The Administration Thread

[angieram]

Just now, Topram said:

Is Mel still involved?

Different meeting, I think. That was with Derby City Council.

[Gritstone Ram]

1 minute ago, angieram said:

Different meeting, I think. That was with Derby City Council.

That’s what I thought after listening to radio Derby tonight. 

[Ram-Alf]

13 minutes ago, RadioactiveWaste said:

In other news, I think perhaps we need a Derbyshire reference guide?

Places to avoid, STI hotspots, feral locals who'd bite your face off soon as look at you, high incidence of fetal alcohol syndrome, but enough about Codnor...

Cotmanhay ?

[Sparkle]

3 hours ago, kevinhectoring said:

It’s not over.  If Curtis and Stearman stay fit, if Bielik comes back. It’s not over. 

As well as a honest and fair referees who actually implement the rules 

[jimtastic56]

25 minutes ago, ilkleyram said:

To those of you in despair or anger over today's announcement, stop.  However hard that may be try and stop. Think positive thoughts, deep breathe, talk, write on here, open the wine or whisky, kiss the spouse and children or dog, whatever it takes.  It was always going to be something along the lines we have heard and it is not (yet) bad news.  It could even be good news.

Every single negotiation I have been involved in - and there has been a fair few over my career much larger than that of our football club, though none as complex - has had one feature.  They’ve all gone down to the wire.  Every single one.  It’s human nature - all sides think they can squeeze a little extra.  Think Brexit (or every single negotiation with the EU ever).  We knew what was going to have to happen months and months and months out (and it’s still not finished) yet there they all were at one minute to midnight (and beyond) negotiating away, deadlines being pushed back and changed, deals being done, compromises reached. Think Northern Ireland or South Africa, Unicef or the United Nations. They’re all the same.

Our deal is about as complex as those given all the parties involved and all their different interests. There is no single ‘truth’ just as many truths as there are parties in the game. Cans will continue to be kicked down the road until the end game is reached and perhaps, just maybe, we are closer to the end game than we were this morning.  This is good news because it concentrates minds.  It’s also harder on us, who have considerable skin in the game but no direct involvement in the negotiations.

The reason we might now be in the end game come February 28th, is because that is when the Administrators say they run out of money.  At that point I suspect they have to liquidate us.  They can’t raise enough money by selling players in the next 4 days (which is good news) to run to the end of the season; they might be able to borrow funds but I suspect that option is reducing so I guess they are running out of options other than to agree a PB and get some funding that way.

The PBs will know that too and, if they stay interested, and why wouldn’t they having got this far, their opportunity to squeeze the deal is coming.

The incompetent EFL and their assorted hangers on are also having their minds concentrated.  I genuinely don’t believe the EFL want us out of business - there’s too much trouble for them in renegotiating the Championship table - not only prize money but also promotion and relegation.  We’ve taken good points off top teams; lost to lower teams - they’ll all have a claim in the outcome.  And by the end of February there will still be 30 points or so to play for, enough to change positions in the final table enough for our results to still influence.

So too Mel.  I don’t believe that he wants us to go out of business but he has a part to play and that will feed into his ego as well as his bank balance.  I have no idea how much he is currently worth, almost certainly a lot more than I am, but he has clearly signalled for a long time that his years of largesse were at an end so I would guess that he has much less than we all think he does and what he used to have. His is emotional attachment as well as financial.  So I don’t blame him one bit for continuing to have a role to play, if that is what he is doing (and none of us know).  And, unlike most I accept, I trust him still to do right by Derby County, despite the opprobium that goes his way.  We shall see.

But even when (if) a PB is announced, that is by no means the end of the game.  Negotiations will continue, possibly for months to come.  There will be good days and not so good. Cans will continue to be kicked but, hopefully, the immediate threat of liquidation will be temporarily lifted.  We will no longer have to think of Luton away as being our last match or Millwall as our last home match at Pride Park

We have a role - a really, really important one.  We have over the last 10 days successfully raised our case in all kinds of places that hadn’t thought of hearing or talking about us - Parliament, MPs, Council, BBC Breakfast, Talksport, Radio 5 Live, Radio 4 Today programme, national newspapers and all the rest.  Our job is to continue.  We HAVE to keep this going. They will all want to move on to the next big thing. Our job is to keep Derby County peacefully but consistently in the news. Keep the pressure on.   We need more from our local Radio station, our local celebrities and MPs; we need more from our councillors. We need to make the EFL and others understand the strength of feeling, feel the pressure again and again and again.  And we are the ones that can provide the pressure.

I was going to read War and Peace this weekend . Won’t bother now.

[ilkleyram]

8 minutes ago, jimtastic56 said:

I was going to read War and Peace this weekend . Won’t bother now.

We all have different coping mechanisms.  Enjoy the book

[Sparkle]

31 minutes ago, angieram said:

 

They got fobbed off earlier in week successfully 

[kevinhectoring]

33 minutes ago, Charlotte Ram said:

No I did not see that, it is difficult doing a day job and trying to keep up to date with things.

Where did you get there info from, is that a full and final or a stage payment? 

