What was it that made Steve Bloomer, the 'Destroying Angel' so special? A remarkable goalscoring record and a supreme ability count for much, but so do an enigmatic personality and incident-packed life that has never been fully explored - until now. In this marvellously entertaining story of his life, we accompany Bloomer on his dramatic rise from tough Black Country beginnings in 1874 to goalscoring feats straight out of Boy's Own Paper. His famous playing career shares the stage with remarkable episodes in Bloomer's life never before fully researched, including his sorrow and bravery through four years in a German prison camp, and his first tentative steps into the pioneering world of coaching in Germany. Holland and Spain, where his triumphant managerial spell brought glory to 'the Accrington Stanley of Spanish football', not to mention a novel use for olive oil. Then there are the twilight days as a scout, respected pundit and honorary old un at the Baseball Ground. Steve Bloomer died in 1938 but 60 years later, at their new Pride Park Stadium, Derby County ran out to the unique anthem Steve Bloomer's Watching. Over a century since he made his debut, his name is still the most famous in the club's history.

For followers of the legendary Rams, no phrase sums up the club more aptly than 'it could only happen at Derby County'. This hugely entertaining collection of strange but true tales shows exactly why. Through thousands of fascinating nuggets of trivia - humorous, tragic, strange and utterly bizarre in turn - author and lifelong fan Peter Seddon captures the very essence of the weird and wonderful world of the incomparable Rams. Discover the awful truth about the severed head found at the Baseball Ground, find out which Rams player was immortalised in a feature film, when bad light stopped play, whose wife wrote racy novels, which Rams striker almost wished death on the entire squad, and why ace-winger Alan Hinton was dropped after the worst televised miss of all time. The entertaining stories and quirky snippets in "The Little Book of Derby County" are sure to amuse all football lovers, but in particular that special breed of fan who supports the redoubtable Rams through thick and thin.