RAM1966

https://www.derbytelegraph.co.uk/sport/football/mel-morris-Derby-county-crouch-6322990
 
In other news, Mel Morris was asked if he had made mistakes regarding the purchases of such players as Jacob Butterfield, Ikechi Anya and Nick Blackman, and the wages that were approved for them.
”That’s a good question. I have pondered this, and looking back it is clear to me that my Managers and Recruitment Team did not do a good job. But you have to remember that this is against the background that fans were demanding stellar purchases at the time. Then, you have to take into account the role of Huddersfield, Watford and Reading. They were clearly selling players at the top of their careers, at vastly inflated prices. The players agents also were responsible for forcing the salaries up to unbelievable levels, and of course the EFL ratified all the transfers. Even HMRC didn’t guide me that the fees/wages might be out of proportion. In truth only Stephen Pearce offered any constructive support saying we could write the costs down over a 10 year period. So no, I don’t think I made any mistakes personally”.

We ought to sue Boro for selling us Mikel Beck in the late 1990’s; purportedly a striker, he demonstrated that he couldn’t hit a barn door from two yards. 
Whilst on the subject, I would also sue Charlton Athletic for selling us Derek Hales in 1976 - somebody who scored for fun whilst at Charlton but whilst here made the art of scoring as difficult as plaiting fog. 

I’m not concerned with the Boro or Wycombe lawsuits at all, they haven’t got a chance of being successful. It’s a ballache as it’s delaying the sale. HMRC is the biggie.
Hope Wycombe stay down. All being well we’ll smash them next season. 

Wycombe are claiming even though we weren't hit with a PD for "cheating" until a few weeks ago. Their claim should be against the EFL tribunal that only fined us, but that hasn't stopped them claiming against us. 

Don't they have to be relegated so the EFL can slap their wrists, Whilst in the prem I didn't think  they had any recourse to be able to do anything 

Wild guess here but it might be that someone has bid £55 million for the club ?‍♀️

Its not a strange message at all, if HMRC do a deal and write off any debt at all they will be setti g a precedence that every other business in the country will want to persue.  
The only kind of deal we may get as a long extended period of time to pay the debt off.  
I think the only way out of this mess is for Morris to gift the stadium as part of the deal, that way the club assets might just about outweigh the debts.
I still cant understand why we didnt apeal the -12....  that would have been done and dusted now....  Had we of won we would of had a reasonable chance of staying up and the clubs value would if been more.  rolling over in the manner we have is quite remarkable....

Once the Tories have finished with their Xmas party investigation

It is important to remember how this debt to HMRC arose as it is not a case of a simple tax charge arising from the activities of the club.
One element is the Employers National Insurance which is wholly attributable to Derby County and is based on a percentage of its Employees Gross salary. The vast majority of remaining debt is in respect of employees National Insurance contributions and Employees PAYE income tax deducted from the employees salaries each month. In effect it is the difference between the Gross Pay and Nett pay shown on all our payslips.
Effectively in this instance the football club is acting as tax collector on behalf of HMRC with the expectation that these deductions are forwarded to HMRC in due course. Most large companies are obliged to pay these monies in the month following the deduction from employees pay.

Its not a strange message at all, if HMRC do a deal and write off any debt at all they will be setti g a precedence that every other business in the country will want to persue.  
The only kind of deal we may get as a long extended period of time to pay the debt off.  
I think the only way out of this mess is for Morris to gift the stadium as part of the deal, that way the club assets might just about outweigh the debts.
I still cant understand why we didnt apeal the -12....  that would have been done and dusted now....  Had we of won we would of had a reasonable chance of staying up and the clubs value would if been more.  rolling over in the manner we have is quite remarkable....

Absolutely. I’m no Morris apologist.

