Derby County supporters have been put through a rollercoaster of emotions during the last few years, with the Rams coming close on a number of occasions to securing promotion back to the Premier League, only to be disappointed with how the final stages of the season have played out.

Considering their recent history of promotion challenges, Derby's current position of 13th in the Championship table might represent a rather dull start to the campaign, but under Phillip Cocu the Rams are building again and beginning to show signs that they could push on again this term, having won two of their last three games.

However, at Derby there is seemingly never a truly dull period, and this season there has been plenty of controversy so far, with club captain Richard Keogh picking up a season ending injury following a controversial incident - and the club have also announced that England's record goal scorer Wayne Rooney will be joining the Rams in January.

That is how life is if you are a Derby supporter, full of hope, excitement, heartbreak and the occasional moments of controversy - and the club's supporters will be hoping that this season can be a memorable one for the right reasons.

Here, we take a look at four things that only Derby supporters will understand...

The constant frustration of falling just short

Whilst there are many clubs who have suffered the heartache of missing out on promotion, having spent most of the season looking like being real contenders to go up, no club has suffered that promotion heartache as much in recent times as Derby supporters.

Last season under Frank Lampard, the Rams came within ninety minutes of a return to the Premier League, having produced an historic play-off final second leg comeback against Leeds United to reach the final at Wembley, but ultimately Derby fell short being beaten 2-1 by Aston Villa.

The feeling of frustration felt by Derby fans following that near miss was no unfamiliar one, with the Rams losing in the play-offs in four of the last six Championship seasons, whilst also missing out on the play-offs on the final day despite spending most of the season in the top six in the 2014/15 campaign.

The importance of the Brian Clough trophy

This is one that only both Derby and their bitter rivals Nottingham Forest will understand the importance of, with the Rams biggest game of the season, apart from maybe play-off matches, always coming against Forest in the match that decides who will take home the Brian Clough trophy.

Derby had gone on an impressive run of winning three out of four games against Nottingham Forest between March 2016 and October 2017, but they have since failed to win any of the last four meetings, including losing the last league meeting at the City Ground in February and the Carabao Cup meeting between the sides this season.

That season

One thing that all Derby supporters understand is how to cope with disappointment, and never was that trait needed more than during the Rams disastrous 2007/08 Premier League season, which saw the club relegated straight back to the Championship by March and only picking up a record low 11 points.

Derby had earned promotion to the top flight somewhat against the odds the season before under Billy Davies, but still nothing could have prepared the Rams' supporters for what they would witness during that season - and the club are still waiting to get back to the Premier League to finally show that they can perform at that level.

The Bounce

One of the most enjoyable aspects of Derby's season under Lampard last term, was the sight of the former Chelsea midfielder celebrating a hard earned victory in front of the supporters by doing what 'the bounce' - and there were many memorable occasions where that was seen following big wins, with the ones at Old Trafford in the Carabao Cup and at Elland Road following the win against Leeds in the play-offs the standouts.

Derby supporters will have been somewhat disappointed to realise that Cocu is not the type of manager who will engage in that type of scenes with the supporters following wins, but if the Dutchman can guide the Rams to a successful season he will be forgiven.