gfs1ram

I see that the Euro Millions jackpot is £111 million tonight !
Just asking as a DCFC fan ???

I see that the Euro Millions jackpot is £111 million tonight !
Just asking as a DCFC fan ???

Make a bid for Middlesbrough and then take them down to the National League North.

Surely though, if it does drag on and on the administrator will have no alternative but to cut costs (lay off staff) and realise assets (sell players). Exactly what we all want to avoid.
Although not necessarily likely, it seems to me that the best outcome would be for a viable takeover to be agreed in principle as soon as possible meaning the administrator could avoid selling assets but sell the club as a going concern.

The news broke as I was sat in the pub with my fiancé, going over wedding plans believe it or not.
Felt like a punch to the gut on so many levels. I've almost become immune now to tabloid stories on possible point deductions, however wasn't prepared for administration. 
I changed the ads on my phone, understanding that administrators would have us down with the milkman at the bottom of the priority list, that's just how it is.
There is a contract in place for the adverts with a notice period which has not been triggered by either side, however I presume the process would allow for immediate termination and have no doubts this will happen.
I have had a great relationship with a number of people at the club, people that will now be in fear of their jobs.
I'm not going to pressurise them for any kind of clarity as I'm sure they will be just as much in the dark as we have been.
Said it on many occasions, no adverts = no forum, it's been great to show you all relevant ads for RamsTV, megastore, tickets etc. 
Maybe it's something that once the administration process is over can resume, I just don't know right now. 

The lesser impact on parachute clubs and clubs promoted from L1 was also downplayed.
Bournemouth were earning just £3.5m from tickets and £1.2m from hospitality. It doesn't take a genius to realise a club like that isn't going to be affectected as much from losing £3.5m income whilst receiving over £40m in parachute payments as we were (£16m match receipts and hospitality).
Promoted clubs would have been coming up with a much smaller wage budget and a much more flexible position to scale up their spending to suit what their income was going to be during a Covid season.

To be fair, the clubs ambition has to be put to one side in the short term whilst we focus on survival.

I listened to the interview. I think Ed did an ok job, easy for us to stand back and say he didn’t ask that or he didn’t ask this. Not all the questions we wanted answering were answered but they were never going to be. 
Mel made some extremely valid points. The football financial model is broken. It isn’t a level playing field. Only 2 non-parachute payment clubs have secured promotion without breaking P&S. Parachute payment clubs are insulated to Covid, clubs recently promoted have a cost base that can cope and will make equal/more revenue from additional TV money that balances out loss of gate revenues, the non parachute funded clubs with bigger attendances who have been showing ambition and pushing the boundaries of P&S just to try and compete with the parachute funded clubs were always going to be hit harder by Covid. Without Covid we wouldn’t be going into administration. All those points cannot be argued. We were starting to cut our cloth accordingly with Cocu but then Covid pulled the rug out from under us. It can’t be denied it’s a fact.
His comments about the inconsistencies and punitive nature of the EFL were also interesting. The defence of our amortisation policy was fierce and in my opinion completely valid. Its a disgrace we’re in the dock over this - anyone who says otherwise is swallowing the guff that the EFL are clubs pushing them on this are leaking out to the national press to build this ridiculous idea we are cheats.  The EFL are not fit for purpose and an independent regulator is required.
Mel even admitted he gambled and failed but that’s the only way to compete season after season against parachute funded clubs, that is no different to other owners of clubs who avoided P&S issues through being fortunate enough to be promoted.
But the interview didn’t cover/push the fact he gambled but wouldn’t stand behind his debts and plunged us into administration up to the eyeballs in debt (unless we’re taking from today he no longer has the means), glossed over his mismanagement in particular wages, joiners gate etc.
 
He also seems to think administration will be the miracle cure that gets us a new buyer to take us forward, with £60m debt majority of which won’t be wiped through the process and will need servicing at some point. Until we get a buyer, who will be funding the £1-£1.5m Mel has been funding up to now, how will we pay players? Will it just be more points deductions for not paying players or could it be worse, at what point will the club be forced to liquidate and how quickly could that arise - could it be before Jan as we can’t sell any players until then, so will we need to sell moor farm to get us through (given Mel still has PP for the moment although he has said he will offer that up to the new buyer as part of this deal). None of these questions have been answered and frankly I’m not bothered about all the other points he made, it’s already done, cannot change it, I want to know how this club can survive until January now he has taken this decision to put us in administration and threaten the club’s existence.
Im pleased he did the interview, I think he tried his best I think he cares about the club but he will always be remembered as the owner who nearly killed the club, let’s hope he’s not remembered and the owner who killed it.

