Interview med Colin Todd

When a former Derby player like defender Colin Todd suddenly gets involved in Danish football you raise an eyebrow – and, if you’ve got your own Derby site, you immediately start tracking him down for an interview!

Mission possible

And luckily the staff at Colin’s new club, Randers FC, is very kind. A secretary, Stine Grønberg, has been helping me several times accordingly. So although Colin Todd is a very, very busy man these days, travelling to and fro, getting up to date with Danish football, scouting and watching the other SAS Premier League teams in action, to be ready for the 1’st of June when he officially begins at his new job as manager for Randers FC – thanks to Stine (and Colin’s friendliness) I succeeded.

Randers FC

But what is the former Middlesboro, Bolton and Derby manager doing in Denmark and what are his ambitions in his new job as manager of Randers FC, a quite small club in Jutland with a quite limited budget and not the best of surroundings?
“Danish football is very similar to English football, so there isn’t much difference there. My hopes and ambitions with Randers FC are to maintain the club’s status in the SAS Premier League, and, ultimately, to qualify for Europe,” Colin says and seems pleased to be back in the game, having been out of work since February where he got sacked in Bradford.
Randers actually qualified for Europe this season as a result of winning the Danish Cup 2006 – besides gaining promotion for the SAS Premier League. This year the club has spent on getting used to playing in the SAS Premier League, facing big clubs like FC Copenhagen and Brøndby, and getting the organisation “Randers FC” geared for a higher level.
The signing of Colin Todd seems to be a step in this direction. And the Randers footballers can look forward to playing for a manager whose biggest inspiration is – well, no surprise really…
“The manager who has inspired me the most is Brian Clough,” Colin briefly says, “he was a fantastic coach, the very best at motivating his players."

Derby moments

Colin Todd peaked as a professional footballer in the 1970’s when playing for the Rams with a total of 371 appeareances and 10 goals (1970-78). Devastatingly fast, visionary and firm in the tackle, hardly any opponents got past him. But of course, there were both ups and downs in his Rams career.
“I became an English international when playing for Derby and it made me feel privileged and honoured to play for my country,” Colin says about his total of 27 international appearances at A-level. “It gave me a great feeling and made me proud.”
And other things made him proud in those days. Colin Todd was not only a very gifted and clever footballer but also a very fortunate one.
“Besides winning the title twice, in ’72 and ’75, the very best moment for me as a Derby player was in October 1975 when we sensationally beat Real Madrid at the Baseball Ground. We won 4-1,” Colin says.
Funnily, the worst Derby moment according to Colin Todd isn’t the match a fortnight later, when Real thrashed the Rams and won 5-1 at Bernabeu, after a marathon-like encounter where Derby was only 300 seconds away from winning, before a late Real goal equalized the score and put the game into extra time where Real scored their devastating 5’th goal.
“My worst moment as a Derby player is certainly when we lost to Manchester United in the FA Cup semi-final in 1976. We lost 2-0 at Hillsborough,” Colin tells, wrapping up a Rams-season, 1975-76, that started with a great display – winning the Charity Shield 2-0 at Wembley against West Ham – and could have ended as the biggest year ever in the Derby County history with both the Championship and the FA Cup within reach until the final weeks of the season.
Much has been said about and much is to be blamed upon Charlie George’s dislocated shoulder…
“In those days Kevin Hector was the best player in the Derby squad;” Colin says modestly, “these days it is Giles Barnes.”

Mr. Todd in private

When Colin isn’t occupied with football he spends time with his wife or his two sons, Stephen and Andy (a hard-hitting defender at Blackburn Rovers) and their families. Colin likes reading and his preferred author is the American writer John Grisham whose books and film manuscripts are world-wide known. Colin’s favourite actor is the classy Morgan Freeman and if he is to point out a favourite musical artist Colin is into the beautiful works of Michael Bublé, a modern day mixture of Barry Manilow and Frank Sinatra.
But there won’t be much time for family life or leisure activities in the coming months. The town of Randers, which is the size of Colin’s native town Chester-le-Street, and the local football club have high hopes and great dreams of matching the big clubs in Danish football – which isn’t going to be easily done. But they believe in it. And I do as well. What else can one do when a former Derby player suddenly gets involved in Danish football?