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Everything appeared fine and dandy until the double charge in January 2020, which resulted in a string of embargoes and failed takeovers.
We were charged for overvaluing the stadium. The verdict concluded that we could have actually sold it for a little bit more.
We were also charged with submitting non-compliant accounts based on the amortisation policy. Accounts deemed compliant by the CFO (at the time), auditors, the ICAEW and the IDC... but not by the EFL who by their own admission have no accounting experts, a professor with no real life experience, and an arbitration panel with no accountants on it.

All that must teach you not to buy a ticket that finances Middlesbrough FC in the future 

It shows the Efl trying to max out on penalties … trying to relegate wendies if they possibly could. So no it doesn’t show they have it in for us at all.
but it shows the fundamental conflicted issue  Efl has .. being regulator of clubs as well as acting for the interests of the clubs .
 
it is supposed to act for the interests of all clubs , including us and Sheffield Wednesday by the way. But plainly isn’t .. it just panders to the mob rule and tries to max out on penalties every time.

Not sure I'd call it as "classy"
They're probably just trying to help us avoid liquidation. If we get liquidated there's a chance they might not get the full amount owed.

Evil doesn't believe itself to be evil so what is his actual motivation? 
I totally understand him having a vendetta against Morris but not against the club (which is, at the end of the day, the fans) because we've not actually done anything wrong. Other than regard Boro to be completely irrelevant to football. If they disappeared tomorrow, would anyone notice...? 
If he's going against DCFC to ruin us and get back at Morris then I'm not sure it's worth it as perhaps Morris won't be that bothered about whether DCFC continues or not...? Dunno. These big-time businessmen and their egos...
If I was Derby I wouldn't engage lawyers. I'd re-employ Martin Kuhl and let him handle it how he sees fit.

I don't agree that employers should be responsible for for nurturing and shielding of their employees outside of the working environment/hours, which that evening was.
It was not a team event.  It was a social event... voluntary... outside of working hours... outside of working jurisdiction... the aftermath of a team event, which had already ended.  (The club of course, did not order all full grown adults to immediately go home, and go to bed, at 8pm!)
If you organised a works pi$$ up, that would have no relevance to this situation, as it was not a works pi$$ up.  See above.
?

Keogh is a disgrace.
Mel gets criticised for sacking only Keogh, but to be fair, Mel's hand was forced. Sacking all 3 made no sense for the club.
Losing the Keogh tribunal was the worst case scenario and the money was gone whichever way you look at it, either on Keogh's wages or a settlement. Sacking all three would have thrown away the large investment made in Lawrence and Bennett - transfer fees, academy development and wages - and any value they retained as an asset.
Keogh's self-inflicted injury finished him there and then as a 'top' Championship CB that could command the £25k/wk in his contract. Lawrence and Bennett retained a value and were still physically capable of performing in their roles. 
We could have gone down that season due to a shortage of CB's, and that entitled idiot would have kept on collecting his money. If we had sacked all 3, we would have also been short in attacking areas. 
If Keogh had any sense of duty to the club and the fans, he would have accepted the generous reduced terms offered and got his head down. He didn't, and the world saw his true colours. We lost a key member of the first XI and a top earner through their own conduct, yet retained the liability for their wages and were unable to replace the loss to the team. 
I'm glad Keogh was sacked. It makes me sick that the entitled so and so was rewarded for his disgraceful behavior. Its even more galling that he considers he has some kind of moral high ground.
I can't stand the sight of him anymore.
Mel's biggest mistake on this one is that had this happened at Middlesbrough, Gibson would have sued the breweries and car manufacturers for costing them promotion.

Bielik didn't cost £10m, more like £7m plus add-ons, but given that was covered by the playoff receipts and Lampard compo, and how good the guy is, I can understand why that decision was taken. 
It remains the decisions taken in Mel's first 3 years of ownership, and the ones certain players took on a night out in the autumn of 2019, that have ultimately screwed us. 

