They came, they saw and they cocked up in a way no other top-flight team have done in 109 years of league football. Derby County have found the promised land so uninhabitable that they have recorded the top division’s worst season since the league was formed in 1888 – and they were not even close to the 108th best.

Players – or their descendants – from various humiliated teams through history have given thanks to Paul Jewell’s hapless band for raising the prospect of being rid of their various stigmas. The biggest points gap between top and bottom in the table and the greatest between the bottom two were secured yesterday, as was the largest gulf in goal difference between any two teams.

Given that seasonal lengths have changed and two points were awarded for a win until 1981, the records have been compared on the basis of points per game, with three points for a win assumed throughout. Not that Derby are familiar with wins. Had they been told at the start of the season that they would earn 27 points for each victory, they would still have finished bottom. If they were given 79 points per win, they would have failed to win the title.

The worst top-flight record was Sunderland’s two years ago, when they dipped below Stoke City’s mark from 1984-85. Derby’s one victory and eight draws leave them four points short of the Wearsiders’ 15-point tally. So Derby’s record is 27 per cent worse than the previous worst.

The 24-point gap between Derby and Birmingham City is the largest between the bottom two since 1888 and the 76-point stretch from the bottom to Manchester United at the top is also the largest ever. The 127 disparity between Derby and United in goal difference is the biggest between two top-flight teams since 1891-92.

One story sums up Derby’s misery. Their only winning goal of the league season – by Kenny Miller against Newcastle United in a match televised live in September – was missed because viewers were seeing a replay of an earlier incident when the ball hit the net. Oh, dear. Taxi for Derby.

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