Wayne Rooney opens up and talks on the crisis at Derby County as EFL chairman Rick Parry explains the current situation to talkSPORT.
The Rams, who are already in administration with debts of around £60million, face imminent liquidation if a buyer can’t be found soon.
They are forecast to run out of money by the end of the month, with fans hoping for a takeover, but potential bidders are put of due to Middlesbrough and Wycombe’s compensation claims.
Whilst this is happening, Derby are putting in the performances on the pitch, moving off the bottom last week and now have 14 points despite being hit with a 21-point deduction. Could they pull of the biggest miracle English football has ever seen?
In the middle of the drama is 36 year old Wayne Rooney who this week spoke on a 35-minute Zoom call from Derby’s training ground at which he has been known to sleep at night.
‘Derby is more than a football club,’ Rooney said.
‘It gives everybody in this city hope. It gives kids the right to dream. It gives young players opportunities. It’s incredible that it’s been left in this situation.
‘It needs to remain in the football pyramid. If not there will be a lot of hearts broken.’
Not only has he spoken to parents of his players about their mental health, asking them to look out for red flags, but also told media that local supporter groups have his phone number.
Rooney has also paid for vital training ground equipment out of his own pocket and has promised football staff made redundant over the last 12 months that, if brighter days do return, they will be the first ones back through the door.
His side have picked up four wins from the last five league games, lifting them to 23rd for the first time this season. On the wall in the home dressing room at Pride Park are said to be two league tables. The real one but also one showing how the Championship would look if Derby could have those 21 points back.
So, even though the club are nearing the deadline and facing the greatest challenge of their history, there remains some positivity and hope.
‘Yeh, I think it is,’ he said. ‘It’s been incredibly tough at times. It’s been emotional. I have seen staff lose jobs. I felt the right way to go about this was to try and burden myself and take pressure off staff and players.
‘I know they look to me for guidance and I try. The results and the efforts of the players and staff have been incredible. The players believe in me and I am more than capable of dealing with the stuff off the pitch. I am really good at switching off.
‘I have four children which helps. When we have a day off I go walking with my wife and enjoy time with the family.
‘For my own sanity, I need to allow myself that time.’
Asked on Friday if there was any chance of signings in this transfer window, Rooney laughed. ‘It would be nice to actually execute some of my plans,’ he said.
Also facing Rooney is his the manager vacancy at boyhood club Everton, themselves without a manager after the sacking of Rafael Benitez.
Rooney is on the list of preferred interviewees at Goodison Park and however it would seem that no contact has been made of yet.
‘I am flattered but for them to have a conversation with me they will have to go through the administrators,’ said Rooney.
‘There has been no approach and I am focused on Derby.
‘I have spoken to the administrators. They seem to be confident they will get something done. Next week hopefully. But things need to happen quickly to make sure this club can carry on.’
He still holds anger for the club’s former owner Mel Morris, the man who gambled everything on reaching the Premier League and lost.
‘He is why we are in this situation,’ said Rooney. ‘I am sure the fans would agree. He did not speak to me when he was at the club.
‘I don’t like to waste my breath on that anyway. He has moved on and left us in a very difficult situation. I am sure he is enjoying his life at home.
‘Other people are now trying to fix this and I am just trying to fix it from a football point of view.
‘If we can get the right people in then this club can be great again. But right now survival is the most important thing.’
Meanwhile, on Friday (22 January), it was announced that Derby County have been issued a lifeline as The Binnies, founders of private investment firm Carlisle Capital, submit an offer to buy the club, according to reports.
Sources close to the firm say it has made a full asking price offer in the region of £28million.
Vice-president Adam Binnie is making the bid, and crucially is fully aware that the club could face additional liabilities, if either one of the claims are successful.
It is understood the offer doesn’t include the club’s stadium which is owned by former Rams chairman Mel Morris.
The organisation backed off initially after showing interest last year, however have comeback after hearing the threat of liquidation became real, having entered administration in September 2021.
The English Football League has asked Derby’s administrators, Quantuma, to produce a funding plan by the 1st of February 2022, saying in a statement on Thursday that by the administrators’ own admission, they would run out of cash by the end of the month.
The EFL has also called on the administrators to name a preferred bidder, as the club also have two other entities interested.
EFL chairman Rick Parry gave an update to talkSPORT about the current situation Derby find themselves in.
He said: “We believe there is a willingness from all parties to find a solution. Time is not on our side – but we do have time for a positive outcome. We do need a preferred bidder so we know who is around the table. Deals need to be done. Compromises need to be made. We can only do that if we’ve got all the right parties identified.
“We’re not imposing deadlines. It is a fundamental part of our insolvency policy (set by the clubs) that no club can gain an unfair advantage on others by failing to pay their debt. Clubs have to be able to demonstrate that they can complete the season on an integrity point of view
“We’re not saying 1 Feb that we are going to kick you out. But of course there is a need to move on and find solutions. This is complex. There is large debt involved. We passionately hope and believe we can find a solution. The will is there within the framework. I believe we can find a solution
“Administrators have known from day one that they need to provide us with the assurance.”
On the administrators statement saying the claims by Middlesbrough and Wycombe are delaying a takeover, Parry said: “I don’t think it is. They are adding to the complexities. That could have been resolved a long time ago. The administrators knew about this from day one. Can it be solved creatively and constructively, yes.
“We don’t believe the primary aim of Wycombe and Middlesbrough is to push Derby into liquidation. They are prepared to join the dialogue to find the solution. We need to know who we are having the dialogue with – we’ve all been a bit of deflected by this.”
Twitter users reacted as Wayne Rooney talks Derby crisis whilst EFL chairman Rick Parry explains the current situation…
@storm16540959: Yes I agree but why are the EFL not pointing out to Gibson and his CEO that this is pure opportunistic from them on a case based on fairy stories and our weak position financially!!!!! 🥊🐏🖤
@jellis90: “Time is not on our side” says the head of the organisation literally responsible for determining the timescales.
@Borochubster: Even Wayne Rooney knows whose to blame in the #DCFC debacle.
@kempson_luke: What a man, gone up even further in my estimations. Something has to be done about this, to many clubs recently are going close to extinction.
@petehotchkiss: Rick Parry on @bbc5live claiming “no EFL club has failed to come out of Administration”
Would think Bury fans might have something to say on that.
@SincePlayed: He’s desperately trying to figure out how he keeps a finger in the pie once the circus corruption at the EFL is exposed. He’s one of the main characters at the centre of all this, he should be ashamed and removed from any position of power.
@Boro_Brick_Road: Well done Rick Parry making it very clear on @bbc5live that the @boro made an arbitration claim against Derby in January 2021 and it should have been dealt with then. The Boro are NOT suing Derby. This is of their making, their delays and for going against rules they agreed to
@AshWoody90: Whatever happens today, and in the coming days, weeks and months, Wayne Rooney has become an incredible asset to Derby County. My hometown, my boyhood club means everything to me. It means everything to the city of Derby, and it’s fans.
@peterlee7395: One of the biggest surprises of Rooney’s time at Derby has been what an eloquent spokesman has become for what so many of us are feeling and thinking.
Wayne Rooney says it as it is about Mel Morris, the former Derby owner who when the going got tough, blamed everyone else apart from himself pic.twitter.com/Bk4AqbSAMQ
— Price Of Football (@KieranMaguire) January 21, 2022
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