The Administration Thread

[TomTom92]

I think Derby will be seen in a few years as the blueprint of how not to run a football club. 
 
Seems with every solution another problem raises it’s head. 

Edited March 21, 2022 by TomTom92

[TheresOnlyWanChope]

5 minutes ago, Papahet said:

The sad thing is the local media haven't got the balls to press Mel Morris for answers. Radio Derby and DET I'm talking about you guys most of all.

 

Fear of lawsuits? Genuinely no idea.

 

Either way, the media have been a shambles at covering this right from the start and asking the questions that need answering, fast.

 

The club will die and the sad thing is, there's no pressure whatsoever on Morris to cough up the money which rightfully he should be paying these creditors off nobody else.

 

So much anger towards EFL and these admins, yet barely anything towards the sole reason and the individual for the the mess in the first place? Strange...

 

 

Derby County will live on despite Morris or the EFL or anyone. AFC Derby County or maybe it will remain Derby County. The strength of support and feeling in the city and county and wider afield means even if the worst does happen, the club will continue and it will in most likelihood just be seen as the same club. Hopefully though, there will be a breakthrough and a buyer will be confirmed soon. 

[RedSox]

23 minutes ago, atherstoneram said:

What he actually said was "it seems to me", that doesn't mean he has any conclusive knowledge of the situation.

For the avoidance of any doubt, his words in the tweet!

[atherstoneram]

4 minutes ago, i-Ram said:

Looking at it from a hard businessman perspective, they will of course have crunched the figures for next season, and the season after, on the assumption that we will be in League 1 from 2022 to 2024.  I suspect the decisions that will be being made will to be get as much value as possible from the sale of Bird, Knight, Sibley and Bielik, reinvesting a modest amount of that money in fees for new players experienced in the combat of League 1 - but looking to maximise free transfer incomings on the basis that players will want to play for us because of our name, tradition, etc.  I also think the Academy as we currently know it might be downscaled until we are back in the Championship, or at least on an even financial footing. Its bleak stuff; it was never going to be pretty once we went past January without a preferred bid in place.

I wish i could really agree with you that players will want to play for us because of our name and tradition but sadly i don't think that is the case anymore, you can't live on history, all we are now, it seems, is that we are a club in trouble and i apologise if anyone thinks that is a negative view but that's how it looks. If a new owner gets the club with a -15 point start that means the EFL can still put a constraint on the wages we can offer. If we can't entice them with a competitive wage they will look elsewhere. It is not just like we need a few players to bring the squad up to depth we need virtually a complete new squad. I don't envy any manager with the task they face whichever league we are in.

[atherstoneram]

2 minutes ago, RedSox said:

For the avoidance of any doubt, his words in the tweet!

Sorry yes, his take on things,should have looked before posting.

[Sparkle]

We were talking before the match on Saturday and interesting that we also put a total value of the club at about £5 million based on name, tradition and supporters - grim stuff but why would anyone buy us from administration when you could get us from liquidation for a fraction of the price. No idea if a new owner would still want to play at pride park unless the FA or EFL allow us to start again in higher leagues due to crowd safety measures both home and away and I mean conference or league 2 ( fourth division) 

[Archied]

1 hour ago, inglorious02 said:

Could two bidders pool resources and make a joint bid?

Could we go on dragons den?

[EnigmaRam]

I’d take div 1 and a 15 point penalty if it meant we could sign up the layers that are willing to stay now relegation is all but guaranteed. 
 

Retaining the majority of those players that are out of contract is worth more than 15 points. 

[Tamworthram]

2 hours ago, Gaspode said:

Isn't the stadium a community asset and therefore not allowed to be redeveloped?

I don’t think that’s necessarily how community assets work. Reading below, it seems it would only be protected if there was proved to be demand for its current use which there wouldn’t be if no sporting organisation wished to buy or rent the stadium.

Disposal of community asset
Where the owner of a community asset wishes to dispose of it, he or she must notify the local authority in writing. The authority must then notify the applicant of the proposed sale. The owner cannot dispose of the asset for a six-week period, so as to give the applicant an opportunity to ask to be treated as a potential bidder for the asset. The applicant must submit an intention to bid to the local authority in writing within the six-week period. Once an intention to bid has been submitted, the applicant has six months from the date on which the owner notified the local authority of his intention to sell to develop the bid.
The sale of a community asset is like any other sale of land and is a matter for negotiation between buyer and seller at an agreed price. A seller is not bound to accept an applicant’s bid, even if it is the only one.

it is open to the local planning authority
to decide whether listing as an asset of community value is a material consideration if an application for change of use is submitted, considering all the circumstances of the case.’
8. Examples
Refusal to allow the development of Kensal Rise Library into flats. The asset of community value (ACV) listing was a material consideration because it ‘reasonably demonstrates that there is a local demand for community facilities within the locality and in particular a demand that those facilities should be provided on the site.’
 

[rsmini]

1 hour ago, TuffLuff said:

Kinda but I think it’s probably complicated and messy.

