CornwallRam

7 minutes ago, RoyMac5 said:

 

What a dick-head that Curtis Davies is...said no Derby County fan ever. 

There could be no better captain for us next season. It's heart breaking that he might be forced to leave just so he can keep earning a living.

1 minute ago, Seaside Ram said:

Is it ok for me to comment without reading through the whole of this thread first ?? 

Only if you are Chris Kirchner and have an official announcement to make ?

21 minutes ago, Ramos said:

When is anyone in football actually going to step up and say - what the hell is this mess and how has Derby County been allowed to be messed around with by so many cowboys for so long?? Honestly, from MM to all the failed takeovers, to Q, how has so many inept people got involved in this club in a short space of time? It really beggars belief. 

The issue is the money in the Premier League. 

It distorts the finances of the Championship so much that clubs have to make a loss to stay in the division. The consequence of that is legitimate businessman will not invest in nor buy Championship clubs. So clubs need to attract wealthy fans, playboys, chancers or money launderers to get themselves sold. 

It's even worse for us as we're at least a year and tens of millions away from even being a Championship club.

Until the financial gap between the Premier League and the EFL is reduced, cowboys will feature heavily in all club sales.

48 minutes ago, nottingram said:

Same person who told them Ashley was being named preferred bidder about 4 months ago I imagine

Without wishing to take sides, it's my understanding that Ashley was about to be named as PB, but the EFL ruled against 'slam down' deal because of the parasite claims.

Quantuma now have a massive headache.  

The thing which will kill this club is not being in a professional league. It's the golden share which comprises virtually all of the club's value. No one is going to pay more than a few thousand for a leaguless Derby County. 

Quantuma simply have to ensure we are able to start next season - it doesn’t matter too much, in this context, whether it's League 1 or 2, or at a real push the Conference. The alternative is oblivion. 

There must be a cut off date for when we have officially to be included. I seem to remember something about the end of next week, but whenever it actually is, it's the real deadline.

I understand that it is within the regulations that we can start the season still in adminstration. I believe that the big stumbling block is the need to show a plan with sufficient cash flow to be able to finish the season. Obviously, only having a 5 man squad is an issue, but the EFL softened the embargo to enable limited recruitment last season - I dare say we'd be allowed to add enough cheap players to cobble together a bare bones squad.

The problem is that getting organised for a super economy season by selling a couple of players, closing everything that isn't essential to the first team,  having a whip round of fans and borrowing enough to last until ticket sales begin will take a while to arrange. 

Effectively, the administrators need to decide when to hit the panic button. The only alternative is a Kirchner deal - Ashley or Appleby might well be able to move quickly, but it won't be sorted in 10 (ish) days to keep the league place, so there wouldn't be a club to sell.

They will want to give Kirchner the maximum possible time to complete because the alternative is itself going to de-value the club. No academy, no Moor Farm, no Jason Knight, no Rams TV etc.

I suppose that it might be possible to borrow the required funds from the new bidder, but it's not the most likely of scenarios.

3 minutes ago, Ramslad1992 said:

Been at work and nothings in the update thread. Have we been bought or not? Do I drink to celebrate or commiserate?

It's been a very quiet day.

Chris Kirchner's bid might, or might not have collapsed. That might or might not be the fault of the fans. His funds have either cleared or they haven't. He might be in Barhain or London.

Mike Ashley might or might not be about to swoop in with a bid which might or might not be for £28m and might or might not include the stadium. It might or might not be enough to avoid a points deduction.

The stadium itself might or might  not be owned by Mel Morris, or it cloud be Clowes or even a Clown.

Rooney might or might not have funded last months wages. We might or might not be about to sell some season tickets. 

The EFL might or might not allow us to start next season still in adminstration. 

And it's mainly Mel Morris's fault.

I think it's possible that both Nixon and Dawes are correct.

If Kirchner had transferred the money but it has been flagged for further enquiries, it could delay the takeover past the date we need things to be in place to take up our league place. That way  the deal will collapse as Kirchner will not pay £20m for a leagueless club.

