Despite the loss of key players like Mark Wright and Dean Saunders, Derby County emerged as genuine contenders for an automatic return to English football's top flight (which would be renamed the FA Premier League from the start of the next season) after the takeover by Lionel Pickering made Derby one of the richest clubs in the Second Division.
In October 2003, Derby County's parent company, Derby County Limited, briefly went into liquidation and Pickering, the majority shareholder, gave way to a new board of John Sleightholme, Jeremy Keith and Steve Harding, who bought the club for £3.
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Joining him in that season were Paul Kitson, Tommy Johnson & Paul Simpson, followed by Steve Sutton, Mark Pembridge, Darren Wassall, Craig Short & Martin Kuhl a year later.
Lionel Richie | Lionel Barrymore | Lionel Hampton | Lionel Messi | Lionel Trilling | Lionel Monckton | Pickering | Lionel Johnson | Lionel Conacher | Pickering, North Yorkshire | Lionel Tollemache, 8th Earl of Dysart | Lionel Gossman | Vale of Pickering | Pickering, Ontario | Lionel Tertis International Viola Competition | Lionel Shriver | Lionel Nathan de Rothschild | Lionel Lewis | Lionel Corporation | Lionel | Lionel Tennyson, 3rd Baron Tennyson | Lionel Loueke | Lionel Jospin | Lionel Jeffries | Lionel Bart | Lionel Atwill | Charles Pickering | Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr | William A. Pickering | Thomas R. Pickering |