Conor Hourihane on his arrival at Derby County, rows with Rams fans and achieving promotion

When Conor Hourihane signed for Derby, many were suprised that a player with such big name value and talent would drop down to League One.

He joined after leaving Premier League Aston Villa and came with one goal which was to get Derby promoted to the Championship.

Two seasons later, the Rams captain was lifting a trophy at Pride Park with Derby back in the Championship.

Speaking on BBC Radio Derby yesterday, Hourihane said: “I had a couple of Championship clubs after me, but the project and idea that got put before me by Derby was really exciting, like a rebuild and starting from scratch again.

“The ultimate aim was to get promoted during my time at the club.”

In his first season, Hourihane’s Derby missed out on the playoffs and finished seventh in League One which he says was a big disappointment.

He added: “It probably didn’t strike me how much of a failure that season was until we got promoted.

“Paul knew how he wanted his team to look, he said that there needed to be changes, it was a case of disappointment, but let’s rally together, change things and get promoted next summer. It wasn’t an easy turnaround, but full credit to him, he got the goal that we all wanted to achieve.”

Hourihane’s lowest point at Derby came this season when he had a post-match argument with the Derby fans away from home against Stevenage after they lost 3-1.

He went over to the away end and began rowing with the fans who were booing and criticising the team heavily.

“It was because I care so much,” he said, “there was stuff said about the manager on the day that didn’t sit right with me, we just got off to a poor start to the season.

“The results weren’t good enough, but it was a spur of the moment reaction - we all know you need to have the fans on side, it was me trying to quick fix it, that was just my reaction at the time.”

The Irishman is now ready to take the next step in his career as he has yet to sign somewhere new, but has been heavily linked with his former side in Barnsley.

Hourihane is working towards becoming a manager in the future, but said that he will never forget his two seasons at Pride Park.

The 33 year-old added: “We managed to achieve my goal, I didn’t want to leave the club in League One. We all leave extremely happy and we move on, I’m delighted to be leaving the club in a place where it is better than when I arrived.

“I’ll have huge fond memories, everyone at Derby I got on with so well, we had some amazing moments and some tough days.

“Thanks to all the fans, I’ve really enjoyed it and I wish the club all the best moving forward.”