Just been watching Sky sports news and what hit me was the irony of 2 topics of their program this morning.
First they were waxing lyrical over 'Liverpool's' future superstar wonder kid, Kaide Gordon and within minutes were discussing the demise of our club. They didn't mention at all the fact that Liverpool virtually 'stole' him from us.
How unfair is the system whereby a club has invested heavily in its academy, loses a player worth 10s of millions for a pittance. Nevermind the rights or wrongs of how Derby have got in this mess with overspending elsewhere, we have also spent money in the right place to develop a talent worth tens of millions of pounds, but without getting the reward.
No offense to Kaide or to Liam Delap, but if they had had the interests of the club at heart, like Jude Bellingham at Birmingham, we would be a lot better off. Jude Bellingham waited until his 17th birthday before signing professionally for the Blues, who then immediately sold him to Dortmund for £25M. You can't blame our youngsters because they may have picked up a career ending injury before their 17th, but you can blame the football system which allows this to happen.
So because of the different attitudes of three 16 year olds, Blues are plus £25M and Derby plus £2M when it should be plus £50M.
Derby's academy should have been able to clear our debts, but the system has prevented it.

My problem is simple. I agreed with the decisions made and thought that all of the managers were good signings. Should have beaten QPR, Hull and we played the wrong team against Villa. So many players were less good at Derby than I expected. In the end Mel splashed his cash big time and it did not work out. It has happened before and will happen again. Would have been. Could have been but probably not too much of should have been. Until last 18 months 6/10. Last 18 months, I will wait for revelations of what actually went on. Ultimately, a sort of apparent shambles. COYR

Whilst no one actually knows, it seems extremely likely that the EFL are wanting to force ( Bully) Derby into accepting a points deduction whilst we quite rightly say get stuffed. If the EFL had reason in black and white to impose a points deduction they would have done it and surely by now, if that points deduction came in we have the right to appeal it and so we should. It’s worth noting that Reading FC have completely blown a hole through P&S and should have a well laid out punishment but yet nothing has happened.
The Paranoid might believe that they want us to agree a points deduction before Reading get their lighter punishment and just say we agreed to ours.
whilst the likes of Stoke city may well have been getting rid of the unwanted they should have blown through P&S yet they down valued the whole squad and blamed Covid and appear to be getting away with that and I suspect an awful lot of other clubs in the championship are busy hiding bad news but consistent punishment is simply not going to be happening as we are the main target of the publicity whilst we haven’t actually been as bad as some others despite what sits on our so called crime sheet.
Anyway we continue to support our team and hope for the best.

If we have done nothing wrong within the written rules at the time of any punishment we should dam well be challenging it and I don’t care how long it takes. 

Mel is a Rams fan and currently making up the shortfall in income each month to keep the club operating. It’s easy to use the word hate on social media, but would you say it to his face......unlikely. He has done as much as he can to turn us into an established Premier league club, but unfortunately it hasn’t come to fruition. He is now trying to secure our future by bringing in new owners. Football comes down to fine margins as we know and there was another Keogh moment yesterday when Byrne did a triple toe loop on the penalty spot.
Massive mistakes with recruitment of both managers and players has been our downfall, while trying to chase the dream of Premier League football and I’m sure Mel would agree and do things differently if he had a time machine.
Forum members posting hate comments should be banned in my opinion.

There are those that criticise the club on occasion and with very good reason.
There are those that criticise the club at every possible turn, seizing any opportunity to have another dig.
Thank whatever higher deity you like that there are people like @Ghost of Clough and @angieram around who are the voices of reason, who are able to judge each issue on its relative merits and comment rationally, calmly and logically.

