Wed 09 Jul - Posted in Breaking News
Time to read: 4mins
Craig Forsyth has admitted there was little doubt when it came to extending his long association with Derby County.
The experienced defender last month put pen-to-paper on a new two-year contract until the summer of 2027.
The long-serving Forsyth has played 382 times for Derby and scored 13 goals since arriving from Watford in 2013.
He currently sits 16th in the club’s all-time appearance holders list, and he is destined to climb up that list in the months ahead.
Forsyth played an instrumental role in the Rams preserving their Championship status at the end of the 2024/25 season under the guidance of his former Derby and Watford team-mate John Eustace, following his appointment as Head Coach in February.
The Scot played 42 times in all competitions and started the final 12 league games of the campaign.
Important goals and assists were a feature of Forsyth’s 2024/25 season, and he netted in key home wins against Blackburn Rovers and Preston North End, as well as providing assists as four vital points were picked up at Portsmouth and Hull City.
When it came to putting pen-to-paper, Forsyth says it was a ‘straightforward’ decision to continue his association with the Rams.
The new deal he signed will also see the 36-year-old supported by the club in achieving his qualifications in preparation for a potential coaching role in the game when he calls time on his impressive career.
Speaking to RamsTV, Forsyth said: “Everyone is well aware how much I love it here.
“I love being in the area and playing in front of the fans every week.
“It was an easy decision to stay here; everyone knew I wanted to stay as well.
“The way last season ended, playing a lot and the body feeling good, I was happy to get a new contract on the table and the talks were pretty straightforward.”
He added: “I want to play as long as I possibly can, I have always said that.”
Reflecting on Derby’s mission to achieve safety, 12 months after securing automatic promotion from League One, Forsyth feels Eustace and his backroom staff’s arrival was instrumental.
Derby found themselves bottom of the table and seven points adrift of safety at the beginning of March, but the Rams rallied with a fine run of form to claw themselves out of the bottom three and over the finish line.
Set pieces proved to be pivotal for the Rams, defending them superbly at one end and attacking them with conviction at the other as they got the points required to retain the second-tier status they worked so hard to achieve.
Looking back on the latter stages of the season, Forsyth said: “The gaffer and the coaching staff came in with different and fresh ideas.
“There was structure off the ball, and he made us extremely difficult to beat.
“We didn’t concede many goals, making it tough for the opponents, and we were effective from set-pieces down the other end.
“We did a lot of work on it, and we got the benefits of it.”
Derby’s players checked in for pre-season testing towards the end of June to get preparations for the 2025/26 campaign started in earnest.
Forsyth, who started his career in Scotland with Dundee in the 2006/07 season, knows a thing or two about the rigours of getting set for the big kick-off.
Derby will get their pre-season games programme started on Saturday 12th July with a trip to local non-league side Matlock Town (1pm kick-off), and Forsyth is relishing returning to a match situation.
Discussing pre-season to date, he said: “It has been good. I wouldn’t go so far to say it has been enjoyable!
“Pre-season is a little different now to when I started out at Dundee; there’s more Sports Science behind it, and back in the day, you were told to just run where you needed to run. I remember a few gruelling and brutal runs.”
“You wouldn’t see the footballs either for the first week or so, but that has changed in recent years, and it is certainly a benefit to do more with the ball than without it.”
He concluded: “It has been nice to get back in and stuck into the work again. Once you get into the first friendly game, it is like the initial block of work is out of the way. Everyone wants to get back to playing football, blow the cobwebs off and get ready for the new season.”
