4–0 win against Wimbledon. At the end of the season, the loan move was made permanent. The transfer fee of £3 million set a club record that stood until 2007. Kinkladze missed the start of the 2000–01 season due to a hernia operation, to the disappointment of Smith, who expected him to become a leading figure at the club. He returned to the side as a substitute against Middlesbrough on 6 September 2000. With Derby 3–0 down, Kinkladze and Malcolm Christie were introduced in a double substitution. The pair then proved influential as Derby came back to draw the match 3–3. During the next four months, Kinkladze was sometimes a starter and sometimes a substitute, rotating with Stefano Eranio, until a groin injury sustained in the return match with Middlesbrough kept Kinkladze out for two months. Over the season, Kinkladze "showed little of the brilliance he was bought in to deliver" and was named Derby's biggest disappointment of the season by The Guardian. The match against Leeds United on 23 September 2000 was a rare success for him. He came on as a substitute with 17 minutes remaining and levelled the game 1–1 with a solo goal two minutes later, jinking between two defenders before curling a left-foot shot beyond the goalkeeper. Derby struggled for most of the season, but avoided relegation. Kinkladze stayed at the club, since his injuries and inability to prove himself led to a lack of serious offers. Around this time, he married Louise Tai, a Mancunian. Louise then became a member of the Orthodox Church and was christened in Tbilisi, receiving a new name – Mariam. Their first child, Saba, was born in October 2001. For Kinkladze, the start of the 2001–02 season followed a similar pattern to the previous season, comprising a mixture of starts and substitute appearances. Jim Smith resigned from his managerial position at Derby on 7 October 2001, leaving Kinkladze, a Smith favourite, bitterly disappointed. The appointment of new manager Colin Todd signalled a change in the club's playing style. Todd did not favour flair players, and Kinkladze made only a single substitute appearance in Todd's first two months in charge. Frustrated by a lack of opportunities, Kinkladze took the unusual step of using his lawyer to arrange a meeting with Todd to discuss his exclusion from the first team. Todd reacted by telling Kinkladze he could leave the club if