That's not about technical ability - That's about effectiveness
There's a whole thread for talking about Jozwiak - Most of which is the same few people having a pop at him - I think people are just saying why not talk about Ebosele in here and Jozwiak over there?
But for me:
The lad is 23 - Moved to a new country where he doesn't speak the language well - Trying to settle into a bottom 3 side and a relegation battle when he'd been signed as a player to help us challenge for the top end - Went through a change of manager and (arguably) two changes of playing style - Alongside his best mate and key link up player getting a horrific injury (for the 2nd time in 2 years) - Oh and on top of that it was all during a period where the entire country went into lockdown and he had to try and settle in a new place isolated from everyone he knows, unable to even visit home or have any friends/relative visit him
Given all that it's not a massive shock that he's taken a bit of time to settle

Found the RD interview pretty interesting, more because of what was not said than what was said.
My take on it, my thoughts after I've looked at what is in the public domain.
I posted a while back about what I'd heard re: an American consortium taking over, I have heard nothing to suggest that this is no longer the case.
I've experience of dealing with due diligence for American companies, and boy do they love an NDA personally I've signed around a dozen, and what Mel couldn't talk of last night leads me (hopes) to believe that the silence through official channels is as a result of an NDA between Mel/DCFC and the consortium. The NDA between the club and bidders will also be separate and differ to the one between Mel and the fans groups last night.
I understand that a  lot of us are upset/frustrated/disappointed/angry and it's only human nature to want to point the finger and find someone to blame, but I'm hoping that it's more a question of cannot rather than will not when it comes to the lack of direct engagement with the fanbase.
I'd also suggest that the consortium are waiting for the accounts and actual level of debt to be finalised before moving forward, as I understand the accounts have to be submitted at latest in 13 days, so I reckon that it's more end of month/transfer window rather than start of season before we see proper movement.
I know we all want answers ASAP, but it might just be a question of wait out on this and when there is news then there is news.
I'd also ask that we remember what we have in common, that we are all Derby and want the best for the club, my view is that sniping at each other, different groups, posters and dismissing with terms such as wrist slashers or happy clappers does nothing good bar possibly making you feel better for a few second., Whilst people may have a different view debate is good, sarcasm, anger abuse in my view is not. I feel the club, with the dire straights we are in, need the fanbase to step up show why we are amongst the best in the country and support the club, manager and players during what is going to be a testing season.
Jesus, I've rambled a lot for a post that is just my opinion and not fact. Sorry.
COYR

Can you give a cast iron guarantee you'll continue to fund the club with the minimum amount needed to ensure survival as a club, until any takeover how ever long that will be?
 

I would like to submit this non football related question, but one that I feel on a human level should be asked.
Mel, how are you and how is your health?

The name of Derby County has been radically sullied in the press of late, some of it very unfair. Does the Club have a communications strategy to set the record straight over some of the issues eg how we cheated relegation? How we fixed our accounts? How we sold the ground to ourselves? What we value as a Club eg fairness, community spirited, ambitious. 

Not even close.  Tim Ward's reign when for year after year we showed no signs of progress; sacking Sir Brian after years of progression; the whole post Dave MacKay period and Docherty when average player after average player was sold to us as a world beater replacing genuine world beaters and a succession of owners with no money; 30 minutes from extinction and then saved by Maxwell - saved by a crook who then steadily lost interest and stole the income from our two best players; the long slide into the 3rd division; Brian not coming back and Peter not the manager that Brian was, never mind their falling out; the 3 amigo period; the promise followed by the depression of Lionel's ownership and that's before we get to the 11 point season and three managers in a year and losing at bloody Wembley time after bloody time after bloody time.
Watch the Big Match revisited - that depresses me more but in an addictive way.  Football was fun then, more equal - the pitches (not only the BBG) were awful, the players not as fit, the grounds not as well appointed, the referees not as good (God help us), the FA was in charge (God help us), managers ran clubs with (allegedly) brown envelopes and cash, players were slaves and fans often violent, the BBC actually did proper sport and did it well without 5Live and Robbie and Chris, newspapers covered all clubs not just 6, European cup a knock out competition against Champion sides only heard of not seen before. A lack of familiarity bred interest and passion. Above all there was no social media, no P and S, no EFL, no PL, no Sky/BT, no pleasing fans thousands of miles away. Just better.
What football has become in my lifetime is far, far more depressing than the temporary problems of my beloved club

