Debunking the Derby County myths

(Mel Morris, the man that drove Derby into administration)

There have been multiple stories doing the rounds recently regarding Derby County's financial struggles. And rightly so, even as a fan who loves a win against the Rams, without Derby I would miss the back and forward atmosphere at both the Riverside Stadium and Pride Park.

However, there has been an accusative undertone from football fans and the media directed towards Wycombe and most notably the club I support, Middlesbrough. Wycombe are seeking compensation as they claim Derby should've been issued their points deduction last season and thus would've kept the Chairboys in the Championship and would have relegated Derby in their place. Boro's claim involves Derby's financial breaches in the 2018/19 season in which the Rams pipped Boro to a couple of signings as well play-offs, which they claimed cost them a play off spot and possible promotion.

Now I do need to stress I am far from any financial genius and therefore won't speculate or go into grave detail regarding the financial side of things. However, Steve Gibson recently penned an open letter to Derby published on mfc.co.uk where he adresses the 'ill-informed speculation' regarding the claims. In the letter, Gibson is insistent that he does not wish to see Derby liquidate and claims that the job of bringing Derby out of administration "should have been a relatively simple task". Gibson also questioned whether the club had reached a settlement with HMRC for a reported £26 million tax bill. He also expressed how his claim clearly does have substance due to the clubs difficulty in finding a willing buyer, while also claiming the club had offered a compromise. With Boro's claim against Derby first coming to light at the end of the 2018/19 season, It seems the stubbornness of both Derby's former owner and current administrators has left them in a position that was easily avoidable.

Now there has been plenty of criticism from various media outlets, but lets start with Neville's thoughts on the situation. Neville in the interview is very much associated with the save Derby County message as he refers to the losses of other clubs such as Bury and Macclesfield. He is quick to assert that both Middlesbrough and Wycombe "may have valid cases" but claims "that if football is a real family, Wycombe and Middlesbrough have to stand down", ah yes Gary try telling that to former Salford managers such as Graham Alexander who you unfairly sacked, or the countless teams throughout non league who were cheated out of promotion because you plunged millions into Salford when others could merely invest thousands. Now I don't blame you for these decisions, but you as much as anybody know that not only is football a business but it is also a very cutthroat sport. He does go on to blame Mel Morris however, my question is; if teams and organisations continue to relieve teams of debt or money that they have been cheated out of, how many more Derby County's will there be?

I feel like a lot.

Now the EFL have slightly stamped down on teams cheating, teams bending the rules, teams trying to gain an unfair advantage and by the looks of things, clubs have also. Much to the disliking of Martin Samuel, the very man who allegedly claimed racial inequality doesn't exist in football simply because Virgil Van Djik won the Ballon d'Or. Mr Samuel initially refers to Boro's poor run of six straight losses between March and April of 2019, but fails to establish how while Boro's struggles continued, Boro's former transfer target and Derby County man Martin Waghorn was putting away hattricks for the Rams. In an admittedly average season from the Rams' number 9, in a season were Middlesbrough's goal scoring stats only bettered 4 sides, Boro were in desperate need of a goalscoring striker. 

Mr Samuel then goes on to mention Middlesbrough's results against Leeds the team of course who Boro would've have played if they had beaten the Rams to the play offs. He labels the game as 'essentially a cup tie' and uses the results as evidence as to why Middlesbrough wouldn't have advanced to the play-off final. However, what he fails to mention is A, two draws against a well drilled Leeds side under Bielsa are not to be ashamed of, and B, Derby themselves lost both their games against Leeds that season by an aggregate score of 6=1, and with them getting the better of Leeds in the play-offs, there is no predicting how Middlesbrough may have fared. 

He then comments upon Middlesbrough's struggles in the following Championship season, again reiterating Boro's particular struggles against Leeds having lost both games in Boro's season to forget by aggregate score of 5-0. But in usual Mr Samuel's fashion, again he fails to consider the Rams' results against Leeds that very season as they took just the one point out of their games against Bielsa's record breaking side. Mr Samuel also then continues to compound  further failures in creating a fair argument, as he presumably fails to recall how Middlesbrough lost big players such as Aden Flint and Martin Braithwaite in the summer of 2019 and thus replaced them with signings of three league one players.

And you'll never guess why we sold these big money players; to balance the books of course, something that Derby fans will know all about... oh wait.