RAMS REPRIEVE
Derby given one-month stay of execution to prove new funds or face liquidation and being expelled from EFL
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DERBY COUNTY are being given an EFL reprieve to find a new backer after chaotic problems behind the scenes.
The Rams have four more weeks to prove they can survive to the final fixture as the Football League took away the threat to start the process of kicking them out on Tuesday - as we first revealed.
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Derby proved they have funds for February after selling left back Dylan Williams to Chelsea for a fee worth around £400,000 up front and with new cash backing from American financiers MSD Holdings.
However that only masks the troubles that stopped administrators Quantuma from providing a promised 'named bidder' to the EFL.
Quantuma were due to tell the League on Tuesday at a delayed meeting who their mystery saviour was but failed to deliver again.
Former owner Andy Appleby has yet to have the cash backing of American Rich Riley who has been in talks for a month but is seeking assurances about the compensation claims of Middlesbrough and Wycombe.
The Appleby team met the EFL before Christmas but Riley's cash is needed and would have to be checked before he was passed as 'fit and proper.'
The American Binnie Brothers have made a £28million bid but this does not include a deal for the stadium, valued at £20m, or sorting out Middlesbrough and Wycombe.
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Mel Morris owns the stadium and is due to pay back the first MSD loan - now around £20m. He could remain as landlord if the bidders do not have the cash to buy him out.
Mike Ashley is also frustrated after making an offer that meant both former owner Mel Morris and the administrators were given less.
Ashley's best chance is waiting to see if the other pair fail to deliver or are fearful of the Boro and Wycombe claims as the admins seem unwilling to deal with him.
Boro owner Steve Gibson and Wycombe are willing to lower their initial claims for £45m and £6m, but the admins are still reluctant to pay them.
HMRC and government are now asking the EFL about the dispute and how it affects the amount paid to the tax man. Under the original admin plan HMRC would get 25 per cent of their cash, around £7m.
The EFL delay, after intense pressure from fans and politicians, does throw the Championship season into potential chaos.
If there are not enough funds on March 1, Derby would have 14 days on top of that to scrape them together.
That would take the season into mid-March and their expulsion at that point would wreck the league table as the Rams would only have NINE games to fulfil.
The previous 37 would be wiped from the record and mean points are taken off any club who beat or drew with them.
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