Before moving to the Pride Park Stadium , Derby County had played at the Baseball Ground since 1895 . Although at its peak the ground had held over 40,000 ( the record attendance being 41,826 for a match against Tottenham Hotspur in 1969 ) the Taylor Report , actioned after the 1989 Hillsborough Disaster had seen the legal requirement for English football stadia to become all-seater by 1994 – 95 season resulting in its capacity dwindling to just 17,500 by the mid-1990s , not enough for the then-ambitious second tier club . An additional problem came with the ground 's wooden components ( considered unacceptable in the wake of the Bradford City stadium fire in 1985 ) and , in February 1996 , chairman Lionel Pickering made the decision to move the club to a new stadium , having originally planned to rebuild the Baseball Ground as a 26,000-seat stadium
Bradford City stadium fire
Bradford City stadium fire
Pride Park Stadium