On and off the pitch, Derby County’s 2020/21 Sky Bet Championship campaign was underwhelming. Evidence of that was no more blatant than their end-of-season scramble for survival.
The Rams went into that final day shoot out against Sheffield Wednesday relying on the stars aligning for them to remain a Championship outfit. That proved to be the case.
Wayne Rooney’s side drew 3-3 with the Owls but still needed a Cardiff City equaliser to ensure that they lived to fight another Championship day.
Still, things are no better settled at Pride Park now as the behind the scenes turmoil continues.
READ: Movement at Derby County as latest details emerge from Rams takeover with new faces in talks
EFL appeal win and collapsing takeover
Derby County had already suffered one failed takeover when the Derventio Holdings looked to be winning the race to take the Rams off of Mel Morris’ hands.
However, that deal fell by the wayside and Derby called time on it. That left a takeover-sized hole in the Rams plans but that was quickly filled with interest from No Limits Sports fronted by former Sheffield Wednesday advisor Erik Alonso.
Even that interest hasn’t been without some degree of concern where there are said to be alarm bells ringing that the interested Alonso is reportedly looking to levy a loan against Pride Park to ‘cover losses’.
That has led to The Telegraph’s John Percy tweeting news that Derby were readying themselves to pull out of talks with Alonso and were “in talks” with an American consortium that was “now back in the frame.”
All that is exacerbated when the not-so-small matter of a possible dust-up with the EFL is thrown into the hat. Sun reporter Alan Nixon wrote in last week’s The Sun on Sunday (09.05.21, pg. 63) that the EFL were ready to come down hard on the Rams.
READ: Comment: Sorry Derby County but you deserve a ‘massive’ points deduction next season
Nixon comment adds a level of intrigue to takeover interest
With Alonso et al seemingly being ejected out of the picture, interest in taking over at Pride Park is coming from elsewhere such as the ‘American interest mentioned above by Percy.
The Sun’s Nixon mentioned back in February that there was ‘American interest’ in the Rams but he teases other interest in answering a fan on Twitter:
There are some domestic people interested https://t.co/MinfiCF01R
— Alan Nixon (@reluctantnicko) May 14, 2021
This tweet (above) presents a definite teasing interest in the race to take ownership of the Rams out of Mel Morris; hands and place it into the hands of others.
Two such vehicles to drive this change have crashed and fallen by the wayside. It could be an interesting summer ahead for Derby County and their fans.
