Mel Morris interview on Radio Derby 1pm

[Ram-Alf]

7 minutes ago, kevinhectoring said:

Why do you and Paul Merson think this? Seems to make no sense. The entire value of the club is surely dependent on it being an EFl member and a going concern. So is the value of the stadium. 

Anything with Liquid in it Merson really doesn't understand.

[G STAR RAM]

I'm afraid things just don't add up still for me.

This situation is all down to Covid (MM)

We have a sustainable model (club statement)

Covid cost us £20m income (MM)

I have been writing a cheque of between £1.5m and £2m per month (MM).

So how since 30 June 2018 have we managed to burn through the £80m received for the ground, plus 2 years worth of season ticket money, not paid HMRC in excess of £20m and also ran up debts with Gabay and MSD.

Must be something wrong with my calculator!

[1967RAMS]

10 minutes ago, Gaspode said:

I may have missed it as I was a little late switching on and had to make a cuppa halfway through, but was he asked/did he say:

- why he'd chosen Friday (just before an important match) to put us into admin?

- if the new accounts showed we'd breached FFP by £4M in 2017/18 (which he reckoned was a 4 point penalty), why hadn't he snapped the EFL's hand off and moved on asap?

- why he left the players and manager to find out aabout admin via Sky?

- what part MSD will play in admin?

I saw that someone on here claimed it was a good interview - seems to me that the really big questions weren't even asked.....

 

Perhaps he should drop a bombshell every Friday night if it instigates the incredible reaction from players and fans we witnessed yesterday afternoon 

[Carnero]

24 minutes ago, DCFC27 said:

Does anyone have a link to the play back? 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p09wdhd3

 

[Carl Sagan]

13 minutes ago, DCFC1388 said:

Seems like the accounts are all good to go but we're waiting on answers from the EFL still, but the EFL have seen the draft copies

I wonder if the final trigger for admin wasn't the EFL's threat on Tuesday to simply keep us under embargo in perpetuity, meaning Mel would never be able to sell the club. That was what I read into the end of their statement and I suspect Mel did too.

"There are no timescales for this matter to be concluded and the League will not be providing any further comment at this time."

https://www.efl.com/news/2021/september/efl-statement-Derby-county/

[kevinhectoring]

3 minutes ago, Miggins said:

He said that selling a club is a horrendously difficult process and he hopes that the administrators have an easier time.

Everything Mel said indicates he regards administration as inevitable. In fact he and ED spoke as though we are already in administration. 
I think the position is that we have 2 weeks to avoid formal administration. This probably means finding a buyer and doing a deal with Cocu’s team and HMRC within that period (it seems they are the main unsecured creditors apart from football creditors). 
 

Perhaps Mel knows that it’s now impossible to avoid administration eg because MSD have pulled the plug. Hope not 

[Miggins]

1 hour ago, Derbados said:

So far we’re 10 minutes in, he’s not apologised for anything yet, taken on any blame and is currently (predictably) ranting about how much the EFL hate him. 

he’s absolutely deluded 

To be fair, @Derbados, I didn't hear him 'rant' anywhere at all in the interview. I'm not trying to defend him at all, but just commenting on what I heard. He said that whilst he is the owner he thinks the club will be unfairly treated by the EFL. He said that he didn't want to get into a discussion about the EFL and he didn't, though he mentioned them a couple of times when relevant. When he spoke about them he was not disrespectful.

[Woodypecker]

9 minutes ago, Sparkle said:

My take on that 

He is absolutely right without covid this would never had happened but Covid has happened it is here 

we look to have failed the FFP in one year by £4 million so Potential 4pt deduction so I assume that may linger on? Will that be £4 million on following years? And more 4 point deductions - who knows as the EFL seem to double count.

we were denied the £8 million loan in January by the EFL ( premiership money) to help pay tax and NI for unexplained reasons which is a shame because now the HMRC won’t be getting that money as a nation because they will be offered let’s say 20 pence in the pound in the not to distant future.

he mentioned about us not being to extend a players contact to keep him a year longer to maybe keep his value or sell him ( we know this to be Jack Marriott) he also mentioned that another championship club lost a lot of money in a similar way - my view is that it would be Reading FC and Omar Richards who left to join Bayern Munich was it on a free) 

He mentioned that since F&P has come in only Two clubs have been promoted without breaching F&P 

He mentioned that 15 calls of interest in buying the club came in over the weekend which he believes 2-3 have the means and intent to do so 

I believe he mentioned that he still owns the stadium so if he gets anything back it may come from that and his losses are in excess of £200 million of his own money 

He said he tried and failed and was sorry that we are where we are.

He wouldn’t go into depth about the EFL at this point in time 

we’ll that’s what I heard I read others may have different opinions.

That's as I heard it too.

He won't (yet) elaborate on the EFL's attitudes and actions/inactions so as not to jeopardise DCFC's defence of some positions, or perhaps to help to mitigate some penalties.

