kevin Hector. He called me ‘nov’ for novice, even though I was 26 and had been captain of Aston Villa. I had to run his bath in the Midland Hotel and put my elbow in to test the water temperature!”

Bruce made his Derby County debut in a 4-2 victory away at Norwich City on 23 February 1974. He went on to feature in all 13 remaining matches that season, scoring twice, as the Rams finished third in Division One. But it was the next season where Bruce would hit his stride.

League Champions again

Derby County started the 1974/1975 season slowly, managing just one win from their opening seven league matches. Inconsistent performances during the first half of the campaign saw the Rams sitting in tenth place following a defeat at Luton Town on 21 December. However, their fortunes turned dramatically after Christmas. Derby went on an impressive run, winning 13 of their final 18 games to clinch the First Division title with 53 points – finishing two clear of runners-up Liverpool.

“It is not easy to win a championship but our team had a lot of quality” says Bruce. We knew how to win games; we were a little bit open at the back but had a good attacking lineup and could score goals. We had talented players but with a work ethic that made it difficult for the opposition to play against. The league was tight and the other teams weren’t that far ahead of us. The gap in points was not so great with two points for a win and our confidence was high as a team. We were seventh in February and March, then put a run together over Easter. We won 5-0 against Luton and 5-2 at Burnley – when I scored in the first minute. I scored a couple at home to Manchester City – one was a header in the six yard box. We hit a really good spell of form and beat teams that needed to be beaten. We played at Middlesbrough, who were a tough side to play against under Jack Charlton. We were a goal down and Kevin scored the equaliser in the 90^th minute.”

“From 22 March I scored five goals in seven games. We were on the run in then and to get momentum we had to win games. In a quick period of time we went from seventh to top on 12 April. Roger’s five goals [in a 5-1 win at home to Luton on Easter Saturday] were priceless. West Ham was my bunny club, I always seemed to score against them [Bruce scored in a 1-0 win at the Baseball Ground with only three games remaining]. We came good at a key period. I used this when I was a manager to say to players that at the back end of the season we have to be playing well and we don’t want poor form.”

“I can’t remember a thing about the last game of the season against Carlisle!” laughs Bruce. “I know how much pleasure we had when we won [the League championship], and how much pleasure we gave to the supporters and the people of Derby. You get more time to think about it later on rather than in the moment. It was special. The championship is not won easily. It is not easy to be successful.”

Bruce delivered exactly what Dave Mackay had brought him to Derby to do, netting an impressive 15 league goals from midfield during the 1974/1975 campaign. But what was it about the team’s setup that allowed him to be so effective?

“Henry Newton was sitting there doing the support job. I knew when I went forward that he was there. When we lost possession Henry’s job was to slow the opposition and make them make square passes so we could get back. To score goals you have to have players in the box and I had the freedom to get forwards into the box for anything that landed. I had the security of Henry and Ronnie [Webster] behind me. It’s about teamwork and the philosophy of the team comes from the manager. Archie was so energetic. If possession was lost Archie would skim across the mud and get up and down the pitch.”

“Franny [Lee] was a massive influence on the team, the presence he had was tremendous. We had 11 players playing a lot of games in the season with a small squad. I learnt in football management that it is important to sign players who are going to play on a regular basis who do not get niggles because it disrupts the continuity of the team. Our fitness levels were great. Bill Shankly told me when I was playing at Everton that players have to be fit from injuries. If players keep picking up calf or hamstring injuries they will miss a lot of games, but if it is more serious, like cartilage damage, that is a one off.”

“Ticker [Peter Daniel] played really well; he was incredible throughout the season. Then Roy came back into the team in the last four games and the players saw the captain which gave us another lift. When Roy got injured, Ticker knew he had to produce and he did.”

Scoring goals and full-blooded tackles

In a standout performance against Tottenham Hotspur in October 1976, Bruce stole the show by scoring four goals in an emphatic 8–2 victory. Is this one of his favourite memories of his time with the Rams?

“Dave asked me to play up front for a couple of games. I was a midfielder in my career but played for half a season up front for Aston Villa. Scoring four goals was great, it is a game we won but nothing can replace winning the championship. It is always going to be there.”

Which goal does Bruce rate as the best he scored for the Rams?

“The free kick against Newcastle [in a 4-2 win in the FA Cup sixth round in March 1976]. I stuck it into the top right corner. In the dressing room after the game one of the lads said the goalkeeper nearly got his hand on it. Dave replied: ‘just as well he didn’t as he would have ended up in Newcastle’. My son saw the goal on YouTube and rang me up and said ‘hey, dad, you could hit them couldn’t you!’ It goes back to when the kit man saw me at Bodymoor Heath practising free kicks on my own. It doesn’t just happen, you have to have repetition, repetition, repetition. All that practice paid off.”

During his career Bruce earned a reputation for his uncompromising, tough-tackling approach. But how does he look back on it now?

