It’s a story that’s becoming oh so familiar for those clubs without access to the riches of the Premier League.
Derby County are close to going out of business if a solution to their financial problems can’t be found quickly, following a handful of other English Football League clubs that are no more.
Wayne Rooney has an almost impossible job of keeping morale and spirits high amongst his playing staff, after a 12-point deduction because of going into administration, per The Athletic, left the Rams rooted to the foot of the Championship table, and already seven points adrift of safety.
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Whether or not things get even worse on the pitch before they get better, the Daily Mail note that in order for the club to even think about survival, the tax man would need to take a hit running into millions of pounds.
The HMRC have secured ‘preferential status’ which means that they have to be paid before any other creditors, in a highly unusual, though not unprecedented, situation.
Clearly, this is an unsavoury time for many, and the Daily Mail say that around 20 staff have already been made redundant because of the ongoing issues.
If Derby are to survive the most tumultuous period in their long and proud history, it’s going to take the agreement of, and co-operation from, many different companies and other EFL clubs.
Should there not be a willingness to do so, there’s a sense of inevitability that a best case scenario might be that the club crawls to the end of the current campaign before closing its doors for the final time.