Assuming everything is OK. I would love Kirchner to Tweet that the deal is off...and two minutes later Tweet 'Gotcha...I'm now the official new owner of Derby County.' ?

11 minutes ago, S8TY said:

So glad Morris made it an easy transaction for any buyers....pmsl....being a true Derby fan and all ...only 38 lawyers ffs.!!!

 

 

More lawyers currently under contract than players.

1 hour ago, Jimbo Ram said:

Mods are very sensitive on here today.....

It's because of all the Union Flags around. They think they've become trendy again. They'll be trying to convince people that Vespas aren't just two wheeled hairdryers next.

I reckon it'll be completely dependent on results. If the season looks like being a party in League 1, where we fill every away end look like romping to instant promotion, we'll probably have higher attendances than this season.

However, if we look like mid-table plodders, as soon as September ends our crowds will start to dissipate. 

Really, to me, this thread is a proxy for how well Rooney and Kirchner perform.

I reckon the business plan will stop us being properly competitive so we'll be bouncing around between 6th and 10th. In that case, we'll average 20k.

3 hours ago, Crewton said:

An average of 15,000 over the season would mean some gates (against the smaller clubs on a winter evening, say) being as low as 12,000, because we'll certainly clear 20,000 for the games against Wednesday, Ipswich, Portsmouth, Plymouth, Port Vale, Peterborough, Barnsley and even Lincoln 

I'll be surprised if we don't sell at least 16,000 ST again and average at least 20,000.

What about the Nigel Clough Trophy?*

I know, but I think we should make it a thing.

3 hours ago, I know nuffin said:

Not paying to read speculation but cannot think that happened. Ashley does not appear to share things but if it were true he could have bought the stadium if he wanted to but again cannot see that happening and the legal side would have to be super tight to stop sully rents or buy out price

Actually, I'd say it makes perfect sense. If they both say put £20m in each and got the club and the stadium. Ashley initially gets all the exposure and advertising opportunities - which I can't help thinking is his main reason for wanting us.

Then, if the club succeeds, the value if his stake increases and he can sell on at a profit. If the club struggles, it would make sense that Kirchner would feel he's made a mistake and will want to cut his losses and sell his half. Ashley would then be in a good position to low ball Kirchner and aquire the entire club more cheaply. Some of the EFL Business Plan 'treading water' time would have also been used up, moving Ashley closer to being able to use his financial muscle.

I also think that Kirchner was wise to refuse. 

31 minutes ago, Brailsford Ram said:

Mel Morris was untried, unknown and untested in the football world, as was Lionel Pickering, The Three Amigos and GSE under Andy Appleby and Tom Glick. All ended with varying outcomes so I struggle to agree with the point you are trying to make because your underlying statement is so factually wrong.

That wasn't my post?

1 hour ago, 24Charlie said:

We’ve been through enough trauma. I have no idea what to expect from CK and neither does anyone else. He’s a complete unknown to football. The game itself is not in his blood. He wasn’t brought up following football, not our kind anyway.

So we have a completely untried, unknown and untested person on the brink of owning our club. This is the first time this has happened to us. So forgive me if I and few other don’t share your clear view that all will be well.
 

To paraphrase Dylan Thomas.
Do not go happy clapping into that goodnight, Wolfie.

I don't think that's true. He's of Argentinian heritage and claims to have been into football (not the Rugby in teletubby suits version) since he was a toddler. 

I do wonder if having the same surname as two Argentinian ex-presidents might be an indicator of the source of his funding?

3 hours ago, RAM1966 said:

A few have said this, but, do we have it confirmed other than by the CK happy clapper club?

As other have said, how come out of these men and women involved nobody spotted the US BH, the UK one is a red herring as the deal still should have completed by Wed 2 days longer tgan the orginal deadline.....

TBH though, I'm more concerned about CKs ability to fund the club longer term, it really doesn't make sense not to buy the ground, its the only real asset.