In the interview Mel Morris makes some valid points about covid, parachute payments, Derby’s accounting policy and the football system being broken. He’s gambled a lot of money and it hasn’t worked out. He has not deliberately set out to ruin the club and his gamble almost paid off, achieving a playoff final. Ultimately however, his tenure is a failure, he has admitted this. The massive increase in wages did not necessarily make the team better, the club often made losses on players and the increase in debts has made the situation severe. 
I am unclear about the situation with charges and EFL withholding money during covid times, it seems that the EFL has a lot to answer for also, when accounting professionals had signed off Derby’s accounting practises etc and there has been almost a vendetta against the club or chairman it seems. 
I am wondering what Stephen Pearce’s role has been? A CEO but where is his accountability to ensure we have been kept financially secure? Has Morris’ tenure been almost a dictatorship? 
The worry now is the debts are so big no one will buy the club, could Derby County cease to exist soon? It’s easy to dismiss that idea as Derby is a big well supported club but the current climate with lack of assets owned coupled with debts and costs seems to be awful. 
Covid has been terrible for Derby but I’m guessing debts were spiralling long before this. I heard from someone important at the club about unsustainable spending back with big figures mentioned around 2016. The financial mismanagement has been going on for a long time chasing the Premier League. 
Under Mel’s tenure we have had some good times and he has helped develop the academy and training ground but it looks serious right now. 
Just hope we have a club to support 

To be fair, @Derbados, I didn't hear him 'rant' anywhere at all in the interview. I'm not trying to defend him at all, but just commenting on what I heard. He said that whilst he is the owner he thinks the club will be unfairly treated by the EFL. He said that he didn't want to get into a discussion about the EFL and he didn't, though he mentioned them a couple of times when relevant. When he spoke about them he was not disrespectful.

My take on that 
He is absolutely right without covid this would never had happened but Covid has happened it is here 
we look to have failed the FFP in one year by £4 million so Potential 4pt deduction so I assume that may linger on? Will that be £4 million on following years? And more 4 point deductions - who knows as the EFL seem to double count.
we were denied the £8 million loan in January by the EFL ( premiership money) to help pay tax and NI for unexplained reasons which is a shame because now the HMRC won’t be getting that money as a nation because they will be offered let’s say 20 pence in the pound in the not to distant future.
he mentioned about us not being to extend a players contact to keep him a year longer to maybe keep his value or sell him ( we know this to be Jack Marriott) he also mentioned that another championship club lost a lot of money in a similar way - my view is that it would be Reading FC and Omar Richards who left to join Bayern Munich was it on a free) 
He mentioned that since F&P has come in only Two clubs have been promoted without breaching F&P 
He mentioned that 15 calls of interest in buying the club came in over the weekend which he believes 2-3 have the means and intent to do so 
I believe he mentioned that he still owns the stadium so if he gets anything back it may come from that and his losses are in excess of £200 million of his own money 
He said he tried and failed and was sorry that we are where we are.
He wouldn’t go into depth about the EFL at this point in time 
we’ll that’s what I heard I read others may have different opinions.

My personal view for what it's worth is he sounded deflated towards the end of the interview. A beaten man.
Despite a lack of raw emotion shown on air, I genuinely think Friday would have hurt him massively as this wouldn't have been anywhere in his plans.
I understand this will not be any comfort to any of the staff that will lose their jobs, or creditors unpaid who my thoughts are with right now as they face an extremely tough week ahead.
Tomorrow I will be opening a jobs board on the forum, if any of you have a business or hear of vacancies in the local area please post them.
Also if you know anyone that has/will be lose their job through this process, give them a heads up.
Saturday showed what an incredible fan base we have when we come together, let's help try and make the impact as minimal as possible. ?

He said that he had put £200 million in and didn't expect to be getting anything back.
You sound as though you want blood though. Do you want him to have lost money? Would that somehow appease you?
This isn't necessarily assumed at you but a lot of folks who criticised Mel for chasing the dream, and overspending, would equally complain about owners who didn't financially back their manager's transfer demands.
Who'd be a football club owner? I cannot see how they can win.
(Cue debate on egos)

I think he did well there.
As much as we can hope for an owner who has billions, it’s not realistic. They all want us at the cheapest price and know that administration is the best way to do that. They’ve forced Mel’s hand and he knows that long term this is the best for the club. Also Mel knows the EFL will never give us a fair run without him gone.
He’s never set out to ruin the club and I’m fairly certain if any of us had the money he had we would have tried to do the same.
The amortisation part was a risk, but the EFL didn’t say a word for years and we were conforming to the financial standards. How someone that is not an accountant gets the final say over an accountant I’ll never know.
As much as everyone can say covid can’t be used as an excuse, it’s had a massive contribution towards it. Our turnover was one of the largest in the championship, probably the biggest of clubs that don’t get parachute payments. We’ve been hit harder than any other club and the timing of Covid came at the end of our big spending.
Interesting what he said about only 2 teams that have been promoted since P&S was brought in have not broken the rules. Shows how broken the system is.
We beat Villa at Wembley and none of this ever happens.
 

You and everyone else calling him have your opinions and I have mine. I don’t share the opinions of a lot of people. But I am an intelligent adult and I’m standing up to what I think. 

