INTERVIEW: O'Donnell 'Delighted' To Extend Derby Deal

Richard O’Donnell says he is ‘delighted’ to extend his stay with Derby County for a further year.

The 37-year-old penned a new deal until the end of the 2026/27 season on Thursday, on the back of a superb display during the 1-0 win over Portsmouth on Monday night.

O’Donnell marked his return to first-team action with a clean sheet at Fratton Park, making no fewer than nine saves en route to the shut-out.

Speaking to RamsTV ahead of this weekend's home contest against Birmingham City, the Rams ‘keeper admitted Pride Park had an instant feel of home.

On Extending His Derby County Deal

I’m really happy. Pretty much from the moment I signed, I thought: ‘This is the place I want to be - and I want to be here for longer.’

I set out a personal goal at the beginning of the season to extend my stay as soon as I could. I’m delighted to get it done.

On Why He Wanted To Remain A Ram

It’s the environment, the culture that the Head Coach and the staff set. It's a great place to come into work. The standards are high and I really enjoy coming to work every day and giving everything I've got.

The season has panned out quite well for me personally - better than I probably expected given I signed as a number three. It's a mindset where you've got to come in every day, work hard, set the standards, and make sure that you're doing things right, not just for yourself but for the other goalkeepers.

On His Mentality and Learned Experiences

There's no value in me coming in and not working hard every day and pushing Josh (Vickers) and Jacob (Widell Zetterström) So, I work as hard as I can and put everything in every single day, whether that's on the pitch or off the pitch.

I think that sets me up nicely to slot into the team when needed, because if I didn't have that attitude and mentality, it could be a different story.

What I've found through the years is never be too high and never be too low. You've got to take the rough with the smooth. It can be a lonely place at times, because when you make a mistake, nine times out of ten it ends up in a goal.

Over the last five or six years, I've learnt to put that aside again and reassess. Likewise, when things are going well, you're not thinking that you're the best goalie in the world and you're going to smash it every week because football's got a funny way of bringing you back down to earth.

On Keeping A Clean Sheet At Fratton Park

It was really satisfying for everyone because it was a bit of an ugly win, especially the second half. We were right up against it. The boys showed character. We stuck together and defended our box extremely well.

We scored a good goal from the second phase of a set piece, which is vitally important. We defended set pieces really well. We defended everything that came in the box.

When I was required, I was able to keep the ball out the net. So, I think it was a really tough game, but one that we can look back at with satisfaction.

On Preparing For His First Pride Park Appearance With Derby

I'm really looking forward to it. It'll be nice playing at home in front of the fans, for my family to come down as well, because they've not been down to watch this season given we've been so far away in every game I’ve played.

I think we're at that stage of the season where we've got to just take one game at a time. You can see how quickly the league can change.

We were in there at one point. Then, all of a sudden we sort of dropped to six points behind, and now we're right back in touching distance again. It's literally just the old cliché, taking one game at a time.