“The era in the 1970s was when the game was very physical and some challenges and tackles from players at clubs were outside the laws of the game. I am thankful looking back at my tackling that no legs were broken because that was possible. I look back and think: ‘how were we allowed to get away with it?’ Consequently when I went into management at Torquay then Middlesbrough, every team I managed I told to be strong in the tackle but stay within the laws of the game. There used to be a fair play award and my teams won the awards. I knew if I damaged a player in a way that he could not play again, it would take away his livelihood and that is not acceptable. My tackling at times was not pleasant and not good. There are aspects in our lives where we have to look back and learn for the future.”

Everton, the Doc and the NASL

Derby made a sluggish start to the 1976/1977 season, failing to register a win until their stunning 8–2 demolition of Tottenham in mid-October. However, the turnaround was short-lived. Dave MacKay was dismissed the following month and replaced by reserve team manager Colin Murphy. Not long after that, Bruce was surprisingly sold to Everton for £180,000, with the proceeds used to fund the signing of Derek Hales from Charlton Athletic. A year later, in November 1977, Bruce returned to the Baseball Ground for £150,000, signing for Tommy Docherty, who had taken over from Murphy earlier in the 1977/78 season. But instead of lining up in midfield alongside Henry Newton and Archie Gemmill, Bruce now found himself partnering Don Masson and Gerry Daly – Docherty famously referring to the trio as his “three Van Goghs.”

Bruce went on to make just 31 more appearances for the Rams before loan spells at Birmingham City and Sheffield United. He eventually made a permanent move to the Seattle Sounders in the North American Soccer League, where he rediscovered his form and was named in the 1980 NASL All-Star Team alongside former Derby teammate Roger Davies. In total, Bruce made 184 appearances for Derby County, scoring 54 goals across all competitions.

“Colin Murphy took over, then I received four or five phone calls from Billy Bingham, the Everton manager. I was happy living in Sutton Coldfield but eventually he persuaded me to jump on a train to Liverpool. We agreed a deal but the done thing in those days was to move house and not rent, so we went to live in Crosby. Billy Bingham lost his job and Gordon Lee took over. After a year I spoke to the manager and said I wanted to go back to Sutton Coldfield, so I went back to Derby. The Doc had brought me from Luton to Aston Villa with my brother Neil. It wasn’t the same. A lot of the senior players had moved on. I fell out with the manager and we disagreed on several things so I was told not to come in for training and to start training at 1pm after the players had gone home. I went to train with Dave Mackay at Walsall and Richie Norman the youth coach did some training with me. I call it a six and two threes – as in it could be the manager side and the player side. I was a bit stubborn and I could dig my heels in, it was probably not something the manager needed at that time. But wherever I was going to go, it had to suit me.”

“The club tried to sell me to Portsmouth and Boston Tea Men in America. Alan Hinton wanted me in Seattle. I was a free agent so went on a six month contract to play in the outdoor league. Most players were on 12 month contracts so they played in the outdoor league for six months then in the indoor league for six months. I enjoyed myself immensely in Seattle. I rented in the same accommodation as Roger Davies, Jeff Bourne and David Nish. We went to barbecues together and went to training in the car. In my career as a manager and a player I spent nine years away from my wife and children. Those lads were there to help me in those difficult periods.”

Moving into management

Bruce returned to England in October 1980 to join Torquay United as player-coach, then became player-manager before a spell as manager of FC Seattle Storm. His managerial career saw him take charge of Middlesbrough, Millwall, Bolton Wanderers, Arsenal, Norwich City, Wigan Athletic, and OB and AaB in Denmark. What are Bruce’s memories of his time as manager?

“Kevin Hector and I often talked about Brian Clough and I took my philosophy from Brian and Kevin. In my career in management I would set targets and say: ‘I want 20 clean sheets this season then we have a chance of winning something’. I would tell the strikers they had to score 20 goals each, and the midfielders ten goals each. At Millwall I told Teddy Sheringham I wanted 15 goals by Christmas. He got to 20 something so I had to change it! Then he got to 30 so I told him I wanted 40 goals. He ended up with 38.”

“I joined Middlesbrough as a coach but after three games Willie [Maddren] resigned so I was caretaker. We went into administration at the end of the season [and suffered relegation to Division Three]. Some senior players left the club so I had 14 players. I was on holiday and had a phone call at reception in our hotel in Cala Millor. The club said my contract was terminated but that I could work for no wages, so I said I would work for no wages. The coaching staff left were me, Colin Todd and Barry Gerhardt the chief scout. The young players stayed and the PFA paid their wages. We won promotion [in 1987, then a year later won a second successive promotion as winners of the Second Division promotion/First Division relegation playoffs] and got to the ZDS Cup Final with 14 or 15 players.”

