Derby enter administration with 12-point deduction sending Rams bottom of Championship

Derby County have confirmed the appointment of administrators at the club and are set to face a 12-point penalty as a result.

A statement from the Championship club said that Andrew Hosking, Carl Jackson and Andrew Andronikou of business advisory firm Quantuma would serve as joint administrators.

The points penalty, once applied, will send Wayne Rooney’s side to the bottom of the table, on minus-two points, with the team having taken 10 points from eight matches so far.

In a statement, Hoksing said: “I can confirm that Andrew Andronikou, Carl Jackson and I were appointed joint administrators of Derby County Football Club today.

“Covid-19 has had a significant impact on the finances of the club and its long-term ability to continue in its current form.

“We recognise that with the commencement of the 2021/22 season last month, this news will be of concern to stakeholders and fans, in addition to the city of Derby and the wider football community.

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

“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.”

Morris emerged as the sole owner of the club in 2015 with doubts over the ownership since 2019 after failure to earn promotion to the Premier League under Frank Lampard.

Morris claims the club has lost him "in excess of £200m" so far with a takeover bid collapsing in January 2020 after the initial charge from the EFL, connected to the sale of Pride Park to Morris for £80m, with the stadium previously quoted at £41m.

The stadium sale did lead to the club posting a pre-tax profit of £14.6m in 2017-18 to fall in line with the EFL's spending rules.

And the charge was dismissed in August 2020, though the club face the prospect of a separate points deduction, which could be as much as nine points, over accounting policies.

More to follow...