Of course they are, what with you being a super fan and all that.
My point is if it makes somebody feel better to express their contempt against the previous owner they should be free to do so without flippant remarks such as the one you made. 
Everybody knows ranting and raving achieves little given the predicament of the club but if it allows an author to let off steam and feel better, the kind of trite reply you posted only serves to antagonise in my opinion.

I totally agree with you 
 
 
 
ranting and raving will cure nothing.

6!
Six factorial = all of the above then some.

I believe he is legally prevented from doing so. When placing your company into liquidation, you hand over all control to the administrators- and the club is not your business any longer. As a result, I can’t see any way that Mel Morris could pay HMRC now and them accept that as settlement of the debt. For instance, if any of us called up HMRC today and offered to pay £10 towards Derby’s debt, I don’t think they could accept it (not that I’m about to try and test that!). Now Mel Morris has walked away from the club, he’s treated no differently to us in that regard.
The same goes for all the other creditors- we can’t clear the debts on behalf of Mel or the club. But the St Johns Ambulance fundraiser was outstanding, a touch of class from the fans.
Also, the basis for placing a business in administration is that you can’t pay your debts. So if Mel paid off his debts a couple of months after filing for administration, I suspect that Companies House/HMRC/other creditors/the fraud police (?!) might have some questions about that!
Finally, if Mel had cleared all or part of the HMRC debt before administration, surely we would have failed P&S by an eye-watering amount. To spend c.£28m without corresponding income makes it impossible to limit losses to £13m per year on average.
I am not defending Mel, really I’m not. He should have run this club much smarter, and he sanctioned costs that we’re unsustainable-putting us where we are now. I’m just pointing out that this is a web he spun over a matter of 5 or 6 years, and there’s no easy unravelling of the mess he made.
And there is no excuse for not clearing the St John Ambulance debt and some other amounts owed to local businesses before he left. What damage would £50k or so have done to the DCFC balance sheet? Nothing, relatively speaking. But it might have been crucial income for the charities and local businesses who now stand to receive very little.

Why doesn't Morris just pay the tax bill that he racked up and then all of this debate will be a total irrelevance

Fair enough, it just seems like manyana with them like chasing the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.
We're in a desperate situation by even having to rely on the administrators to get us out of the kaka, am sure they'll be paid their fees regardless of whether they find a buyer for the club or not.

Can’t we cancel administration? Doesn’t seem to have been such a good idea so far.

Nah. If the season was cancelled then it would be classed as void and our points deductions would probably be carried forward to the following season.

Would the land really be worth much more than the cost of demolishing the stadium 

It was assessed by an independent valuer as the price to be paid by a willing buyer to a willing seller on a commercial arms length basis.
 
We are now in a situation where the main tenant is is in dire financial straits. No need for an independent valuer, especailly as Mel doesn'tt own the club anymore.
 
The stadium has to be sold to the buyers of the club  at an attractive price to make up for the unattractive debt a buyer of the club would be asked to take on.  

Hindsight is a great thing but just how many companies etc there are should have been one of many huge red flags. Must have made unravelling everything for admin horrendous. Never a good sign without commercial reasons

Mel Morris should be gifting the stadium back, Im sorry but Morris shouldn't take one penny unless he leaves the club £15m in debt as he found it.  His reckless gambling to the point that liquidation is nothing short of shamful.
He's a man tht publically let us all think that all is well while maxing out tge Credit Cards then walking away with the clubs biggest asset in his back pocket is nothing short of a disgrace.
 

Mel Morris should be gifting the stadium back, Im sorry but Morris shouldn't take one penny unless he leaves the club £15m in debt as he found it.  His reckless gambling to the point that liquidation is nothing short of shamful.
He's a man tht publically let us all think that all is well while maxing out tge Credit Cards then walking away with the clubs biggest asset in his back pocket is nothing short of a disgrace.
 

It's "worth" whatever the buyer wants to pay for it and whatever the seller will accept. Its value for accounting purposes is a separate matter and, I think, the rules have been changed so that any profit or liability arising from its transfer is outside of FFP calculations.