After parting ways with Middlesbrough with the club hovering just above the Division Two drop zone, having been relegated from Division One on the final day of the 1988/1989 season, Bruce took over at Millwall. He quickly made an impact in South East London, guiding the Lions to a play-off place in the 1990/1991 Division Two season. In May 1992 he was appointed manager of Bolton Wanderers where his success continued. Bruce led the Trotters to promotion as Division Two runners-up in the 1992/1993 campaign, before steering them to the League Cup Final in 1995. They were narrowly beaten 2–1 by Liverpool, but just a few weeks later Bruce’s side returned to Wembley where Bolton staged a dramatic comeback against Reading, overturning a 2–0 half-time deficit to win 4–3 after extra time to secure a place in the Premier League.

“After promotion at Wembley I had a phone call from David Dein at Arsenal. I spoke to my chairman, Gordon Hargreaves, who said he couldn’t stop me going. Arsenal gave me a three year contract. We had a year, and I signed Dennis Bergkamp and David Platt. We finished fifth and qualified for Europe. I started pre-season; we went to Florence and Celtic Park, then I was asked to go to the ground where they were having a board meeting and was told that they were going to part company [with me]. I remember advice from Frank O’Farrell when I worked with him at Torquay United in 1981. He told me: ‘at some stage you will lose your job. Don’t be angry or bitter. Shake hands and leave. Don’t make any comment, just go.’ I asked the board: ‘are we going to part with lawyers, or a smile on our face?’ I went to see my lawyer and Arsenal had to pay up in full the two years left on my contract.”

“The club did need changing when I took over. The manager that replaced me [Arsene Wenger] was phenomenal. He brought in world class players like Henry, Pires, Vieira and Anelka. His selection of players was exceptional and he changed the culture at the club at the time. I went to see them play at Norwich one day and met Arsene and asked him what he expected. He said that he expected to beat teams like Norwich, the teams they will find difficult will be Manchester United and Liverpool.

Playing for the Tartan Army

Although born in Aldershot Bruce represented Scotland at international level, qualifying through his parents who hailed from the Isle of Skye and Aberdeenshire. However, Bruce didn’t receive his first call-up to the Scotland squad until after he had won the First Division title with Derby.

“My phone rang and it was Dave Mackay. He had a message for me – how would I like to play for Scotland? He gave me the telephone number and told me I had to ‘ring a Mr Donald, as in Duck.’”

Bruce earned 24 caps for Scotland and made history as the first player born in England to captain the national side. Eighteen of those appearances came during his time at Derby County. Alongside teammate Don Masson, they became the first Derby players to feature in a FIFA World Cup, appearing in Scotland’s opening match against Peru at the 1978 tournament in Argentina. Scotland lost the game 3-1, followed by a disappointing 1–1 draw with Iran. Despite a thrilling 3–2 victory over the Netherlands in their final group match – featuring two goals from Archie Gemmill, including his iconic solo effort – it wasn’t enough to see them through to the next round. Why does Bruce think Scotland struggled in the competition?

“Our record when I played was very good but prior to the World Cup our performances were not up to the level we had been playing at previously. We went into games confident but we didn’t know anything about Peru, we had no background or information. After the game we knew who [Cubillas] was because of the free kick. We had a good group of players but underperformed – except the last game against the Dutch [who went on to be runners-up, losing 3-1 to Argentina in the final]. I picked up an injury so didn’t play against Iran. We should have beaten Iran. I watched it and it was a poor performance. For the last game, we moved to Mendoza. The mentality was: get out there and beat them and see what happens. I played as a 10 behind the front two and Souness came in and put in a good performance. We were close to going through to the next round. At 3-1 we needed one more goal to go through then Johnny Rep has the ball and shoots from far out and it goes in the top corner.”

“The facilities we had were poor, the accommodation was poor, the training pitch was awful. We took the team coach to Cordoba, maybe an hour’s drive away, to train every day. The players had not been told what incentives or bonuses they would get. A year before we were told we would know before the World Cup and we were about to play the first game against Peru and no one knew what they were playing for. You expect that side to be tied up. When the figure raised was less than for qualifying, it didn’t go down well. That was a learning curve in life and in management – make sure it is made clear in advance exactly what the incentives and bonuses are so people know what they can achieve if successful. Some players were angry, some did newspaper articles publicly. I am not blaming bonuses on everything but it should have been dealt with in advance. Willie Johnson was banned for using an illegal substance so it caused a furore in the camp which transmitted to the second game.”

Old friends

Bruce will be attending Derby County’s 1974/1975 anniversary dinner on 1 May 2025 at Pride Park Stadium and is looking forward to the evening immensely.

“You leave a club and move around the country, but to be around your teammates who you have not seen for a long time for an occasion like winning the championship will be special. It gives fans as much pleasure to see their team win the championship as it does for the players. I had a conversation with Bill Shankly when I was at Everton. He told me a story once about team talks when he was Liverpool manager, where he opened the dressing room door at Anfield and said to the players: ‘listen to that’. All you could hear was the fans singing You’ll Never Walk Alone and he was painting a picture of the fans waiting out there. That conversation resonated with me for many years and helped me with my management career. The fans of your club are fans for life. You have to give your all every day for your teammates, the club and fans. You get fantastic pleasure from giving all you can to the people who are paying your wages and coming to support you.”