I think he has plenty of 'ammo' regarding some of the EFL tactics and lack of fairness:

Remember the way they used the Chorley FA Cup tie re: counting those junior players of having made a first team appearance, then commuted to  counting those with professional experience - which altered and delayed the meagre embargo player recruitment entitlements; their 'regret' that a points deduction could not follow the £100,000 fine; the announcement of a duplicate Rams/Wycombe League-swap fixture-list, without discussion or reference to the club beforehand?

I don't think he will 'misbehave' on stadium sale factors. He doesn't want the club to fold or be homeless.

I did not hear him say he had invested or lost £200m. Didn't Ed ask him how much he had SPENT? He answered "£200m".

Apart from the revelation about the £4m overspend for one accounting period (hence 4 points deducted) we don't know if other years are non-compliant or by how much.

A few answers, half-answers, some explanations....and a couple of truckloads of other questions still outstanding!

[CBRammette]

10 minutes ago, Gaspode said:

I may have missed it as I was a little late switching on and had to make a cuppa halfway through, but was he asked/did he say:

- why he'd chosen Friday (just before an important match) to put us into admin?

- if the new accounts showed we'd breached FFP by £4M in 2017/18 (which he reckoned was a 4 point penalty), why hadn't he snapped the EFL's hand off and moved on asap?

- why he left the players and manager to find out aabout admin via Sky?

- what part MSD will play in admin?

I saw that someone on here claimed it was a good interview - seems to me that the really big questions weren't even asked.....

 

Numbers 1, 3 and 4 werent discussed. Number 2 i think he said they were discussing why one mistake should punish us multiple times.  So I guess his argument is accounts still compliant with standards just not your silly rules but we will reluctantly restate, and now breach but only breach because of your silly restatement so should be punished once not for multiple profit cycles or something.   
i think the interview was ok for the time available (no silly breaks) but so many questions he could never have covered in an hour. Ed Dawes was much better than expected

[kevinhectoring]

2 minutes ago, Carl Sagan said:

I wonder if the final trigger for admin wasn't the EFL's threat on Tuesday to simply keep us under embargo in perpetuity, meaning Mel would never be able to sell the club. That was what I read into the end of their statement and I suspect Mel did too.

"There are no timescales for this matter to be concluded and the League will not be providing any further comment at this time."

https://www.efl.com/news/2021/september/efl-statement-Derby-county/

Yes exactly. This is why Mel said that for things to move forward,  he needs to be out of  the picture. Gibson has his testicles in a vice 

[Icomeinpeace]

5 minutes ago, kevinhectoring said:

Why do you and Paul Merson think this? Seems to make no sense. The entire value of the club is surely dependent on it being an EFl member and a going concern. So is the value of the stadium. 

But its in danger of not being a going concern. The club are a business and like all businesses it's saleable value is based on the money it can make on the day-to-day plus the value of its assets. The administrators look at what it owes and how it can pay back that money through the sale of its assets and projected income over a period of time. The club are in all probability (sorry) going to be relegated so your income will likely fall from lower attendances, not a given but a probable, your value from sponsorship will fall as you'll in League 1, you don't own your stadium so you can't sell that, at present all you own is the contracts of your players. You look at the current squad and you have assets with some value like Sibley and Buchanan but not such else.

So you owe +£30 million pounds.... and your projected income is low and going to get lower and you own pretty much nothing. The administrator's only job is pay off your owings, if they rule that you are not a viable business so there's no likelihood of you meeting your current and future obligations then they can order the club be liquidated as the only way for the creditors to get anything back.   

[CornwallRam]

6 minutes ago, G STAR RAM said:

I'm afraid things just don't add up still for me.

This situation is all down to Covid (MM)

We have a sustainable model (club statement)

Covid cost us £20m income (MM)

I have been writing a cheque of between £1.5m and £2m per month (MM).

So how since 30 June 2018 have we managed to burn through the £80m received for the ground, plus 2 years worth of season ticket money, not paid HMRC in excess of £20m and also ran up debts with Gabay and MSD.

Must be something wrong with my calculator!

Surely that's easy to resolve. Just take a look at the accounts for the last few seasons ?

[G STAR RAM]

4 minutes ago, Miggins said:

To be fair, @Derbados, I didn't hear him 'rant' anywhere at all in the interview. I'm not trying to defend him at all, but just commenting on what I heard. He said that whilst he is the owner he thinks the club will be unfairly treated by the EFL. He said that he didn't want to get into a discussion about the EFL and he didn't, though he mentioned them a couple of times when relevant. When he spoke about them he was not disrespectful.

Exactly.

Anyone who says he ranted about the EFL probably didn't even listen to the interview.

[IslandExile]

34 minutes ago, RoyMac5 said:

No I wanted the club by someone who took their responsibility for its future seriously. Not constantly gambling its existence. All the while playing the big I am to the fans.

Question to everyone....

Imagine the scenario, two years time, clear at the top of the championship, on course for back to back promotions.

Wayne Rooney, manager, approaches the board during the January transfer window:

"The lads are doing well but tiring. We need one more player just to get us over the line. I have one lined up."

