Derby fell to the bottom of the Championship, on minus points, as a result of the automatic 12-point deduction for entering administration.
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Derby manager Wayne Rooney has revealed that he has not spoken with Derby County owner Mel Morris in more than seven weeks and that the owner’s address following the club’s administration was insincere. Morris met with the playing and coaching staff on Tuesday, just 24 hours before the Championship club was taken over by insolvency specialists Quantuma. The administrators have admitted that there will be several layoffs, but they are confident that Derby will not be liquidated and that a buyer will be found, with six parties expressing interest. Derby dropped to last place after receiving a 12-point deduction for entering administration.
“I actually phoned him once off the [club] doctors’ phone,” Rooney said. “He [Morris] answered the phone, so obviously he could answer calls from the club doctor but not the manager. It was not ideal,” he added.Â
Derby’s debt is “in the tens of millions,” according to the administrators. It is estimated that they owe HM Revenue and Customs around 26 million euros, as well as several football creditors, but Quantuma is confident that they will meet their payroll of around 1.2 million euros next week. Rooney, who attended the administrators’ meeting with the Derby County supporters’ trust on Thursday, has put his hand in his pocket to pay for items such as training session filming equipment. “I take this job very seriously, and I want to get the best preparation I can,” Rooney explained.
Morris’ lack of communication, according to Rooney, was “disrespectful” and left him “hurt.” “I haven’t spoken to Mel since August 9th,” he admitted. “Mel addressed the players and staff as a group on Tuesday, and obviously I was present at that meeting, but in a one-on-one conversation, I have yet to receive anything – no phone call, no message.” Rooney said of the meeting, “In my opinion, it wasn’t sincere, it wasn’t heartfelt enough, and it wasn’t done with enough honesty. He has clearly moved on, and we must move on as well, putting Mel Morris in the back of our minds and looking forward,” he added.
Derby fell to the bottom of the Championship, on minus points, as a result of the automatic 12-point deduction for entering administration, and the club is set for a further nine-point deduction for a breach of the English Football League’s profit and sustainability rules. The administrators stated that they have initiated “very positive dialogue with the EFL” and hope to resolve the issue prior to any potential takeover. “The pain has to be dealt with, and dealt with quickly,” Hosking said. “That’s where the EFL is right now.”
Trevor Birch, the EFL’s chief executive, stated that more clubs would go into administration like Derby unless structural changes were made to English football’s financial model. While Birch stated that only a “handful” of clubs are currently under EFL scrutiny, he insisted that a benefactor-funded model of ownership, such as Morris’, will eventually turn sour.
“The benefactor-funded model always works until it doesn’t,” Birch said. “There is an inevitability that once the benefactor turns off that tap [insolvency] is what happens. They have created an unsustainable trading model which, once that funding is stopped, the club can’t sustain. Inevitably there will be another club along the line – how many and when you can never tell,” he added.
