In Part 1 of our interview, Robin recalled the 1995/1996 promotion season, that iconic goal, and his role as captain.

The Premiership…and Wolves

The close season after promotion and the start of the 1996-1997 season were exciting times for Rams supporters who were looking forward to seeing top-class players like Alan Shearer, Eric Cantona, and Dennis Bergkamp grace the Baseball Ground pitch. However, the season did not start well for Robin Van der Laan.

“In that close season West Bromwich Albion came in for me again with an offer of £1 million. Jim Smith rang to tell me, but I’d always wanted to play in the Premiership. Jim said it was not enough money anyway so that was it.”

“I hardly played in pre-season so was disappointed I didn’t have the opportunity to go and stake my claim to be in the team for the start of the season. It wasn’t a case that I was fit and raring to go. I was injured and the team had to start without me. The manager thinks about the players available to him, he won’t forget about you, but he needs to work with the players he has available. It was long days, a lot of physio. If you miss a pre-season, you find it difficult to keep up with the pace. That was the frustrating part not getting out there with the rest of the lads as I had to get my core fitness up.”

Once Van der Laan had recovered from the ankle injury sustained in the previous season, he needed game time to return to full match fitness. The club captain was allowed to go out on loan to Wolverhampton Wanderers in Division 1 in October and November with the hope that he would return to Derby ready to regain his place in the team.

“The best way of getting fitness is playing games. If you step down a division then Wolves was one of the best clubs you could go to. It was close to home, which suited all parties, and they had some good players like Steve Bull. They had quite a few long-term injuries so I had opportunity to play. Mark McGhee was manager and I played 7 games in the first month. He wanted to sign me for longer, but Wolves didn’t have the money so McGhee asked if I could sign for another couple of months on loan. I had a chat with Jim Smith who said it was OK for me to stay longer. I stayed another two months on loan but never played again. McGhee kept avoiding me, so I went into his office. It was like in the movies where the secretary says he was busy, so I walked straight in! McGhee said: ‘it’s what you do as a manager, ducking and diving’. I told him you can’t treat people like that but McGhee said Wolves had paid a £50,000 loan fee so I couldn’t go back, or he would look like a bad manager to his chairman. Derby needed some leadership in the team, so I went back in as captain [in a 0-0 draw at Leeds at the end of January]. Me and Paul Trollope came into the team, and we were worried about going down. We had both a good run in the team and managed to help the team stay up.”

One of Robin Van der Laan’s best memories at Derby was captaining the team against Manchester United at Old Trafford in the famous 3-2 win which went a long way to keeping the Rams up in their first season in the Premiership.

“It was a fantastic day – the whole build up, playing at Old Trafford, lining up next to Cantona. No one was sure about Wanchope. We had seen him for a few training sessions, he was a bit hit and miss, a bit gangly, sometimes it looked like he didn’t know what he was doing himself and couldn’t kick a ball then he scored that worldie goal. I remember going 3-0 up and the last 30 mins was like the Alamo, backs to the wall and United pushed and pushed and pushed. That was their championship team, and it was 3 points that we didn’t think we would get.”

After the Dutchman returned to the heart of Derby’s midfield in January 1997, he played in all but two league games until the end of the season. In this time Derby went from relegation contenders to a comfortable 12^th place finish in the 1996/1997 Premiership table.

From the Baseball Ground to Pride Park

After retaining their status in the top division, Derby started the 1997/1998 season with a new home. Pride Park Stadium was officially opened on Friday 18 July 1997 by Queen Elizabeth II in front of a packed out stadium.

“That was an incredible day, the stadium was full in the middle of the day. I remember the Queen in a popemobile driving around. The whole thing, the Queen being there and the fans being there in a fantastic stadium. I have got some good photos from it as well. Jim introduced the players, and the Queen had a little chat with me. She had just gone past Ron Willems and Jim had told her that Ron was Dutch. So, she came to me and said: ‘Do you speak Dutch then?’ I said ‘…yeah!’ It was a short conversation!”

