Derby County are set to appeal their 12-point deduction for entering into administration, reports The Sun.
Derby County were hit with an automatic 12-point deduction for entering into administration last month, leaving them bottom of the Championship table.
They’ve since returned into positive points but now Alan Nixon writes in The Sun on Sunday (10.10.21, pg. 64) that Derby County are ‘lodging an appeal’ against the standard 12-point deduction, based upon the claim that their financials troubles ‘were caused by Covid hitting their gate money’.
Nixon goes on to write that the English Football League are now demanding to see Derby’s financial books form the last six years to see if they have a case to reduce their points deduction from 12-points to six, though the appeal will cost the club’s administrators somewhere in the region of £300,000 in legal fees.
Should Derby County be successful in their appeal then it would greatly bolster their survival credentials in the Championship this season.
With 12-points currently deducted, the Rams could yet face a further 12-point deduction (9 for breaching financial regulations and with a 3-point suspended penalty still hanging over them, which will be triggered should they fail to pay their players on time).
Wigan Athletic famously appealed their points deduction last year and for the same reasons, though the Latics were unsuccessful in their bid and were subsequently relegated into League One.
