Derby County fans had their hearts in their mouths on Friday when it seemed that the club was once again heading for financial turmoil.

Instead of looking forward to an FA Cup clash, supporters were subjected to reports that their beloved club was struggling to pay its bills and that it could be on the verge of yet another change of ownership.

Fact or fiction?

Well as it turns out the report ended up making the ‘Twilight saga’ seem like legitimate historical fact.

The Daily Mirror must have been struggling for something to print as they seemingly recycled a story from the Rams recent past and tried to pass it off as a current concern by adding a few recent issues troubling its loyal fans.

According to the newspaper the Rams needed to raise 8 million pounds by the end of this month and in turn that the club was on the market for a bargain basement 30 million pounds.

The Mirror also suggested:

Derby is actively seeking new investors by giving presentations to potential shareholders.

The club will listen to offers for any of Clough’s first team squad to generate funds.

The club has been struggling financially since relegation in 2008.

The directors’ salaries are believed to be among the biggest in the Championship.

Former chairman of football Adam Pearson is owed money for shares sold back to the club when he left in October.

Although I think most Rams fans smelt a rat in the report, with Derby you can really never be sure. There nearly always seems to be a new disaster hiding around the corner waiting to break your heart all over again.

DCFC moved quickly to release a statement categorically denying the Daily Mirror report:

"The story in question is categorically untrue and inaccurate. There is a whole series of false statements”.

"No, we are not in financial crisis. We are on a very sound footing and that is at a time when football clubs up and down the country are in financial crisis."

It was also revealed that DCFC had contacted the Daily Mirror for a retraction and will follow the call with a solicitor's letter which obviously had the desired effect as within hours the story was removed from the newspapers website.

The fact that the story was taken down was the best indication that there was little or no truth in any of their accusations. Media outlets are very reluctant to give into pressure unless they find they are totally in the wrong and open to possible litigation.

On Saturday the story continued to rumble along as Tom Glick moved to put a full stop on the incident and assure fans that the report was a total fallacy.

He spoke to the ‘Derby Telegraph’ about the reports:

"I have been here for 24 months now and I have got used to unsubstantiated rumours and inaccurate stories about the football club but we won't let it distract us and we think the supporters should know that it will not distract us from the job in hand”.

"That is to bring success on the pitch and also bring financial stability and governance to a club that frankly has lacked it for a number of years."

"It is an ownership group that is set and they get on well with each other. They are excited about being part of the club, so there is no interest in selling and there is no need to bring anybody else into the group”.

"How do they react when they see such reports? What is important is that they are all adults, they are all big boys and to a certain extent it rolls off our backs. I think there is an element of surprise and scratching of heads but in terms of does it dampen their enthusiasm, absolutely not”.

"We have accepted it as a bit of a fact of life. We know the real answer, our objective is to get on with the job to build the club and we have come to expect there will be days like today when we will have to respond to stories that are thrown in from one place or another”.

"Such stories continue to pop up and we continue to bat them back. But I wouldn't trade being a part of Derby County for anything and we are excited about where we are taking the club and about the team we have, starting with Nigel Clough."

"We are not in financial crisis. We are on a very sound footing and that is at a time when football clubs up and down the country are in financial crisis”.

"No, we do not need to raise £8m by the end of the month”.

"No, the club is not up for sale”.

"And no, we are not making presentations in search of new investors”.

"The report contained a series of false statements and I am happy to tell you that none of them are true”.

"We are not in a position where we need to sell players but we are in a position, and we have been very public about this, where we are getting the wage bill down and the size of the squad”.

"We have been consistent about that."

"When Adam left, he did sell his shares back to the club, so that actually is accurate and very similar to probably a million business transactions being made up and down the UK today".

"We have an agreement to buy those shares back from him and there are a series of payments to do that, and all that remains on schedule”.

"Do I hope the issue goes away? Yes, because there is not an issue, and that is the frustrating part of it. We have a job to do and that is to bring success on the pitch and we are working very hard on that".

"We have the right man in the job leading that effort in Nigel Clough and we are also building the club sensibly on a sound financial footing with responsible governance. That is good for the long-term health as well as the current day health of Derby County".

