Sparkle

Didn't Boro go bust once upon a time? People in glass houses and all that

Here we are, administrators in, massive points deduction, an estimated £50m or whatever in debt, unable to pay wages. And then we read in the Teesside Gazette that Steve Gibson is suing Derby County. https://www.gazettelive.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/middlesbrough-Derby-rooney-mel-morris-21660410
His gripe is that Mel sold the stadium to another of Mel's companies (accepted as OK by the League because not every club owns their stadium and you can't force a club to) and that Derby loaned Matt Clarke when Gibson wanted him to go to Middlesbrough.
Of course claims such as these are manifestly absurd and would normally be laughed out of court. But the problem is it's inconceivable that the Derby Administrators can also afford to pay lawyers to fight the Middlesboro Chairman. Equally, it's inconceivable that Derby could afford any additional fines the courts might impose.
The sole purpose of this can only be to ensure the end of Derby County as a football club. Nothing less. The entire football world including honest Middlesbrough fans should be outraged by this behaviour and condemn it in the strongest possible terms. The club can't afford to fight this, so it's up to us fans to shame Gibson into stopping this despicable course of action.

Nope ! As I said before … they had a reasonable plan that was working. It was entirely and singularly derailed by Covid. That is force majeur 
where do you get your “contributing factor” 
Sorry I struggle to see your logic …
Functioning entity with reasonable plan to resolve acknowledged  difficulties.
The only thing that interrupted that plan was Covid. It didn’t “contribute” … you died when you fell in the sea. The fall didn’t kill you, there was a bit of drop, but people were there with ropes and life rafts .. but then a shark ate you … Force Majeur 
 
A pandemic of a type that is at best a once in 100 year event ( and before Spanish flu we are talking once in 300 years ) This event reduced club income  income by 90% 
its force majeur .. not a contributing factor 
 

Yep I am very disappointed in him but his goodwill over a lot of issues is going to be very very important 

Yep I am very disappointed in him but his goodwill over a lot of issues is going to be very very important 

So like a covid pandemic then

It’s where we are - covid is the reason administration has come about - the team need to have no more than 9-12 point deduction or there is simply no point playing half of them especially if they get appearance money win bonuses etc. We have been forced to play 18/19/20 year olds - we will be playing 16/17 year olds if relegation is an absolute and no one could blame us 

It was - however it’s flowered up - without covid we wouldn’t be in administration - we probably would have been sold to whoever by now 

It was - however it’s flowered up - without covid we wouldn’t be in administration - we probably would have been sold to whoever by now 

If it is true that the EFL knew we had changed the way we did the amortisation change and accepted it which was legal then all the common sense would suggest any point deductions related to that should be a suspended point deduction to not do it again? And in all probability that’s all it should ever had been. There is an opportunity for the EFL to call it a day.

Exactly and it’s not just one season it’s a season and a quarter and fans needed refunding etc etc - if a global pandemic where no supporters can attend for a season and a quarter doesn’t cover it then absolutely nothing ever will - forget Wigan they were shafted by  a new owner who had spent no time there at all and they only had a few weeks of a pandemic to deal with at the time.

So like a covid pandemic then

Yep I am very disappointed in him but his goodwill over a lot of issues is going to be very very important 

So like a covid pandemic then

Please give an example of what you consider to be force Majeur in football terms ?
 

Yep I am very disappointed in him but his goodwill over a lot of issues is going to be very very important 

So like a covid pandemic then

Yep I am very disappointed in him but his goodwill over a lot of issues is going to be very very important 

The reality of the situation is that Mel still owns the stadium and the club owes him a lot of money, which according to the Administrator's press conference, he's not asking for back.
See https://www.derbytelegraph.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/Derby-county-administration-mel-morris-5958185
Like it or not, it's important that some level of goodwill is maintained on all sides. If you think I'm making excuses for Mel just look at my previous posts. I'm not, but all that matters now is the survival of the club, unless you want to be watching AFC Derby vs Heanor Town next season.
 
 

Exactly and it’s not just one season it’s a season and a quarter and fans needed refunding etc etc - if a global pandemic where no supporters can attend for a season and a quarter doesn’t cover it then absolutely nothing ever will - forget Wigan they were shafted by  a new owner who had spent no time there at all and they only had a few weeks of a pandemic to deal with at the time.

It’s not. Derby were in a certain situation prior to Covid. If they can prove those circumstances were manageable but Covid was an unpredictable, unforeseen (force majeur ) spanner in the works then it fails comprehensively. Force majeur by definition is something you can’t predict for yourself in your particular circumstances.  Other club’s situations are irrelevant . E.G Derby had a financial recovery / trading plan plan in place that assumed £ 10,000,000 ticket income. This was needed but it as also a conservative and reasonable assumption based on past history. Covid came along and the 10 mill became zero … That was unforseable force majeur. 
Other clubs had different situations, they might have had more padding that allowed them to avoid our situation but that doesn’t alter the force majeur as it affected us. 

Whether you believe/agree or not Mel tried to explain this by pointing out that a number of clubs are still in receipt of parachute payments and clubs recently promoted are not as impacted either because of the relatively low costs.
I doubt we have a very compelling case but it does make you wonder if he's going to try it given his numerous references to Covid. I seem to recall him saying we had a workable business plan if it hadn't been for the Covid restrictions.
I'm not holding my breath but might be worth a go. 

They have no reason to separate them into another season 

If it is true that the EFL knew we had changed the way we did the amortisation change and accepted it which was legal then all the common sense would suggest any point deductions related to that should be a suspended point deduction to not do it again? And in all probability that’s all it should ever had been. There is an opportunity for the EFL to call it a day.

That's certainly the DCFC viewpoint. Given the political situation and at least one breach of £4m in the reatated accounts I would be very surprised if we don't get clobbered with a hefty deduction because it's the EFL.