I know a few on here have a blinkered view of Rooney. Some didn't want him here in the first place, some didn't want him as manager which is fair enough, we're all not going to like/want the same players managers. 
This is only my opinion.
When Rooney first took over fully we were playing better stuff than under Cocu and we pulled away from the relegation zone.
Then we were hit with injuries to key players which basically ripped the spine out of our team.
Then CKR started carrying an injury but had to play still and we could see he wasn't 100% but we had nothing else.
The results/confidence started to decline and the squad we had after the injuries, any manager would struggle with. Our bench was full of kids.
In my opinion we can't berate Rooney for his final 15 matches when McLaren had the same problem in the season we failed to reach the playoffs, with a far superior squad and everyone was blaming the injuries to our key players in the run in. You can't have it both ways.
If Mac was manager last season he'd have had far far more slack from certain posters than Rooney has had.
Luckily this forum is a tiny percentage of our fan base and those who just don't like Rooney is even less.
I'm not happy with how thing went last season, not by a long shot, but i'm a realist and I could see what shape the club is in.
To put ALL the blame on Rooney is ridiculous imo.
He now has a good pre season to install his playing style on the squad. He also needs to get his players in.
THEN, if after all this we are still close to relegation, i believe he'll walk.
 

Whilst appreciate everyone is entitled to an opinion on a forum, but there seems to be a smug group of fans on here that seem to be wanting the team and manager to fail, as that will prove them to have been right all along.
Whilst Rooney wasn't my choice of manager he is the man in charge and did keep us up when most including myself thought we were going down last season.
He's also been in charge of us during what is probably some of the most difficult circumstances any manager of Derby, and most other clubs for that matter has had to face.
Let's not kid ourselves, it would be a hell of an achievement for any  manager, especially a novice with just over 1/2 a seasons experience to turn things around.
With a poor bare bones squad, no sign of players coming in due to Embargo Plus, and want away Chairman,  not to mention the potential future points penalty, the fact he hasn't yet walked away from the job when alot would have is to Rooney's credit in my opinion.
But these are the cards we've been dealt. So as the season approaches isn't it time for the fans to begin to get behind the team and manager and show some unity at a time when almost everyone is against us.
If that beyond some posters at least try and be constructive with your criticism.
UTR

Always felt like FFP or P&S do nothing to tackle the problem they were set out to achieve.  They were implemented to stop teams overspending, gambling on success but failing and crumbling.  It hasn’t prevented this, it’s just made it more of a gamble. In the Championship, overspend and pull it off and you get promoted and face no punishment, but fail and you’re left in a worse position than you would have been without FFP. Before you’d be in a financial state, now you’re in a financial state, face a fine, transfer embargo and points deduction.  I’m sure these are intended to act as a deterrent so that people stick within the rules, however, they won’t and they’ll constantly try and find loopholes due to the lack of a level playing field. 
 
a fairer way to level things out would be to set a transfer budget that all clubs have to stay within. You can spend more than say £20m on players in a year and every club has an overall wage limit to stick to. That way, even those with parachute payments get no unfair advantage as they have the same wage and transfer budget. That said, they’ll need to ensure contracts given in the prem at suitably structured to include a wage reduction should they get relegated. 
 
I am no expert so feel free to rip the idea to shreds if it’s actually nonsense. 

Surely though there comes a point where someone says enough is enough. Surely the punishment has to fit the crime, not destroy the club. Arguably the club has already been punished enough? which of the other transgressors have been hounded in the media like Derby? Were QPR or Villa or recently SWFC? The EFL could have dealt with this so differently and with a little acceptance of the fact that their rules are not explicit enough and that is at the very least a contributory factor? Surely?
Owners only do this because the Championship, as a competition has been ruined by parachute payments.