Derby County were sinking under Phillip Cocu. They continued to sink after he was sacked and Wayne Rooney appointed.
Derby County needed a last-day, 3-3 draw against Sheffield Wednesday, aided by results elsewhere, to remain a Championship side.
The Rams are also suffering off the pitch at the moment. This suffering, in the form of failed takeovers, stretches back into last season.
The Pride Park outfit were also under an EFL cloud due to accounting irregularities and a won EFL appeal.
However, ahead of the coming season, Derby and other Championship sides have been under transfer and signing embargoes. These have been put in place due to varying infractions.
Additional to a suspended three-point deduction hanging over their heads, Derby also had to contend with only being able to sign players in specified circumstances.
One of these was that the Rams cannot have more than 23 players of ‘professional standing’ at the club. The definition of this was any player appearing in at least one game for the first team in a ratified competition.
Derby were hamstrung by the fact that they’d fielded members of their youth side in last season’s FA Cup. Every player that appeared in that game subsequently met the ‘professional standing’ quota for the Rams.
However, Derby appealed and the EFL relented – something they explained in a short release on their website.
Comment and thoughts?
Derby do deserve punishment for their infringements of the EFL’s protocols, as do all clubs in a similar position.
However, as the Rams rightly claimed, they only fielded their youth side players in that FA Cup game against Chorley due to Covid-19. To classify this as elevating them to ‘professional standing’ seem ludicrous.
Thankfully, the EFL agree and decided that this single appearance was due to the exceptional circumstances at the time of the tie.
This means that it makes it easier for Derby County to get their summer business underway. They have irons in the fire and are said by Derbyshire Live to be readying contract offers to Curtis Davies, Andre Wisdom and Ravel Morrison.
In short, the EFL’s decision to relent and allow Derby County the capacity to sign players was a fair one. Not only fair for the Rams, but fair for everyone.
