Craig Bryson.

This won't be an easy one for me to write, as he has been such a significant figure in my life. I have gone through a lot of things personally; self harm, a lot of insecurity, police keeping my house on lock down for months, my father going to prison, a couple of cancer scares, and some losses of family members - and he has helped me through it all - just the excitement of knowing I'll see him every Saturday and the occasion midweek game kept me going through difficult periods, and the little simple things he said, such as 'alright Ellie?' when I saw him after games, made such an impact on me; he's an idol of mine, and the fact that he acknowledged me helped me so much. He also showed that not every man is horrible, after what my own father and a couple of other male figures in my life did to me and my family; just what Craig Bryson did as a person, the things he did for other people, both fans and non-fans, and the little stories I hear from other fans about Bryson has always warmed my heart. Even as a football player, I learnt a lot from just watching him, and it has allowed me to progress to be at a level where I got to experience playing in the Deaf Champions League and travelling Europe; I've been all over England and Scotland and went to Germany for the DCL and most recently, I was in Crete with the England squad for the Deaf Euros.

One of the biggest things I learnt from him is that to always, always, put your all into everything you love. No matter how difficult it is to show passion, you are here to do a certain job or responsibility, you set yourself this task, there is no excuse to give up. The passion, the ambition, the desire he had for this club is nothing short of admirable, and the love he has got for the game is beautiful to watch, it's so rare to find a player like him in the modern game, somebody who truly loves football itself; he gives his all every single game, and that is something we all could take a lesson from - always give your all.

The home game against QPR on the 22nd of April, 2019, might have been his last game for Derby as he was substituted off injured and manager Lampard has confirmed that he will not be available for the last league fixture against West Brom. Unfortunately, as it turns out, this is the case, then he has played 278 games for us, and scored 42 times in the (soon to be) eight years he has remained at the club.

He signed on the dotted line for us on 4th June, 2011, and Derby paid only £350,000 for him (£450,000 if including add ons) - Brighton, Hull and Leicester were interested too but Bryson was only interested in one destination; Pride Park.

In his first season, he scored six goals in 46 games and picked up the Player of the Season award. That season, Derby finished 12th in the league with 64 points. In his second season, he found the back of the net 5 times albeit picking up multiple recurrences of an injury and played 39 games, and Derby finished 10th, two places higher, with 61 points. In his third season, he netted 16 goals in 49 games, his best season of his entire career in terms of goals as well as the season that he played the most fixtures in. Derby finished 3rd this season, with 85 points, and reached the play off final - we all know how that ended. His fourth season at Derby for Craig Bryson saw him score 5 times in 44 appearances, his red hot form from the previous season faltering, and Derby finished 8th with 77 points. Fifth season ended with Derby in 5th place with 78 points, and Bryson netted 3 times in 26 appearances, and the sixth season he was with us, he made 37 appearances and scored 3 times again, as Derby finished 9th after a turbulent season under four different managers. In his seventh season, he played 5 brief games for us, scoring once, before he was loaned out to Cardiff City - a decision I still strongly disagree with (Derby finished 6th this season) and in his final season with us, he played 32 games, and yet again, scored three crucial goals as we finished 6th and made the final of the Play-Offs.

I personally believe that he has made a lot of sacrifices to remain at Derby County, just out of loyalty to us and passion for our ambition - one of those sacrifices would be giving up more opportunities to pick up further caps, having only picked up 3 caps and possibly overlooked because he did not play at a higher level. He had chances to clinch a transfer to a Premier League club, but regularly turned these moves down to stay with the Rams. The loyalty, the desire and the passion he showed throughout his career for us is indescribable, and invaluable - we will truly miss him.

A player who always put his all for us, and might be one of the best definitions of 'play for the badge on the front of the shirt and they'll remember the name on the back of the shirt' - Craig Bryson is a modern legend for us, and there will always be memories we treasure forevermore such as the hat trick against Nottingham Forest, the away goal at Nottingham Forest too, as well as goals against Leicester, Chelsea, Watford and so much more. All those Jagerbombs necked too will forever be a precious memory... I think!

"One of the best days of my life. It was one of those that you dream of." - Bryson on his hattrick vs Nottingham Forest.

"I will always be a Derby fan until the day I die now and if I’m lucky enough to have kids then they will be Derby fans." - Bryson on what Derby means to him.

“It made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up and it’s a moment that I don’t think I will ever forget.” - Bryson on coming back to watch the Derby vs Forest match when his face was shown on the big screen and Derby fans chanted his name.