I think whatever is agreed with HMRC will be a full and final settlement. I’d assumed 7 was someone’s guess (based on 25% of 28). I’d think it would be a little more than 25% to reflect that part of HMRC’s claim is preferred - I think HMRC would need a better deal than the (other) unsecureds

[WestLondonRam]

2 hours ago, Eatonram said:

Actually lived near Brailsford I understand, just outside.

Hulland ward 

[Old Spalding Ram]

So the local MPs are meeting the EFL and administrators tomorrow.

………bit more of this please Marg!

 

I assure him, and through him the Football League, that if, inadvertently—because the Football League is unable to remove the obstacles that at the moment it appears to be putting so firmly in Derby County’s way—that were to happen, none of those participating in it would be forgiven.”…….Margaret Beckett 18/1/2022

[SirBrian]

1 minute ago, Old Spalding Ram said:

So the local MPs are meeting the EFL and administrators tomorrow.

………bit more of this please Marg!

 

I assure him, and through him the Football League, that if, inadvertently—because the Football League is unable to remove the obstacles that at the moment it appears to be putting so firmly in Derby County’s way—that were to happen, none of those participating in it would be forgiven.”…….Margaret Beckett 18/1/2022

will they still get a pension with their P45s.

[Tyler Durden]

So just jumped onto this thread again, why is the news today being taken so negatively?

[Indy]

4 minutes ago, Tyler Durden said:

So just jumped onto this thread again, why is the news today being taken so negatively?

It feels like it gets us no further forward, and keeps the embargo in place til the end of the window meaning no incoming players or contract extensions. And that weakens our position. 
 

Sounds like more meetings tomorrow though. 

[AndyB]

I agree, 1 month extra, good news?

[Tyler Durden]

3 minutes ago, Indy said:

It feels like it gets us no further forward, and keeps the embargo in place til the end of the window meaning no incoming players or contract extensions. And that weakens our position. 
 

Sounds like more meetings tomorrow though. 

But if we exit administration isn't the embargo then lifted 

[RoyMac5]

Just now, Tyler Durden said:

But if we exit administration isn't the embargo then lifted 

When do you see that happening with the way the EFL et al are conducting themselves?

[kevinhectoring]

1 hour ago, vonwright said:

I'm sure they do all believe they are in the right. The point is at the moment we don't have any clarity on what the situation is: what exactly do the administrators want the EFL to do, for example? Why? Is there anything short of that that would achieve a satisfactory result? Is there a reasonable middle ground?  And so on for all the parties. A lot of us on this thread are doing little more than guessing, because we just don't have the information, and we haven't been party to discussions, and we don't know the legal situation, etc etc.

That's part of the reason that you are seeing some people on here blaming the EFL, and some blaming Gibson, and some blaming the administrators, and some blaming Mel, and some blaming Mel's-MP's-son's-fellow-panel-member.

Feels to me like if the MPs could get all these people (okay maybe not the panel member) in a room and get some answers, identify the real obstacles, and start suggesting ways forward, we might at least emerge with a clear picture of who needs to do what, and who is preventing us moving forward, and why.

Are the EFL or Gibson or even our administrators going to listen to a bunch of MPs telling them what to do? Maybe not. But if those MPs can clarify who is holding things up, and what they should be told to do, that would be a huge step forward. It gives all of us - fans, MPs, media figures, even government ministers - something specific to aim for. It allows everyone to apply pressure in the right place.

At the moment the only clear rally cry we all share is "Save Derby County!" And that's great, as far as it goes. But who? And how? It's not pressuring any specific person to take any specific action. It's the kind of thing everyone involved can agree with - even Gibson, I imagine. And that's very dangerous. We could all be shouting "Save Derby County!" as the club gets liquidated.

 

Actually, I think Gibbo WILL feel the pressure from MPs and HMG. I’m sure in his wetter dreams he hears the words ‘arise sir pube head’ 

[GenBr]

5 hours ago, duncanjwitham said:

I mean, if if it's genuinely the case that Ashley just isn't willing to pay what the administrators have negotiated with HMRC etc (and I'm assuming that's what Nixon means here by "administrators given less"), then is there really any point continuing with his bid?  HMRC and the other creditors get to decide whether to accept the proposal or not, so why bother working with him if it'll never get past that stage?

If he's the only bid left the creditors may still choose him as he's likely still going to give them a greater return than liquidating the club will. This is especially true given we appear to now bee having a fire sale on our remaining assets.

[Tyler Durden]

2 minutes ago, RoyMac5 said:

When do you see that happening with the way the EFL et al are conducting themselves?

Was that a rhetorical question 

If we get a buyer for the club then we exit administration and the embargo is then lifted so the months extension is neither here no there surely 

[Indy]

1 minute ago, Tyler Durden said:

But if we exit administration isn't the embargo then lifted 

If we show proof off funds to end of the season, I think we exit the embargo (doesn’t even need to exit administration) - but we haven’t even done that seemingly. 

 

If all the talk is of MM accepting £10m instead of £20m for the stadium, he could put £7m down now on the understanding that his original price stood. Buyers are £3m worse off than they wanted (£20m for stadium but no running costs), and MM has £13m net instead of £20m - which is better than the £10m it looks like everyone is pushing for. 
 

And in return, the club has a better chance of staying up - which is to the advantage of all buyers and MM (as it makes the stadium more viable).

 

Just a thought.