Logically, it has to be highly likely that Kirchner has funded the payroll. It's going to over £2m as it will include final loyalty bonuses and seasonal target bonuses.

Nixon claims the wages have been paid and he's obviously got a source in an authoritative position at the EFL. If the wages hadn't been paid, I'm 100% sure we'd have heard about it.

So then the question is; where did the money come from? I don't think selling the contract clause would have raised anywhere near enough. I also don't think that MSD would loan any more at this point. Needing a loan to pay players when there's a preferred bidder and no income for a few months makes would make loaning money very risky. 

The only possibility other than Kirchner that I can see us a release of TV money. However, if that was the case, lots of journalists have missed a story...'Kirchner not funding Derby County'.

So, it's not beyond all reasonable doubt, but it does look likely on the balance of probability, that Kirchner funded the payroll.

As for his ongoing funding - all we can do is wait to see what happens. At least it looks like we'll still have a club to support, which is something we need to be grateful to him for. On the face of it, choosing the 35% option and not buying the stadium points towards someone who can't afford to run Derby County. However, I'm sure that there is a lot of information that we don’t know. 

Kirchner could be a naive American who thinks he can run the club profitability by selling more hotdogs and only selling players for a profit. He could be a brilliant business strategist who has a different model which will show all clubs the way forward. He could be buying the club to sell on straight away. He might even just be front for the real money man.

So yes, obviously there are concerns about Kirchner, but there would be for any buyer. We can't do anything about it anyway, so we might as well sit tight and enjoy having a club until something does actually go wrong. 

46 minutes ago, RAM1966 said:

It appears the cancel culture mob are on this website.  If you show concern, you are roundly abused and dismissed.  Some of these clowns doing this are quick to forget the fake Shiek and everythings been signed, just the money to come through promises.

 

 

As I pointed out and was bizarrely castgated as being negative, the big difference is the wages. The fake Sheikh never stumped up for the payroll. It appears that Kirchner has, so he's I infinitely more credible.

4 minutes ago, IslandExile said:

While the punfest continues, folks have missed the clarification that CK himself will not be buying the stadium but it's a partner.

So Aly is buying the stadium?

8 minutes ago, I DONT MIND said:

Are we nearly there yet?

I can see the sea.

42 minutes ago, inter politics said:

 

If Nixon is right, I'd say that's the best news we've had in a couple of years.

There's no way Kirchner would have funded the payroll if he isn't 100% committed to buying the club.

IMO, the takeover is now sorted. We can all now look forward to actual incoming transfer rumours that actually sometimes happen.

COYR?

6 minutes ago, Bald Eagle's Barmy Army said:

Just stop being so negative. We’ve had enough of that over the past 9 months to last a life time. 

I'm not entirely convinced that you understand the definition of negative. Apologies if English is not your first language, but have you actually read my post?

8 minutes ago, Yani P said:

Seriously ?

The point is, that it doesn't much matter if the takeover doesn’t finalise for another couple of weeks. As long as Kirchner is fully committed and funding the club, it's fine.

The barometer of his committednes is whether he's funded the wages or not. Imo, that is the test here.

He can say what he likes on Twitter...talk is cheap. Nixon can give deadlines...they don't matter as long as someone is paying the bills. It's all in the payroll. 

I'm not demeaning Kirchner - I have no idea what he'll turn out like. At this point he's not the messiah, and he's not even a very naughty boy. He's just a prospective new owner.

15 minutes ago, Bald Eagle's Barmy Army said:

What you wrote was very bizarre, your right there. 
 

 

So you don't think it's relevant whether the wages are paid this month?

11 minutes ago, Bald Eagle's Barmy Army said:

What planet are you one? Give the guy a break FGS. 

What a very bizarre comment. 

The real question is who, if anyone, is paying the wages? 

If Kirchner has funded the payroll, all will be fine.

If Quantuma have had to borrow, I'd expect a last minute Ashley swoop.

If they haven't been paid, it's -3 for next season, Kirchner looks to be a tyre kicker, and we're in deep trouble.