Caerphilly Ram

@angieram have the Supporters Groups been in touch with Q regarding raising funds recently? I know from your earlier reply they’re not exactly forthcoming with info about admin and takeover, which isn’t ideal but not much can be done as mentioned before regarding NDAs and GDPR, is it feasible to approach them with ideas for raising capital? If Q need to evidence funding for the season and the EFL are so keen to help us survive, can Q and EFL work out a mechanic for season tickets? Or half season tickets? I know gofundmes and the like were mentioned before, get them to do a commercial transaction of some sort instead, raffle off Rammie’s head/Rooney’s boxers/blades of grass….something that can go through the club’s “tills” to generate some funds with fans able to contribute directly in the current absence of match days/kits etc
Maybe raffle off a corporate box for a season or something. There must be other options to contribute to the funds the club needs other than more debt

We currnetly have 15 players on professional contracts for next season. A further 8 players under 24 have been offered contract extensions. We then have 15 2nd year scholars, and a number of 1st year scholars due to be announced.
We may struggle to field a competitive team on a regular basis, but we will have no trouble fielding a team next season.

When asked the question previously on more than one occasion they have always been dead set against it. Their concern seems to be centred around what we as supporters would expect in return for such investment. 
I have felt angry with them ever since, because any attempts to involve the fan community in solutions has been pushed away as if only the 'great and the good' can decide Derby's fate.
I feel they have been patronising at best, and I could say a lot more.
RamsTrust has shared all responses they have had from the administrators. But Quantuma made their views on engagement clear a few months ago imo when they issued that statement about how much it was costing!
Please don't think that because I am on the EFL's side in this latest issue, that I think that they are any better, because I feel they have behaved appallingly as well. As have Mel Morris and potential purchasers. 
I am now rapidly coming to the conclusion that the sooner we get an independent regulator in to sort this shambles out, the better.
Too late to help Derby County out of our current predicament,  but desperately needed.

We will compete next season - I think we would have been kicked out by now if the EFL really thought we couldn’t. Q will secure funding from somewhere or confirm the bidder before the start of the season IMO - while there are a number of bidders at the table - we don’t have to worry about liquidation.
 
With multiple bidders the only way the process will be quicker is when someone sets a hard deadline that has to be met - ie if the EFL came out and said Q needs to accept a bid by xx date or we are gone not Q saying send your best bid by Wednesday at 2. All bidders are pushing this to the end now to get the cheapest deal. Not easy for us fans but it’s just how it will be. 

Yep, lots of people on here and social media using it as another stick with which to beat Quantuma. They certainly appear to have been useless on a number of things throughout this process; communication, timely decisions and deadlines being the biggest issues, along with the questions being raised about their impartiality but we cannot prove any of that at this point. 
However they cannot legally share data around the process without consent from parties involved, and if the bidders do not consent to their data being shared then that’s that, no amount of speculating or keyboard bashing into the void will change it. 
 

The EFL are so awful in all this it’s ridiculous.
They have pontificated for so long and now they are trying to say they haven’t done anything wrong.  
 
I think Birch is a total .@&£

I agree Q have acted correctly in respect to not the sharing of information with the EFL, they have an NDA and should honour its contents.
The sharing of information could easily be dealt with by a Tri-Party NDA, with EFL, Q and The Bidder all signing the agreement. However, if you were advising the Bidder why on earth would you want to share information with the EFL what benefit is there to the bidder !!!!!! 

This is getting forgotten about.  The EFL’s response goes on about how administration works, options, what Quantuma have or haven’t done, etc and then there’s this throw away bit at the end.  No doubt when asked by the EFL, Quantuma probably pointed out that they can’t due to NDAs, etc.  They probably advised the EFL to seek express permission from the bidders legal teams.  This has been done - for all we know it could have been done 10mins before the reply to Ramstrust was sent.  Quantuma have dealt with the request correctly, despite the message the EFL are trying to send.