It may be understandable, but he really is in ‘damned if he does, damned if he doesn’t’ territory here (see the ‘apology’ issue - complaints that he hasn’t apologised, then when he does, complaints that it’s all insincere and hollow). 

Those slamming Mel should pause for a moment to think about his intentions.
I do not - for a minute - think he's intended to run the club down.
He has spent millions, not to run the club into debt, but to chase the dream. We all supported that chase.
Even though he's managed things badly, which he admits, I do believe that he genuinely thinks the only way he can get new owners in is to put the club into administration.
I'm very far from happy about that, actually been crying about it, but I think it's sincere on his part.

This is where you can definitely argue Covid has had an impact, what you can sustain pre Covid changes when Covid hits because a huge part of your income, income that you’ve planned everything around, just disappears in the blink of an eye.

I think a lot commenting on here have already made their mind up.
I'm not happy myself, however, I'd ask people to at least keep an open mind.
It's not implausible to think that potential buyers are waiting for administration because their costs would be so much less.
I agree staff and supporters will suffer but this may actually be the only way to get the new owners that everyone craves.

So some intresting facts and a lot still left unsaid.
I cannot see why Derby would be excluded from funds that were given due to Covid, Could the £8.5m held Administration at Bay?
It is true that in the Championship Derby would have been affected more than most due to their fanbase hence bigger losses, £20m is no suprise.
I dont think that we can blame the EFL for challenging us over the valuation (not the sale) of PP  as it was larger than everyone elses. So if we lost a new owner over it then .........  
I think Gibson's role in this and the pressure he was able to bring needs looking at. No one should be able to interfere with the workings of the EFL.
We are likely to have a 12 point deduction but we can show that it was exceptional circumstances so the EFL can be forgiving due to the circumstances that they had a part in.  
You can tell that the EFL feared this would happen, they have asked Mel to committ for the year and sked for a business plan.
Onto other clubs, the likes of Stoke and Reading have enourmous overspends and that cannot be all due to Covid. They must be waiting for a 12+ point deductions. Others must be struggling so I dont think we will be alone on minus points. 
I do feel that the EFL have things to answer here and it would not suprise me if that was in court. We well overspent for a couple of years but they (EFL) have not acted in an honourable and acceptable manner.
I dont think this is over yet  

Looks like Gibson co-ercing the EFL to appeal the stadium sale, subsequently passed as legal, has turned out to be the main driver keeping this hanging over us for so long. If the decision had been accepted as it should, then the other stuff could well have been sorted a lot earlier.
Gibson's got his way, The EFL have been proven to be a weak and cowardly organisation.
Yes, the buck stops with Morris, but if the EFL had conducted themselves impartially and not reactive to Gibsons mardarsery, it would have been resolved months ago.

Really irritates me that Gibson throwing his toys out his pram has ultimately cost us a takeover and resulted in hard working people behind the scenes losing their jobs.
Then football in general, the big 6 nearly destroyed english football bit have got away with it, we try to get promotion and overspend & get punished by a governing body who should be there to help & support their members not seek & destroy them.
Then finally, teams who got lucky & got promoted whilst breaching P&S/FFP get away with it as do the likes of the deals between Watford/Udinese & Forest/Olympiakos which clearly are done to get around the rules

I understand that tonight many questions will be asked, both of the club and myself. 
Tonight as the news was broke, I was sat in the pub, still am, it's hit me hard as I'm sure it has you all, I was not expecting it, there was no pre warning, no hint of what was to come.
I also understand that over the years my opinion has been questioned, it's something I have had to deal with, sometimes poorly, but with the best and honest of intentions.
Tonight I am hurting, just as much as you all, this is the club I love, the club I adore, the club I have tattooed on my hand for all to see with pride. 
I love this club, please just think when posting over the next few days, weeks in anger, myself, the moderators, we do not deserve to be on the end of your anger or frustration.
Today is a dark day for the club, but as fans, we need to to stick together. We are Derby County, every one of us and we will move forward as one.
Once a ram, always a ram ?

Sorry to drone on about this and bore people to death but both of your statements above are factually completely incorrect, from my own personal knowledge of working today with all sorts of businesses and organisations, from the very large to very small.
As you say, though, GE, interesting to try to read between the lines but lets hope the actual facts come out soon.

Unlikely I’m afraid GS
Even the EFL wouldn't be bothered by a sum as small as that and, anyway, the cause of those potential penalties ( non submission of accounts) is already on the EFL hit list.
We don't know when the club first started withholding Paye, NI or VAT but, even in normal times, moving from non payment to court can be (and can be made to be) a very long process, for all sorts of reasons. And in these times of covid and lockdown, it would be even longer, if at all. HMRC have been told to back off from aggressive debt chasing throughout this period of lockdown. So court action to date would have been very unlikely.
I’m afraid there is every likelihood that its paye, nic and vat not being paid over by the club