"We will continue to do that job."

Nigel Clough also had something to say on the issue especially in relation to the sale of his players:

"There have been lots of inferences and rumours flying around in the last week or two. We'll ignore that and get on with our jobs”.

"If there was a fire sale, a few would have gone before the last week of the transfer window. We're in the same position as every football club in the country, even Manchester City. If they get the right offer for a player, they will listen to it".

"We haven't sold anybody; we haven't had a bid for one player."

From both statements we can pretty much deduce that The Daily Mirror were the recipients of bad information or they needed a club in turmoil story and Derby County was the name pulled out of the hat since West Ham and Portsmouth had already been drawn.

The only part of the article that Glick failed to answer succinctly in his statement was the suggestion he and his partners were, by Championship standards, being very well renumerated.

Instead the reply would have been more at home in the House of Commons (and I don’t mean Kris’s parents place):

"We have a highly-talented and committed team who love to work for Derby County every day and are passionate about it.
We make no bones about the fact that for doing our job which includes bringing success for Derby County we get a pay cheque at the end of every month".

"I think we have been consistent all along and very transparent,  I think more transparent than other ownership groups of Derby County. There are certainly no secrets to hide”.

Nothing to hide... but still not exactly a direct answer to the question. I don’t expect people to happily reveal their wages but there is no doubt the answer could have been a little more revealing. This type of answer will always have fans wondering whether they do in fact have something to hide.

The issue will no doubt be slowly put to rest as The Daily Mirror retreat and DCFC get back to the job of cutting, trimming and rebuilding the club. But this whole situation should hopefully serve as a warning to the board in their dealings with fans.

Simply, this whole issue would not have been received so cynically by fans if the club was investing so little new money in playing stocks.

I and most fans understand that the club needs to become self sufficient and part of that is trimming wage bills and cutting down on costs. But while that is happening the team is becoming a scrapbook of loan players with a manager who is being beaten from pillar to post. He is struggling to put a decent team on the park simply because he has not the money to spend to try and improve it.

When this happens then these stories will not instantly laughed off or dismissed by even the most loyal fans (hands up fellow blind faith-ers!), simply because with the way Nigel has been made run things on the field this season, none of us would have been surprised if it was all true.

Much of that scepticism is due to those who have come before our current owners but it also points to the fact that respect and trust is earned and so far besides buying the club the current owners have proven little to fans on the field. Which frankly is where it counts to the paying customer.

I believe in time they will indeed prove they are genuine and are acting in the best interests of the club (and like any good business venture, their pockets). The wage bill will be trimmed, players will move on and better players will come in. Then if our manager is good enough, once he has the players and budget he needs, then finally the mighty Rams will be back on the path to success.  

Success all because of a stronger foundation from which to launch from and the current strategy being employed. It makes good business sense but when fans are paying to see football it is hard to make them believe a good business plan involves below par performances and watching a group of players that do not always produce a at worst a fighting display.

For me, one of the RamZone team summed it up best in an email when we were discussing the situation as it unfolded on Friday:

Given the medicine we have taken this season with loanees, player cuts and parachute money paying off our past manager's follies, it all rather conflicts with the official line that all is under control and on-target regarding savings and budgets, with only the stadium mortgage as a significant debt.
 
Perhaps they owe Adam Pearson £2-3m for his shareholding and he wants his loot to buy a player for Hull!
 
There remains unease that GSE hold several billionaires in their 'partnerships, who whilst not averse to investing $$$hundreds of millions in sporting concerns back home, Derby are barrel-scraping and proving their prudence to their remote masters.
 
It's amazing to look at the GSE website and see how they 'big up' their links with DCFC (we are even on their front-page backdrop).
 
Alongside the flowery, ambitious videos after the takeover, the manager that they back as the right long-term appointee has to sign loanees or bid low for out-of-favour players at modest clubs.

Typical Derby.

Perhaps one day it won’t be typical. But before that will ever be the case, Glick and co. have a lot of work to do.

Especially when you have hit and hope merchants like the Daily Mirror about to make it that much tougher.

Photo: Action Images

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