Lets say Ashley wants to buy the stadium rather than the club (that is my gut instinct anyway but that’s by the by) so he pays off the MSD debt, leaving Appleby to sort the creditors. In the short term, it works and then the club pays a lease to Ashley whilst Ashley does what he wishes with ‘The Pride of Sport Direct Park’ but eventually you’d imagine the club would want the stadium back. The issue with that that it wouldn’t take much to take it away from being a reasonable price for the sell back. The stadium was worth £80 mill before administration, it would be worth around that again and so it would become a huge issue. It doesn’t take much thinking to realise all the scenarios that could occur there.

I think the more sensible outcome, if you were looking at the idea of splitting the bids, would be for the council to buy the stadium from Mel, lease to the club with the idea it would be brought back into the club at a later date.

I wonder if the plans to extend the stadium outside are still in place? If so a new owner could put retail units/restaurants in place 

Just a thought 

[Yani P]

Saddest thing of all is the loss of our talent for nothing and Rooney having nothing to offer them. Literally millions of pounds that could help sustain the club into the future disappearing.

I am concerned that our potential buyers see liquidation as the best business model otherwise its impossible to explain what is happening.

Edited March 21, 2022 by Yani P

[kevinhectoring]

2 hours ago, TexasRam said:

I don’t think MM gives a toss if we are nice or nasty to him. He’s made his decisions and walked away from the mess he made with his terrible management, he’s not looking back and only wants what’s best for him. I don’t think he cares what happens to DCFC however the fans react. I don’t see any way out of this anymore and it’s one man’s fault. 

So why then did he settle the Gibson claim ?

[PistoldPete]

2 minutes ago, kevinhectoring said:

So why then did he settle the Gibson claim ?

As I have said many times Kevin I believe that the Boro claim was against Morris as well as Derby So he had to deal with it anyway. 
 

the MSD loan is a liability of DCFC. Morris May be unable or unwilling to pay it off. I hope he can. 

[RAM1966]

2 hours ago, jono said:

All true but we need to recognise he doesn’t really hold the keys completely  because of the apparent 20 million in security lodged against it. 

To make any deal viable he needs to throw in the stadium.  Mel do the right thing, you've destroyed the club,at least save it from extinction 

[RAM1966]

2 hours ago, inglorious02 said:

Could two bidders pool resources and make a joint bid?

Why would they, the bids coming in are fair, Morris needs to just throw the ground in and clear the debts to MSD.....

Mel has to do the right thing.

[kevinhectoring]

3 hours ago, RipleyRich said:

Personally I think it`s the only hope.

I`ve said all along that the "bids" are no where near enough to progress to a preferred bidder. I still feel HMRC are going for more than 25%. They pushed for years for rule changes to stop Football Clubs using a 12 point deduction (previously 9) to lower tax bills, and I firmly believe that they will sacrifice £7.5m to make the Football World sit up and take notice. Despite the statements made that HMRC will not be the sticking point.

The loan situation is horrendous and the debt continues to rise. It`s just a case of clinging to the hope that one day SOON, MM will wake up with a very guilty conscience and do the right thing.

Seems to me there are three possible outcomes :

1 someone buys us for 30 and MM leaves his 20 in on a subordinated basis, so he only gets any money back if things go well

2 MSD takes MM’s cash deposit and buys the club for 30 

3 liquidation

1 is the most likely and the most complex and time consuming to agree. I doubt MSD (or Dell) is interested - so not 2. And his settlement with Gibbo suggests MM will not allow us to be liquidated - so not 3 

[TheresOnlyWanChope]

23 minutes ago, kevinhectoring said:

So why then did he settle the Gibson claim ?

Because he wants a sale so he can make money on it

[RAM1966]

2 hours ago, Stive Pesley said:

Before the pandemic - he made no secret of the fact he was trying to sell the club. He couldn't get any serious parties interested in the deal that he wanted. In other words a good deal for MM was a bad deal for the buyer

Then the pandemic hit and he realised he stood even less chance of selling, so he put us in administration because he thought that would make for a more attractive deal for buyers. He was wrong

The only attractive deal left for any buyer is to pick up the pieces of a liquidation 

It's one man's fault

 

 

1 hour ago, Archied said:

Could we go on dragons den?

Ill give you 10% of the money, but, I want 100% of the club.....

[RAM1966]

12 minutes ago, kevinhectoring said:

Seems to me there are three possible outcomes :

1 someone buys us for 30 and MM leaves his 20 in on a subordinated basis, so he only gets any money back if things go well

2 MSD takes MM’s cash deposit and buys the club for 30 

3 liquidation

1 is the most likely and the most complex and time consuming to agree. I doubt MSD (or Dell) is interested - so not 2. And his settlement with Gibbo suggests MM will not allow us to be liquidated - so not 3 

That would still mean paying £50m for the club, just parking £20m.  Nobody is going to pay that, the club is not worth it!

[kevinhectoring]

16 minutes ago, PistoldPete said:

As I have said many times Kevin I believe that the Boro claim was against Morris as well as Derby So he had to deal with it anyway. 
 

the MSD loan is a liability of DCFC. Morris May be unable or unwilling to pay it off. I hope he can. 

You have indeed said it many times. But never have you pointed to any evidence that a claim was made or threatened against MM personally nor have you explained any possible legal basis for that skimpiest of claims. And when MM cunningly offered himself up as a defendant in the High Court, the chorus that came back from the North east was: “how stupid do you think we are?  we’re suing Derby not Morris”.