Derby County miss out on £170m pay day

Derby County manager Frank Lampard said he was “proud” of his players, despite the Rams missing out on a £170m payday after losing the Championship Play-Off Final to Aston Villa.

Derby went down 2-1 to Villa at Wembley yesterday (27 May), despite a stirring fightback in the last 10 minutes which saw them go close to equalising on a number of of occasions. However, their wait to re-join the English football elite goes on after defeat in what is often dubbed “the richest game in football”.

However, Lampard spoke of his admiration for the hard work his players put in over the 90 minutes and the season as a whole.

“It was a close game and Finals are generally close,” he told RamsTV. “We are obviously disappointed to lose the game. I can’t ask for any more effort and the players pushed and pushed and pushed.

“It was a cagey first half today and they got the first goal just before half time. A mistake gave them another and then it was nothing but character from our group. I’m disappointed but proud.

As soon as this dust settles, I think we can all say we have enjoyed the ride. I’m just disappointed to send the 40,000 Derby fans home, who have had a good day still, I think without the promotion we all wanted.

“They came here with a mindset which was that we are delighted to be here, and we are going to support our club and that helped us. To send them home disappointed was bad because they wanted us to get promoted.”

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