Olympiacos are a football club whose name is infamous around the world with a brand that transcends across the diaspora. Over the years countless players from all corners of the globe have graced the field at Georgios Karaiskakis – each one leaving their mark on the club and taking the name of Olympiacos around the world. In this latest Gate 7 International feature the focus will be on some of those players that have graced the club – some hits, some misses and some reaching legendary status – and looking at where their careers took them once they had hung up the red and white jersey. First up is Matt Derbyshire!
Derbyshire was born on April 14, 1986 in England and made his name at Blackburn Rovers following a humble start at the the non-league stage. Derbyshire arrived at Olympiacos, initially on loan, midway through the 2008-09 season under the stewardship of Ernesto Valverde to replace the legendary Darko Kovacevic and the move was made permanent later that summer. He remained at the club until the summer of 2011 but spent the 2010-11 season back in England on loan to Birmingham. For a player that was only with us for a season and a half, he has left a lasting impression at the club. To this day, fans donning ‘Derbyshire 9’ or ‘Derbyshire 27’ shirts at games can still be seen – his cult status is no doubt thanks to his heroics against PAOK in the semi-finals and AEK in the crazy final of the 2009 Greek Cup, along with scoring the winning goal against the eternal enemy Panathinaikos at OAKA during a 1-0 win back in 2010.
Derbyshire is most famous for leading Olympiacos to a staggering 4-4 draw against AEK in the Cup final, which ended in an insane 15-14 penalty shootout! The striker scored twice to earn a contract and prove to the demanding fans that there is indeed life after Kovacevic. The former England youth international went on to amass a total of 15 goals and three assists in 36 appearances.
The return to England.
In the summer of 2010, Ernesto Valverde returned to the club and immediately told Matt Derbyshire he wasn’t in his plans for the season ahead. The striker was loaned out to Birmingham City. His time at Birmingham was a mix of highs and lows. He contributed to the team’s campaign in the Premier League, but appearances were limited and he failed to find the net in the league. Birmingham managed the unthinkable that season as they lifted the League Cup at Wembley with a shock 2-1 win over Arsenal. It will have been a bittersweet experience for Matt, though, featuring in the games on the run to the final but being left out of the match day squad for the final itself.
Nottingham Forest made a move that summer signing him permanently from Olympiacos, but found game time hard to come by in the Championship that first season and only managed to find the net twice. The following season saw him go out on loan twice and play regularly with League One side Oldham Athletic in the first half of the season in which he managed six goals and back to the Championship with Blackpool in 2012, where he failed to record any goals again. The 2013-14 season saw the return of some goalscoring form again as he rejoined Forest and that was the season that got his career back on track. The striker managed to find the net 10 times in 35 appearances across all competitions.
Following his return to some sort of form, Derbyshire made a move to fellow Championship club Rotherham United. Rotherham had just won the 2014 League One playoff final and the Lancashire hitman fit the bill as they needed to add some more experience and EFL knowhow to their side. As a first-team regular, a successful two seasons were spent with the South Yorkshire side. The ex-England Under-21 international registered an impressive haul of 18 goals in 74 appearances across all competitions for the struggling side. And during both seasons with the club he avoided relegation with the team finishing one place above the drop in 21st position.
Globetrotting
Derbyshire’s career took an international turn again when he packed his bags and left the UK again, joining Cypriot side Omonia in the summer of 2016. The centre-forward experienced a prolific period, becoming one of the league’s top scorers. He netted 24 league goals in his debut season, demonstrating his goalscoring instincts were as sharp as ever. His success continued during the following season, scoring another 23 league goals further cementing his reputation as a reliable striker. Derbyshire went on to play a total of four seasons in Cyprus with Omonia, leaving with a total of 62 goals in 113 league games and a total of 69 goals across all competitions.
Leaving Cyprus as one of the greatest foreign players to have played in the country, Matt went even further afield on his footballing adventure. Sydney, Australia was his next destination with a move to Macarthur FC of the A-League. The season finished with a mid-table 6th finish for Macarthur but the season was a personal success for the Englishman. Derbyshire finding himself named in the league’s team of the season after finishing with 14 goals in his 25 appearances.
After a single season Down Under a return to Cyprus was next for the 2021-22 season. AEK Larnaca was the destination in a season in which he helped the club finish second in the league behind Apollon Limassol. In 21 league games back on the island he found the net on five occasions, with a further two goals in five appearances in the Cypriot Cup.
Derbyshire was not done on his travels yet and headed to Asia for the first time. NorthEast United of Assam in India was the destination. A tough season was endured by NothEast United, finishing in bottom place of the league after only managing to find the net 20 times in total as a team all season. Of those 20 goals, only a single one was scored by the boot of the globetrotting Englishman.
Coming home.
Halfway through the 2023-24 season Derbyshire signed for Bradford City. Signing for the League Two club in January, at the time managed by Wales and Manchester United legend Mark Hughes. Relegated to the bottom tier of the English football league in 2019, Bradford have struggled to gain the promotion they crave to move to a higher position in the football pyramid that a club of their size aspires to be. Matt Derbyshire was unable to provide the goals that they hoped would help them achieve this. The nomadic striker found game time scarce and goals even harder to come by. Featuring in just 20 matches across the second half of the 2022-23 season and the entire 2023-24 season – with only a single goal return in that time. In May of this year, at the culmination of the season, it was announced that Derbyshire would be released at the end of his contract. The last three seasons of his career have seen the goals dry up, could it be attributed to the wrong clubs at the wrong time, or simply Father Time catching up with the former prolific goalscorer?
What next?
As we sit here in the close season awaiting the start of the 2024-25 football season what lies ahead for Derbyshire is unknown. Will he find another club to prolong his varied playing career, venture into the realms of coaching or embrace a well-earned retirement from the game? Whatever lies in wait for the northern Englishman, it can be certain that no opportunity will phase him as he has proven throughout his career, he is not afraid to step outside of his comfort zone and embrace whatever opportunity is presented to him. He can look back on an extremely varied career and a career in which he proved on several occasions that on his day he was a perfectly adept centre forward.
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