The board refuses: "We're top of the league. To buy a new player would take us over budget, albeit by only £100k, but we set a limit".

Derby miss out on promotion on goal difference due to player fatigue.

How do you feel about the board?

[CBRammette]

2 minutes ago, Miggins said:

To be fair, @Derbados, I didn't hear him 'rant' anywhere at all in the interview. I'm not trying to defend him at all, but just commenting on what I heard. He said that whilst he is the owner he thinks the club will be unfairly treated by the EFL. He said that he didn't want to get into a discussion about the EFL and he didn't, though he mentioned them a couple of times when relevant. When he spoke about them he was not disrespectful.

You are correct he did not rant at all. Most people have mentioned he sounded a little detached if anything. He hardly mentioned EFL other than as specific examples mentioned in a business like way. Wouldnt be surprised if he does take legal action personally somehow when this is all over hence reticence. Or he doesnt want them to take it out on the club for his rants

[Guest]

Editing 

Edited September 19, 2021 by Monty

[Rev]

20 minutes ago, alram said:

He said the current accounts yet to be submitted will also break FFP rules which means further deductions on top of the -21.

How could he run the club so shambolically and have the guts to show his face every week knowing what he is doing to the club.

Mel Morris is the very definition of a cancer, slowly eating away at the club until it can survive no more. We could be looking at almost 70 points deducted over all over a period of years.

We've not been deducted 21 points yet, as far as I know.

From what he's said, we're looking at -16pts, where on earth have you plucked an almost 70 point deduction from?

[kevinhectoring]

1 minute ago, Icomeinpeace said:

But its in danger of not being a going concern. The club are a business and like all businesses it's saleable value is based on the money it can make on the day-to-day plus the value of its assets. The administrators look at what it owes and how it can pay back that money through the sale of its assets and projected income over a period of time. The club are in all probability (sorry) going to be relegated so your income will likely fall from lower attendances, not a given but a probable, your value from sponsorship will fall as you'll in League 1, you don't own your stadium so you can't sell that, at present all you own is the contracts of your players. You look at the current squad and you have assets with some value like Sibley and Buchanan but not such else.

So you owe +£30 million pounds.... and your projected income is low and going to get lower and you own pretty much nothing. The administrator's only job is pay off your owings, if they rule that you are not a viable business so there's no likelihood of you meeting your current and future obligations then they can order the club be liquidated as the only way for the creditors to get anything back.   

So the administrators do a CVA with cocu and HMRC, slash the wages and sell players in Jan where it makes sense.  Still a going concern it’s just that we might end up in league 2 

[RadioactiveWaste]

2 minutes ago, Woodypecker said:

That's as I heard it too.

He won't (yet) elaborate on the EFL's attitudes and actions/inactions so as not to jeopardise DCFC's defence of some positions, or perhaps to help to mitigate some penalties.

I think he has plenty of 'ammo' regarding some of the EFL tactics and lack of fairness:

Remember the way they used the Chorley FA Cup tie re: counting those junior players of having made a first team appearance, then commuted to  counting those with professional experience - which altered and delayed the meagre embargo player recruitment entitlements; their 'regret' that a points deduction could not follow the £100,000 fine; the announcement of a duplicate Rams/Wycombe League-swap fixture-list, without discussion or reference to the club beforehand?

I don't think he will 'misbehave' on stadium sale factors. He doesn't want the club to fold or be homeless.

I did not hear him say he had invested or lost £200m. Didn't Ed ask him how much he had SPENT? He answered "£200m".

Apart from the revelation about the £4m overspend for one accounting period (hence 4 points deducted) we don't know if other years are non-compliant or by how much.

A few answers, half-answers, some explanations....and a couple of truckloads of other questions still outstanding!

It's a fair point that some of things not answered might be about protecting the club's position on certain points.

Still believe the administration is because Mel stopped writing the cheques - OK - Why? Because he couldn't or did not want to? Takeover deal collapsed last week, right, and it was then you gave up on keeping DCFC afloat. He can't find a buyer without going into administration - CBE for services to business that man.

8 minutes ago, Carl Sagan said:

I wonder if the final trigger for admin wasn't the EFL's threat on Tuesday to simply keep us under embargo in perpetuity, meaning Mel would never be able to sell the club. That was what I read into the end of their statement and I suspect Mel did too.

"There are no timescales for this matter to be concluded and the League will not be providing any further comment at this time."

https://www.efl.com/news/2021/september/efl-statement-Derby-county/

Two thoughts on this - The EFL going to put a timescale on it in the public domain? and, the action is on DCFC to submit their accounts, not on the EFL to say "ok, based on your draft we think XYZ"

 

[JABBA]

1 hour ago, Yani P said:

Now he is saying all bar 2 clubs breached FFP who got promoted..

But that doesn't make it OK Mel lol..

Most of these will be due to the huge bonuses paid to players for the promotion and clauses in sales the breach not really contributing to the success but rising as a result of it.