FLP FOCUS ON DERBY COUNTY'S SURVIVAL FIGHT
OUT of all the presents he got from Coleen and the kids, you can bet that Wayne Rooney's thank you list will include six points over Christmas.
Big wins over West Brom and Stoke leave Derby with a huge game at fourth-bottom Reading tomorrow. Win that and Rooney is eight points away from getting out of the Championship's bottom three with 21 games left.
That would be staggering given the mess Derby County are in.
Rooney's one-year anniversary as sole Rams manager comes up a week on Saturday and he's had more disasters to deal with than an England batsman.
On Friday, less than 24 hours after winning at Stoke, Rooney was talking to the administrators, asking when his stony broke club would get new owners.
THE DERBY 18…
Out of contract on January 17
Phil Jagielka, right Sam Baldock
Out of contract at end of June
Tom Lawrence Lee Buchanan Graeme Shinnie Nathan Byrne Kelle Roos Ravel Morrison Ryan Allsopp Richard Stearman Colin Kazim-Richards Craig Forsyth David Marshall Curtis Davies Louie Watson Dylan Williams Isaac Hutchinson Eiran Cashin
The only one to have put hard cash on the table, American Chris Kirchner, had been talking to the administrators since early December but pulled out just before Christmas.
It leaves Andy Appleby and Peter Gadsby as the two main contenders. Both have run Derby before and both are going to have to recruit considerable financial help to cover debts estimated between £60m-£80m.
The club has been in administration for over three months. Two other takeover deals brokered by owner Mel Morris collapsed before that.
It's not hard to see why with the taxman owed £29m alone. Administrators Quantuma have been trying to strike a deal with HMRC – the rest of English football is watching and won-dering if Derby can get away with not paying the full whack, so that maybe they can as well.
There's another £20m in loans against the training ground that have kept Derby afloat to be sorted plus £15m at least owing to other creditors.
Appleby, owner of General Sports Worldwide, had massive American dollar backing when he rescued Derby in 2008, appointing Nigel Clough manager, slashing costs and keeping the club in the Championship. So he's been here before.
Gamble
He sold on to Morris in 2015 and so began the Morris ego-led gamble on getting into the Premier League that has broken the club.
Appleby would have with him again former Derby chief exec Sam Rush and Jez Moxey, who has run Stoke, Wolves and Norwich , and possibly ex- Wolves owner Steve Morgan.
Gadsby also ran Derby for an American consortium from 2006 and into 2007, cutting debts of £52m and putting Pride Park back in the club's ownership.
Under the brimstone management of Billy Davies, they also got into the Premier League and Gadsby tried and failed to buy the club off the Americans for £37m.
But the reality now is that Rooney, having written the first few chapters of his miracle, is in danger of having his legs cut from beneath him.
If Quantuma cannot at least announce a preferred bidder, which they said a week ago was ‘imminent', then Rooney could lose loads of experienced players.
There are 18 out of contract either this month or in June (see table left/right), all of whom will be concerned and potentially looking at moving in this transfer window if he is not able to extend their deals.
Rooney needs to get stuck into that lot right now and, as he understands it, if the administrators announce a preferred bidder quickly, he will be able to.
“As far as I understand, if you come in as the preferred bidder, you can take control of the squad, while everything else is getting dealt with,” says Rooney who in a normal season, without being docked a massive 21 points, would be 13th in the Championship.
“So having a preferred would allow me to actually sign players and give players re-new contracts. Phil Jagielka, for example, is out of contract on January 17, so it would low me to do that. I'm not al- saying I want £30m or £40m in January, it will just allow me to tie some players down.
“There are loan players out there and if there are free agents, there is some business we could do for the short term.”
The dictionary's explanation of ‘imminently' is ‘very soon'. Rooney needs it quicker than that.
Reasons
“Chris Kirchner has got his own reasons for why he has done what he's done.
The administrators have confirmed they have had bids from others and from my point of view, it needs to be done before January,” is what Rooney said on Monday.
It hasn't been done and Rooney, who has been remarkably patient as Derby County's world has continued to collapse around him, says what happens now is essential to what he can achieve.
“I'm trying to plan for the future of this club and if it keeps dragging on, it's not helpful to anyone,” he stressed. “So really this next week is pivotal for this football club.
“We keep hearing – myself included – that a preferred bidder will be put in place. This club needs an owner and I need someone to report back to and plan with.
“Until that happens, it certainly makes my job a lot harder. For the fans, I understand them getting frustrated with the situation, because I certainly am. We just hope things can move forward in this next week.”
Rooney had meetings with Kirchner and the two got on. Kirchner is believed to have offered £35m with firm plans of how the debts would be paid off.
But it wasn't the biggest offer and the administrators delayed – and Kirchner lost patience.
“After Chris pulled out, the next morning I had players coming up to me asking me questions,” revealed Rooney.
“There are players out of contract in mid-January, there are players who can pre-sign for other clubs in January – players who I want here at this club.
“But until I can start doing things, it's out of my control and I can't really have an impact on what that situation is.
“I don't know who the preferred bidder is and I don't know if it's one, two or three different groups –I don't know.
“The administrators are working hard to get it done. But we need someone in.
“I'm doing everything I can, and the players are giving everything they have got to try to give ourselves a chance of staying in this division.
“But now we need help, at least having a preferred bidder and being able to plan.
“It's very complicated. There were a lot of issues which were left and which needed sorting out so it's not as easy as putting a lump sum of money in and there you go. I know the administrators and the new owners – whoever they are – will be trying to get that sorted.”
Ahead of Friday's meeting, Rooney added: “From what I hear from the administrator, it's really positive.
“Whoever the new group is, they have bid more (than Kirchner), but how much I don't know, or who they are.
“Chris came to a few of the games and I knew what his plan was, but what I don't know from the preferred bidder is what his plan is.
“That's something that I will have to sit down with them and see what I can and can't do, at least have an idea of where we go for the future.”
For the moment the future is tomorrow and the next stage of Project Miracle.
