Roy McFarland and Igor Stimac are the two men voted as your greatest centre-backs in Derby County's history.

The pair will take their places in the All-Time XI after a May poll that saw the hottest competition yet.

McFarland and Stimac ultimately triumphed despite strong surges by the likes of Mark Wright, Dave Mackay and Colin Todd.

They join 1970s stars Colin Boulton, Ron Webster and David Nish in being selected for the prestigious supporters' choice side.

Roy McFarland joined the Rams in August 1967 for less than £25,000 from Tranmere Rovers having made a great impression on Brian Clough and Peter Taylor when the pair were in charge of Hartlepool.

Liverpool were interested but Clough and Taylor felt they could mould the 19-year-old into the best centre-half in England.

They were right. McFarland, alongside the inspirational Dave Mackay, was a key figure in promotion in 1969 and made his England debut less than two years later.

He was the captain when Derby won their first-ever league title in 1972, but was cruelly sidelined by injury for all bar four games of the 1975 championship season.

McFarland made 28 international appearances, an injury-hit reward for the man recognised as one of the country's finest post-war centre-halves.

He became player-manager of Bradford City in 1981, returned to the Rams as assistant manager in 1982, and even had his boots on again in the 1983/84 season.

A brief spell as caretaker manager followed before a lengthy and successful period to Arthur Cox as Derby rose through the divisions to the top-flight.

He took over in his own right in 1993 and guided Derby to the play-off final at Wembley that season, but he left the Baseball Ground at the end of the following campaign.

McFarland was also in charge at Bolton Wanderers, Cambridge United, Torquay United, Chesterfield, and latterly at Burton Albion, where he helped guide the Brewers to the Football League for the first time.

Rams fan John Smith is the winning voter picked out from those who nominated McFarland, and said: "Roy was fantastic to watch, one of the stars of a fantastic team."

Igor Stimac is the first of the selections not to have featured in the title-winning and Europe-challenging squads of the 1970s.

The charismatic Croatian opened many people's eyes when arriving as a £1.57m signing - at the time, the club's second-highest fee - from Hadjuk Split in October 1995.

Some of Europe's big names were rumoured to be interested but he arrived at the Baseball Ground and immediately set his sights on the Premier League with Derby.

He wouldn't be disappointed. A 5-1 defeat at Tranmere on his debut - Stimac the scorer - might have set some alarm bells ringing, but a formation change and 20 unbeaten games later the Rams were almost there.

Stimac's bow came at centre-half but he moved to sweeper and proved to be one of the most cultured footballers plying his trade in the country.

A remarkable level of self-confidence helped him along and saw him almost cruise through many games with a style and panache not seen at the Baseball Ground for decades.

Stimac played for Croatia at Wembley against England in April 1996, just four days before helping the Rams win promotion in that dramatic game against Crystal Palace.

He believed the Premier League was worthy of his talents and, after starring for Croatia in their run to the Euro 1996 quarter-finals, he was there.

Often unwilling to play unless fully fit, Stimac was in an increasingly successful Derby side over the next three years and was part of the Croatian side that finished third in the 1998 World Cup.

He joined West Ham in the summer of 1999 and returned to a hero's welcome at Pride Park, before rejoining Hadjuk Split in 2001.

Since going back to his homeland he has been their sporting director, been suspended for six months over an altercation with a linesman, and even released a pop song!

The winning fan who voted for Stimac is Nicole-Marie Brown, who said: "Igor really was a one-off and deserves this so much. He had this great ability to get the crowd singing, a true leader in the mould of Roy McFarland that every Derby County fan had been waiting ages for."

Now the search is on to find the greatest right-winger in Derby County's 125 years of history.

The poll is now open and you will have until June 25 to get your vote in via a coupon in the Derby Evening Telegraph, via www.therams.co.uk and by e-mail to webmaster@dcfc.co.uk.

There will be a prize each month for a winning fan drawn from those who have voted for the chosen player.

The fan will receive a team shirt with the name and team number of the chosen player. This will be signed, if possible, by the player.