Jack Bryan is a football writer and life long Derby County supporter.
As we know all too well, and other football fans are now finally aware, Derby County are right now on the brink. Amidst all of the chaos off the pitch, the players and staff have done amazing work to be defying the odds in the way they are, and represent all that is good about the club.
Since before the season even began Derby have been up against it. Having stayed up on the final day, Derby had only thirteen senior players to start the season; and could only sign four more, on free transfers, due to the squad registration restrictions the EFL imposed on them at the time. That was, of course, only the beginning of the setbacks for the Rams. We ended up in administration in September, resulting in a twelve point deduction, and a further nine point deduction was imposed in November. This one over the accounting methods used by former owner Mel Morris during his time at the club which breached financial rules.
On Thursday, Wayne Rooney said: “We should know the decision on the preferred bidder tomorrow.” But as it turns out, this hasn’t happened. Instead, further complications for Rooney and co. to deal with have emerged. The club being put under another embargo after the administrators failed to satisfy the EFL that adequate funding is in place to complete the season, and the EFL have since threatened Derby with expulsion from the Football League if they cannot do this by February 1st . The obvious way to solve this would be through a takeover, with ‘3 parties who have made offers’ according to the statement from the joint administrators that was released on Friday night. But ‘certain claims which are very much disputed’ (presumably referring to compensation claims from Middlesbrough and Wycombe Wanderers) are hanging over the club and ‘none of the interested parties are able to progress matters further until such time that an agreement can be reached.’
This meant that Phil Jagielka’s contract couldn’t be extended, whilst a bid from Wigan Athletic for last season’s fans’ player of the year Graeme Shinnie was accepted by the administrators on Friday night.
Rooney has tried to remain an optimistic figure throughout, believing Derby can stay up. But even he admits he had had concerns about last Saturday’s game. He told the press post-match that he felt that the events of the previous twenty four hours or so were “one step too far” in terms of what the players have had to deal with. However, the Rams won 2-0 at home to Sheffield United, with Tom Lawrence scoring two goals which the gaffer described as “Magnificent.”
This epitomises those at Derby County right now, from the players and coaches, to those who we don’t see whose jobs hang in the balance. Every time they get knocked down, they respond with a win. There is clearly an incredible team spirit and a siege mentality amongst everyone at the club, with players really playing for the badge and wearing their hearts on their sleeves, to use some cliché metaphors. In his post-match interview on Saturday, England and Manchester United’s all-time top goal-scorer mentioned work rate, energy, aggression, character, belief, and hope; these are certainly all qualities that the team possess, and on top of that, we are getting results. Saturday’s win saw us move off the bottom of the table, and we are on a good run having taken thirteen points from our last five games, as well as having the fourth best defensive record in the league. In fact, without the points deductions, we’d be ninth in the Championship, with 35 points. Losing Jagielka and Shinnie, who have been so good all season, is gutting, but we are lucky in that the entire squad bleed black and white. There is genuine hope that we can pull off the great escape, but only if we can keep the squad together.
The battle to stay in the Championship is one thing, but the battle to save our club is even bigger, and the way we as a fanbase have pulled together is amazing, showing the same passion and togetherness the team has in the face of the greatest adversity. Since the weekend over fifty thousand fans have signed the petition to save our club, attracting the attention of MPs and Derby City Council. The hashtag #savederbycounty is regularly trending on Twitter accompanied by some great graphics. Plus, there have been so many emotional stories which explain to anybody who somehow still hasn’t grasped the concept, that a football club is way more than a business. The hashtags used on these posts are #myderbystory and #SinceIWasYoung.
As much as all of this is brilliant, the reality is that our club is now at the mercy of those with power. To rescue our club, they need to show just a fraction of the togetherness that the team and fans have. If Derby County Football Club, a founding member of the Football League, and twice champions of England, with nearly 138 years of history are liquidated, everyone loses.