Quantuma did respond to the original letter, Caerphilly, they just said nothing.
"We have since corresponded with Quantuma to ask what the deadline is for receiving bids. The response was that although it has been made clear to bidders that timescales are short, no specific deadlines have been set, but there is good progress."
That's why RamsTrust composed the second letter, which was a bit more forceful and was agreed and signed by several of the supporters groups. You are right that so far Quantuma haven't responded to that one! 
I feel there are two separate conflicts here.
The first one is between prospective bidders, who are carefully leaking selective information to the press in the hope of pushing rivals into making statements that give them insight into where they should be pitching their own bids.
The second one is a war of attrition between Quantuma and the EFL, with neither of them trusting the other.
I think the EFL are convinced that Quantuma aren't playing with a straight bat and appear to be manipulating the bidding process in support of their preferred purchasers, rather than running an open competition. I would imagine that the EFL are very suspicious that the former owner might have something to do with that.
I think that Quantuma are very suspicious of the EFL's motives in wanting confidential information that may be used against them by the EFL in making threats against the future status of the club and then interfering in the bidding process. Are Quantuma thinking this completely independently, or is a former owner putting these suspicions into their head? 
I like your optimistic take on events. Mine is less so, in that I can see no sensible reason for Quantuma spending so long on Kirchner and his bid if they thought there were other credible bids out there.
I therefore think they are trying to fool someone to throw enough cash on the table to get us out of this mess whilst satisfying the intransigent demands of the former owner. I am increasingly thinking they won't succeed and I think the EFL think the same, hence the current standoff. I hope you're right and I'm wrong!

Says the solicitors have refused consent in the body of the text. The solicitors who represent the various bidders do not want to speak to the EFL, more than likely under instruction from their clients, the bidders themselves. 
It’s good that Birch has taken time to respond to the supporters groups, something Quantuma have failed to do so far following the collective letter of concern that was sent. He’s clarified a couple of useful points around dates for admin and, as Roymac pointed out, there is one “unofficial” deadline as this week Q need to evidence that we can find funding to finish the season (which we kind of knew), other than that it’s just a sort of courteous reply that doesn't offer much.
The EFL want to be more involved in the process, but unless the prospective bidders consent they cannot be, and the line about solicitors not consenting makes it very clear, until someone is ready to show their hand fully the EFL, and the fans, have to wait. 
I’m sat here hoping the reason for Quantuma’s silence once again is because they’re too busy fielding calls from the interested parties and also planning/budgeting for us to be able to see out the season and that we will hear some sort of progress this week. Naively optimistic of me I know, I’m just not ready to lose all hope just yet. Keep the faith folks ? 
 

Says the solicitors have refused consent in the body of the text. The solicitors who represent the various bidders do not want to speak to the EFL, more than likely under instruction from their clients, the bidders themselves. 
It’s good that Birch has taken time to respond to the supporters groups, something Quantuma have failed to do so far following the collective letter of concern that was sent. He’s clarified a couple of useful points around dates for admin and, as Roymac pointed out, there is one “unofficial” deadline as this week Q need to evidence that we can find funding to finish the season (which we kind of knew), other than that it’s just a sort of courteous reply that doesn't offer much.
The EFL want to be more involved in the process, but unless the prospective bidders consent they cannot be, and the line about solicitors not consenting makes it very clear, until someone is ready to show their hand fully the EFL, and the fans, have to wait. 
I’m sat here hoping the reason for Quantuma’s silence once again is because they’re too busy fielding calls from the interested parties and also planning/budgeting for us to be able to see out the season and that we will hear some sort of progress this week. Naively optimistic of me I know, I’m just not ready to lose all hope just yet. Keep the faith folks ? 
 

The EFL knows this and should always have known this. Or perhaps they skipped basic GDPR training. 

I see a lot of frustration and conspiracy theory posts going on. 
 
I get the frustration. But to resort to conspiracies and venting isn’t terribly helpful(to you or any of us). 
 
It seems pretty simple to me. And I’ve said it before: this is a crap deal for any buyer. But someone will end up buying.
 
And that is why we are seeing these shadow games, use of PR teams, and the length of time this is taking. 
 
Whoever buys Derby WILL be paying too much for the asset, because of the financial situation the business is in.  And all the bidders are trying their best to get it for less. That means misinformation, PR teams, and waiting. 
 
For your own health, please stop trying to shoe-horn in some conspiracies and point fingers. 
 
Again, this is a crap Deal for any buyer, and they are trying to make it a better one by employing standard tactics when negotiating deals. And it is 100% on the bidders/buyers to get this done. 
 
A buyer will sign the deal. 
coyr

NDA isn’t cobblers. It’s a legal agreement signed by parties and if they breach them then they must pay damages. Just because you, and all of us, want something doesn’t mean the law is set to one side.  
 
What is going on at our club is, that it is a financial mess and some people are trying to sort it out. Some are doing better than others. While you and I are a fans; in the real commercial world that doesn’t make us anything more than customers. And as there isn’t a product to sell at the moment, and as you haven’t bought anything other than a match ticket, for which you “received” the product you paid for, then you have no rights whatsoever.
Hey it hurts me too but this is the harsh reality, raging about it achieves nothing other than high blood pressure. 

