From John Percy in the Telegraph...
Special report: Inside Derby County's desperate battle for survival
The clock is ticking on Derby's future and Wayne Rooney is the public face of a club desperately trying to keep itself together
It was approaching the end of a Zoom call from Derby’s administrators last week when Wayne Rooney took control to deliver his own personal message to staff and players.
“Stick together and we will come out of this” was the instruction from Derby’s defiant manager, who is leading from the front as the stricken Championship club face a race against time to avoid liquidation.
The clock is ticking on Derby’s future and Rooney is the public face of a club desperately trying to keep itself together during a crisis, after slipping into administration last month.
Around 15 staff members have been made redundant, the collateral damage of Derby’s situation, and there could be further trouble ahead if a buyer is not found.
Yet Quantuma, the administrators, are adopting an equally resilient tone to Rooney and remain confident that Derby, one of the founder members of the Football League, will be sold before Christmas.
It is a painful situation, complicated further by so many complex strands to any sale, but this is a proud, historic club that needs saving and should never be in this position.
“Derby is a Premier League club in all but status, with a terrific infrastructure, and I think that will be very attractive,” said Carl Jackson, one of Quantuma's lead administrators.
“I have no doubt that we will attract a number of interested parties who have the financial wherewithal and the credentials to fulfil the Football League rules.
“We are currently talking to seven or eight, who have demonstrated to us that they have the funding and the ability to acquire a club of this size.”
Derby remain bottom of the Championship, after being docked 12 points last month, but Rooney is squeezing everything out of his tiny squad: they have been beaten only three times this season, and only once in their last five games.
Championship 2021/22 latest standings (bottom six)
English Football League - Championship
Team P W D L GD Pts
19 Swansea City 11 2 5 4 -5 11
20 Cardiff City 11 3 2 6 -7 11
21 Hull City 11 2 3 6 -7 9
22 Barnsley 11 1 5 5 -7 8
23 Peterborough United 11 2 2 7 -11 8
24 Derby County 11 3 5 3 -1 2
Quantuma are determined to ensure Rooney’s preparations remain unaffected, so cost-cutting on the football side of the business has been kept to a minimum: this week, for example, Derby have provided funds for an overnight stay before Saturday’s game at Preston.
There has been further good news over the past week, with Arsenal agreeing to defer a payment of £1.4 million owed for midfielder Krystian Bielik. Club sponsors 32Red have also accelerated a £300,000 quarterly payment to assist cash-flow.
Despite the departures of respected and popular employees including Shane Nicholson, the first-team fitness coach, operations manager John Barton and head of technical scouting Harry Croft, the general feeling was one of relief and surprise that cuts were not so drastic.
However, the financial situation does remain bleak: they owe £26m to HM Revenue and Customs, which mostly consists of PAYE and National Insurance for players and staff.
American investment group MSD are owed over £15m for a loan, while there is over £10m in transfer instalments due for Bielik and Kamil Jozwiak.
Time is running out before various nightmare scenarios come into play - including player sales in January, pay deferrals and more redundancies.
Jackson said: “The liabilities to the club are significant. The reality is that those debts won’t get paid off in full.
"We need to come up with a proposal which meets the EFL rules in terms of football creditors, and payments to unsecured creditors, which is 25p in a pound, and complies to HMRC who have now got preferential status.
“We must also ensure the MSD secured debt is paid off. We have discussed these numbers with the [interested] parties and it hasn’t frightened them off.
“It’s not easy but with the various sources of revenues coming through we feel we can trade through until Christmas. We hope to be in and out of it by then.”
Quantuma are effectively “vetting” the potential new owners for the Football League, insisting on proof of £5m in order for parties to gain access to Derby’s finances and the data room.
Seven separate groups have signed non-disclosure agreements and one of the most recent to enter serious talks was a consortium led by former Wolves chief executive Jez Moxey, working on behalf of General Sports Worldwide, which includes former Derby chairman Andrew Appleby and former CEO Sam Rush.
American investment firm Carlisle Capital is another interested party and Garry Cook, the former Manchester City CEO, has been in talks with Derby for nearly a year.
Telegraph Sport is also aware of two other parties who have signed NDAs, but will not be naming them at this stage due to confidentiality. Links to former Newcastle owner Mike Ashley have been dismissed.
Derby’s long-running row with the EFL could be pivotal to a sale. The feud was reignited earlier this week after Quantuma lodged an appeal against the club’s 12-point deduction for going into administration.
After receiving legal advice from sports lawyer Nick De Marco, Quantuma are arguing that the punishment is unreasonable due to the impact of Covid-19 on finances.
However, the EFL is said to be shocked at Derby’s appeal as it believes the club’s financial problems clearly pre-date Covid.
There are also suspicions from rival clubs that it is an attempt to reduce the nine-point deduction for historical financial breaches which is also hanging over the club.
Wigan’s own appeal over the punishment for administration was rejected last August, and Derby’s case will be heard by a disciplinary commission within a month.
Against this chaotic backdrop, Rooney is enhancing his reputation as a manager in his first job since retirement.
He has already guided Derby to positive numbers in the table and is revelling in his role as a leader, on and off the field.
If he can somehow navigate a route to safety it will be an outstanding achievement. But for now, Derby are just hoping there is still a club to save.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/footbal...side-derby-countys-desperate-battle-survival/