Derby’s team at the time under Jim Smith and Steve McClaren were starting to become well known for their attractive brand of attacking football. Many of the players signed in the summer of 1997, such as the Italian duo of Stefano Eranio and Francesco Baiano, were recruited for this reason, and the new Pride Park pitch was well-suited for free-flowing football played on the ground. What did Robin Van der Laan make of the switch from the Baseball Ground?

“The pitch at the Baseball Ground was a mud bath in winter. It helped us in the first season in the Premiership – Chelsea, Arsenal, United all needed a bit more time and had to take care with their first touch which helped us closing them down a bit more. I didn’t mind the pitch at the Baseball Ground, I loved making tackles on there and getting stuck in. At Pride Park the playing surface was very different, it was very hard on the ground and tough under your feet but Eranio and Baiano coming in, fantastic footballers, we played some really outstanding football at times. Look at Brighton now, a nice team to watch – they concede goals but score goals and we were a bit like that.”

Goodbye Derby

During Robin Van der Laan’s final season at Derby, he started the 2-2 draw at home to Manchester United in October but due to injury did not play again until the 4-0 win at home to Bolton in April.

“We played United at home, we were 2-0 up. Wanchope hit the bar and the ball went behind the line and bounced back out, but the goal wasn’t given. We should have been 3-0 up. It was 2-1 when my foot got stuck in the ground and Giggsy landed on my ankle, so I got taken off and iced up then heard United score to make it 2-2. That was it for me, I had three injuries in one – ligament, bruised ankle bone, and tendonitis which I needed an operation for.”

Van der Laan returned to the team before the end of the season and played his final game for Derby in the 2-0 win at Southampton, the penultimate game of a successful 1997/1998 season where the Rams finished ninth. Did he know at that point that he could be leaving Derby that summer?

“No, there was no plan of leaving. I got the call from Jim [Smith] who said Barnsley had made an offer. Ashley Ward had gone there just before me. John Hendrie had taken over from Danny Wilson, Barnsley had just come down from the Premiership but once a manager accepts an offer, you feel other players may be coming in so I had a conversation with Barnsley. I had a really close relationship with the chairman [Lionel Pickering] as well and had a good chat with him. He said: ‘we’ll look after you if you decide you want to make this move’ – so I moved onto a different challenge. I didn’t really want to leave but the manager had made his mind up. We had a lot of internationals coming in and Jim had a taste for bringing in big players with big reputations and had to clear some players out to bring others in. There was no point hanging around. I would never have chosen to leave if I was still in the plans.”

Van der Laan signed for Barnsley in July 1998 for £325,000 and made 65 appearances for the Yorkshire club before being forced to retire in 2001 due to injury.

“I ruptured my ACL [playing for Barnsley] but was a bit stubborn and came back on after I had done it. Then I played another 10 minutes and did it again. I had reconstruction of the knee; my cruciate ligaments were replaced with my patella tendon but most of my cartilage had gone. I was advised that my knee was strong enough to play again but I might end up in a wheelchair. New knees were not a thing then. The specialist was an authority on cruciate ligaments and did all the best players and advised me to stop playing. When you are 32 or 33 and have a bad injury like that it is difficult to come back from and have a career that can take you to 37 or 38. It was a decision with the head not the heart, and not easy.”

Playing with Rams legends

Other than Igor Stimac, who were the best players that Van der Laan played with at Derby County?

“I really enjoyed playing with Paul McGrath. What a player. His knees were done but he was a naturally fit guy. He was such a natural talent and reader of the game. He never trained and looked like an old man during the week – then turned up on Saturday and was man of the match again! He truly was an outstanding defender and a real nice softly spoken gentleman as well.”

“Asanovic had unbelievable skills, you couldn’t get him off the ball so individually he’s right up there with best players. Eranio is the nicest man you’ll ever meet, what experience he had as well. He was the water carrier for AC Milan when Carlton Palmer was the water carrier for England. Eranio’s first touch was sublime, he was the workhorse for the team. It just shows you the difference in qualities [between England and Italy at the time]. We were accepting the hard worker and tackler in England not having to play that well.”

