Football finance expert Kieran Maguire has been sharing his thoughts on Derby County owner Mel Morris, with the Midlands club looking set to go into administration.
This comes after Maguire co-hosted a recent episode of The Price of Football Podcast, where he spoke about the current financial issues at Derby.
After a statement was released saying that “the club, the ultimate holding company of the group, and all of the subsidiary companies have filed notices of intention to appoint administrators”, Maguire had this to say about Morris’ role in Derby’s predicament.
He said: “The reason why there is £26m owing to HMRC is that it was Mel Morris who set the wage budget.
“So he was the person that said, ‘I want to sign these players, we’re going to go from a club which spends around about 80% of our revenue on wages, to a club which spends 150%.
“Now, he says, ‘it’s because I wanted to get the club promoted’ – that’s great, that’s fantastic. I don’t actually have an issue with that.
“What I do have an issue with is, well, when his gamble – and this is what it was – when his gamble of spending money didn’t work, he’s now said, ‘oh well, sod that, I’m off’. And to me, I think that’s the lowest of the low.
“We believe that his own businesses have been successful.
“I’ve been in contact with people in the last 48 hours who are in the process of selling businesses to him, so he’s not a fool, he’s a very capable businessman.
“But with regards to Derby County, he’s doing what’s best for him. He is not acting in the best long-term interests of the club, in my opinion.”
TIF Thoughts on Kieran Maguire’s comments on Morris…
The statement from the club said that the owner, as well as other members of staff and the board “will continue our work under the stewardship of the Administrators to help facilitate their process and their effort to find a purchaser”.
Given how Morris recently admitted that it was his “fatal mistake” of publicly announcing he was willing “to effectively let the club go for no return” that contributed to their impending administration, at least he recognises his accountability in regards to the situation the club currently find themselves in, despite Maguire’s opinion that Morris was thinking about himself over the club.
Moving forward, with Derby set to be given a 12-point deduction once they go into administration, this will give manager Wayne Rooney, his coaching staff and the players, who have managed to take 10 points from their opening eight league games of the season, a massive job on their hands to keep the club out of the relegation zone by the time the end of the campaign comes around.
However, it may appear that Morris will have few fans on his side whatever the future holds for Derby.
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