Football finance expert Kieran Maguire has given his thoughts on the recent ongoings at Derby County and their takeover situation.
It has certainly been a rather eventful week at Derby, to say the least. The club’s administrators released a statement (via Derbyshire Live) in which they outlined the latest that was going on as the Rams fight to survive, claiming that while there was interest from buyers in the stricken club, ‘uncertainty’ over potential legal action from EFL rivals and further possible penalties from the authorities had been outlined as ‘key issues’.
That was followed by investment firm Carlisle Capital throwing their name into the discussion to buy the club, with their bid reportedly set at £28m.
Speaking on the latest edition of The Price Of Football podcast about the developments at Pride Park, Maguire discussed the timing of the bid and claimed that this news should be viewed with optimism amongst the Derby fans.
He said: “It does seem slightly weird that 24 hours after the administrators said ‘nobody’s prepared to bid for the club because of the outstanding claims from Wycombe and Middlesbrough’, Carlisle Capital have said, ‘well, we’re bidding £28m and we will just see how things develop in terms of those claims’. There is always a negotiated settlement with regards to things like this, so that is promising.
“There are two other parties interested – one of which is local, one of which is Mike Ashley. They’re both, of course, keeping cards close to their chests, but I think Derby County fans have been through a very torrid seven days and this is a positive step. So we are hoping things will develop from here.
“This could be an absolute masterstroke by the administrators. Seven days ago, they put out a fairly incendiary message on the club website; that provoked a reaction from lots of other parties.”
TIF Thoughts on Kieran Maguire’s comments about Derby County and their takeover…
Will Derby avoid the drop?
Yes
No
The more people that are interested in buying the club, the better you have to feel.
That’s because this gives the administrators more options to choose from for the new owners, and from that group, there might be someone that can run them a lot better than Mel Morris did during his time there and get them out of the mess they find themselves in.
It certainly is a worrying time for Derby, with prominent pundits like Gary Neville making their feelings known about the matter, which might help rally fans – including neutrals – to fight their cause.
But with the club having until next Tuesday to keep the EFL happy by providing details about how they intend to fund the club, this is all going down to the wire, and you hope that it all comes out well for them on the other side.
In other news: ‘Really hope this isn’t true’, ‘No, no, no, no’ – Many Derby fans blast latest development