Team Derby demands urgent meeting with Rams administrators and EFL

Team Derby – the group campaigning on behalf of the city to save Derby County – has demanded an urgent meeting with the Rams’ administrators and football league chiefs for an update on the club’s immediate future.

Team Derby, which includes leaders from Marketing Derby, Derby City Council and the city’s three MPs, had been due to meet with Quantuma and the EFL on Monday.

However, this meeting was postponed by the EFL because of what it described as “positive developments”.

Since then, the group has heard nothing from both parties – and with a matter of days left before the club faces possible expulsion from the league, it has called a meeting for Friday morning, with both Quantuma and the EFL requested to attend.

Pauline Latham, MP for Mid-Derbyshire, who last week raised an urgent question about the fate of the club in Parliament, said: “In line with the concerns of fans and local stakeholders, I am worried at the continued silence from the EFL and Derby County’s administrators at this crucial moment.

“As such, Derby’s MPs and local representatives have called a meeting for Friday and invited both parties.”

Derby County faces possible expulsion from the league on 1 February if the club’s administrators cannot prove to the EFL that the Rams have the funds to complete the rest of the season.

There are also a number of issues to be resolved surrounding the proposed takeover of the Rams.

At present, a number of obstacles stand in the way of any deal, including outstanding claims made against the Rams by Middlesbrough and Wycombe Wanderers.

On Monday, the EFL issued a statement saying that the meeting with Team Derby had been postponed to “allow for additional progress to be made by the administrators”.

It added that the league and the administrators would sit down “within the next 24 hours” to resolve the outstanding issues to the satisfaction of both parties.

However, it has now been three days since Team Derby were due to have its meeting with both Quantuma and the EFL.

The group is particularly anxious to know what progress has been made in terms of the Rams ability to fund the rest of the season – and is concerned at the “radio silence”, as one MP described it, from the EFL and Quantuma.

John Forkin, managing director of Marketing Derby, said: “The support that the campaign to save Derby County has received from the wider community has been absolutely fantastic and is really making a difference.

“We’ve called for a meeting because we simply cannot sit on the side lines – and want to encourage and support a positive conclusion, with the identification and appointment a new owner of the club.”