Derby County officially enter administration and are deducted 12 points

[dutchman]

Derby County have entered administration and been deducted 12 points by the English Football League



The Championship club announced their intention to call in administrators on Friday, with owner Mel Morris saying the coronavirus pandemic had cost them about £20m in lost revenue.

Morris has spent the past two days talking to players and staff, whose jobs are now uncertain.

Wayne Rooney's Rams drop to the foot of the table, on minus two points.

Andrew Hosking, Carl Jackson and Andrew Andronikou, managing directors at business advisory firm Quantuma, have been appointed joint administrators.

"We are in the early stages of assessing the options available to the club and would invite any interested parties to come forward," said Hosking.

"Our immediate objectives are to ensure the club completes all its fixtures in the Championship this season and finding interested parties to safeguard the club and its employees."

The EFL said it had already had "constructive discussions" with Quantuma and would remain in "regular dialogue" about the situation.

EFL chief executive Trevor Birch said: "I appreciate that this is a challenging and concerning period for everyone associated with the club, particularly the staff and supporters, and it is our intention to work proactively with the administrators and all relevant parties with the objective of securing a long-term and viable future for Derby County."

Morris became Derby's sole owner in 2015 but has actively been looking to sell since June 2019 following their Championship play-off final defeat by Aston Villa under Frank Lampard. Morris says the club has lost him "in excess of £200m" to date.

A first takeover deal is said to have collapsed in the aftermath of an EFL charge in January 2020 relating to the sale of Derby's Pride Park to Morris for £80m, despite it previously being listed as worth £41m.

The stadium sale allowed the club to post a pre-tax profit of £14.6m in 2017-18 and therefore meet the EFL's spending rules.

The charge was dismissed in August 2020 but the Rams face a possible separate points deduction, speculated to be nine points, over their accounting policies - with no decision yet made on the punishment.