Derby County: EFL icon needed one season to become Rams cult-hero - View | OneFootball

The striker scored 24 goals in all competitions in 2022/23, as Derby narrowly missed out on the play-offs.

After suffering relegation to the third tier for the first time in nearly 40 years, Derby County had to plan acutely in the summer of 2022. Without being able to pay for transfer fees, the Rams built a team filled with EFL stalwarts, with one leaving his mark on the club in just one year.

Having left Sheffield United at the end of the 2021/22 campaign, David McGoldrick was a free agent, and despite being 34, he still had a lot to offer Derby, particularly in League One.

David Clowes had bought the club just days before the striker made the switch to Pride Park, after the Rams had spent the majority of the previous season in administration, coming within touching distance of liquidation.

However, with their new local owner on board, and Liam Rosenior taking on responsibility as interim manager, Derby had to rebuild in less than one month with the 2022/23 season kicking off at the end of July.

McGoldrick had a slow start but soon kicked on

Oxford United visited DE24 on the opening day of the new campaign, and at the start of their new era, it was the home side who took all three points through a late Conor Hourihane strike.

Nevertheless, "Didzy", as he is often dubbed by teammates and managers, failed to feature in the first three matches, instead making his league debut away to Shrewsbury Town in a 0-0 draw.

Derby's away form was ultimately the issue that cost them in 2022/23, and they failed to score on the road until their fourth away game of the season.

By that point, McGoldrick had already scored his maiden goal in black-and-white. Netting a 91st minute winner against Peteborough United, the second to last win of Rosenior's temporary tenure.

Paul Warne was tempted away from Rotherham United in September 2022, winning his first game in charge at the Abbey Stadium as Derby beat Cambridge United. However, McGoldrick had still scored just the one goal.

Yet, one month later, Bristol Rovers were the victims to the 34-year-old's first career hat-trick. All three of the ex-Nottingham Forest striker's goals came in the first-half in a 4-2 home victory.

Before the turn of the year, he proved that it was no fluke, scoring yet another treble. Derby's 4-0 win over Forest Green Rovers took the team up to 5th, as they continued their unbeaten run.

McGoldrick's end to the season was inspired

McGoldrick scored one more hat-trick before the end of the season, coming in the last game of Derby's 15-game unbeaten run, with the Rams putting Morecambe to the sword in a dominant 5-0 win.

Warne's team faced an inconsistent second half of the campaign, one that ultimately cost them a chance at promotion through the play-offs, but, their number 10 was still providing moments of genius.

McGoldrick went on two runs of scoring in four or more consecutive matches in February and April, taking his tally up to 22 in League One. His best return to date.

His final goal for Derby came against Burton Albion. The 1-0 win kept the club 6th, just inside the play-off places, however, a defeat to Sheffield Wednesday on the final day of the season meant that the Rams finished 7th in the table, just one point behind Peteborough.

That loss at Hillsborough proved to be the last game of McGoldrick's career at Derby, opting to join his boyhood clubNotts County on their return to the EFL, but Rams fans will never forget the joy of watching "Didzy" light up Pride Park.