Derby county 1972 shirt the 1971 72 football league title race went right to the wire and on 1 may 1972 when derby beat liverpool 1 0 with a john mcgovern goal in front of a crowd 39 159 at the baseball ground in their final game of the season they were in pole position and stayed there to become football league champions for the first time record signing defender colin todd claimed the clubaposs player of the year award while alan hinton finished the season as top scorer with 15 league