Life under the Bald Eagle

“My relationship with Jim Smith and Steve McClaren was really good, we were always quite close and mutual respect was there. Jim could still blow his top but by the time he came to Derby he had mellowed a lot – apparently, he was a lot worse before. I remember we were training at Raynesway and there were bobbles all over the pitches. Steve would start the session and Jim would come out later. The ball comes to me and comes off my shin and Jim had just come out and gave me a rollicking: ‘he’s giving the ball away all the time!’.

“I could take a rollicking, I wouldn’t become a shrinking violet but other players would lose it and their confidence was shot. Every player has to be treated differently because you want to get the best out of your players. Sometimes Steve was a little bit better than Jim – Jim would give everyone a rollicking, but Steve would put his arm around your shoulder.”

“After the games, once Jim had a couple of wines he would put his arm around us, give us kiss on the cheek. I always remember I was suspended for a game at Millwall and we had a Q&A night in a pub with the London supporters’ branch with me, Steve McClaren, Jim Smith, and Lionel Pickering. I had a couple of beers, and we went back to the hotel, and I was sitting with the staff and chairman having a drink. I was feeling a bit uncomfortable at 11pm and was going to go to bed but Jim said: ‘you’re not going anywhere son’, so we sat there until the bar closed!”

Scoring goals

Robin Van der Laan made 70 appearances for the Rams and scored 11 goals. But apart from the winner against Crystal Palace, what was his favourite goal for Derby?

“There’s a couple actually. The goal against Aston Villa with a step over [a 4-2 win at the Baseball Ground]. And the volley against Villa [in the FA Cup] – it was a chest volley running into the box which was a decent one. I scored a goal against Spurs at home which was a nice volley from the edge of the box. Who you are playing against at the time makes a difference.”

Relationship with Rams fans

“I don’t see them every day but on social media or whenever I go to an event or a game I get fantastic feedback and reception from the fans. It’s a fantastic club, I had a great time there but unfortunately it comes to an end, but I always loved the club and it’s always the first result I look for on a Saturday afternoon. It’s been tough in the last few years seeing such a great club that nearly went out of business. It breaks my heart.”

“We were still in that era when we could go out and have a drink with the lads. Jim wanted us to know each other off the pitch because it would help us on the pitch which can’t happen now because of the incredible fitness levels and social media. Players don’t have a private life anymore; they get bothered by everybody when they go out for a meal with the family. We had the best of both worlds. We always dreamed of doing the job of a professional footballer and fans would come up and have a drink with you.”

Working for the biggest club in the world

After retiring from professional football in 2001, Van der Laan worked as the Head International Coach for Manchester United Soccer Schools and also set up The Robin Van der Laan Soccer School and Academy in Canada. After returning to England, he continued to work for Manchester United and in 2014 also became assistant manager at Newcastle Town in the Northern Premier League, eventually taking over as manager in 2018. Van der Laan stepped down as manager in the summer of 2023 but remains at Newcastle Town as a director, and his two sons Jack and Tommy play for the first team. What is it like working as an international head coach for the biggest club in the world?

“I have been on European trips with the first team, it is always nice to see the games. I have been to Atletico Madrid and PSG, and went on the pre-season tour with the first team to Bangkok in 2022. They are always nice trips. Sometimes I do coach education, sometimes I work with high end under-16s and grassroots. Most places we go they bring out legends like Dwight Yorke, Dennis Irwin, Bryan Robson, and Wes Brown. We are the relationship managers who look after the sponsors and make everyone feel welcome. I’ve been doing this for nearly 20 years now, but it has stopped me going into an academy role as under 21s manager because you can’t do that job at the same time. If I needed to go away with Manchester United, Newcastle could always get cover for me.”

“Manchester United are the best in the world at looking after sponsors and are still up there for revenues. We have 65 major sponsors who pay over £1 million a year including the Adidas £100 million a year deal (£1 billion over 10 years). I get to see the world, I have been to 23 or 24 different countries including the United States, Middle East, Australia and Myanmar, and lived in Canada for a while. It’s very interesting and very enjoyable which is why I have chosen this job over traditional coaching. It’s not the worst job in the world!”