You obviously have no knowledge of the legal implications of not abiding by NDAs or the GDPR

I think that it's vitally important at this time that Derby fans focus on who the bad guys are in this situation. 
Almost from the start of administrations the EFL have been an 'enemy'. For them to start posturing and grandstanding now is a complete insult in my opinion, and no Rams fan should be under any illusion that their current 'concern' for our welfare is completely disingenuous, they couldn't give a f***, their only concern is for their own future and the torrent of criticism that will come their way if we go out of business.
Add to that the way Quantuma have conducted this administration, and Rams fans have been abandoned on all sides.
We are in a position where rich men on all sides of our current predicament are happy to lie and leak stories to the media as long as it furthers their cause.
I'm surprised by how much fighting there is on this forum, as in my opinion we have to stick together, nobody else is going to fight for us, be sure of that.

As to the question of what the bidders have to hide, I’d say it’s fairly obvious. First up, they don’t want other bidders to know what kind of deal they are offering, as they don’t want to be gazumped (especially since Quantuma are trying to run a best and final offer only process).  You don’t want to bid £40m only to have Mike Ashley come in the day after with £40.1m. And secondly, they don’t want other clubs to know what kind of funds they are willing to put up for us, if they try to buy another club in the future.  They won’t want to fail to buy us, go after another league one club, only to be told “but you were willing to bid £40m for Derby…” etc.

You might want to consider changing your name to ‘alarm’. I have lost some, perhaps more than some, faith in Q but whatever they do I would expect it to be fully compliant with legislation.

You mean the admin team are abiding by the law by respecting the confidentiality of any bids? What else do you expect them to do? Break the law and let EFL have information that the bidders want to keep private?

So in the EFL’s own admission, their demand to automatically be party to correspondence between bidders and Quantuma would have broken the law (GDPR regs). But this could be permitted if each bidder themselves consented to the EFL seeing everything - which they have not done, presumably not seeing the value in it and/or being mindful of the fact that confidential EFL access is a direct line to the press.
 
Another world class intervention from our governing body. Brilliant. 

What do we think his wages are? £12-15k per week? Up to £20k? As one of our few contracted players could we convince the EFL to sanction the loan and allow us to use all/some of that freed up wage amount to sign 2, 3 or 4 players on low wages and one year deals? (Pending proof of funding for the season or a takeover of course).
Bielik is undoubtedly a class player but if the above scenario played out it’s win win for all, we’d add much needed bodies to the squad (Cashin, Thommo,  Davies?) whilst retaining a saleable asset for the future. He gets chance to play at a higher level for the World Cup.
If he were to stay and be playing well enough in league one to earn a call up we would then lose a key player during the World Cup as I believe league one carries on throughout.  

What do we think his wages are? £12-15k per week? Up to £20k? As one of our few contracted players could we convince the EFL to sanction the loan and allow us to use all/some of that freed up wage amount to sign 2, 3 or 4 players on low wages and one year deals? (Pending proof of funding for the season or a takeover of course).
Bielik is undoubtedly a class player but if the above scenario played out it’s win win for all, we’d add much needed bodies to the squad (Cashin, Thommo,  Davies?) whilst retaining a saleable asset for the future. He gets chance to play at a higher level for the World Cup.
If he were to stay and be playing well enough in league one to earn a call up we would then lose a key player during the World Cup as I believe league one carries on throughout.  

What do we think his wages are? £12-15k per week? Up to £20k? As one of our few contracted players could we convince the EFL to sanction the loan and allow us to use all/some of that freed up wage amount to sign 2, 3 or 4 players on low wages and one year deals? (Pending proof of funding for the season or a takeover of course).
Bielik is undoubtedly a class player but if the above scenario played out it’s win win for all, we’d add much needed bodies to the squad (Cashin, Thommo,  Davies?) whilst retaining a saleable asset for the future. He gets chance to play at a higher level for the World Cup.
If he were to stay and be playing well enough in league one to earn a call up we would then lose a key player during the World Cup as I believe league one carries on throughout.  

A talented young man...but, Every tackle that is made, Every run that he goes on, Every time he falls over and stays down...we're all thinking...oh not again, Ship him out and save on his wage, Get those in who thrive at this level and go from there.

Thanks for posting @RoyMac5.  What’s striking about this is that Appleby and Co totally rebuilt us with careful management over 6 years.  After throwing everything at trying to stay in the PL they became more prudent, trimmed the wage bill and looked for bargains in the transfer market.  Then, bringing in Mac who let the shackles off we got to Wembley in 2014.  In the same period from 2015 MM blew a load of cash when it needed evolution not revolution and we ended up in administration.
Personally, I’d take 6 years of a careful and steady rebuild.  Play the long game.