It comes as no surprise that during the coronavirus lockdown, teams are now negotiating with players to defer payment of wages. Obviously with very little income most are struggling to pay all of their bills.
It's no great secret that most championship clubs are paying out more in salaries than they are actually accumulating through income. The quest to pursue the Premier League dream comes at a very large cost! Obviously the clubs who were relegated from the sports top division have the advantage of parachute payments.
Marquee players such as Wayne Rooney will obviously be on massive wages in comparison to youngsters who have recently graduated through the clubs academy. Indeed all the experienced professionals will be on considerably more than those who are at the start of their careers.
Derby County have as we all know placed all non playing staff on the governments furlough scheme whereas they will receive 80% of the wages due from the government. It's also been announced that the Under-18 and Under - 21 players not on professional contracts will also be furloughed.
Due to the lockdown Derby County have taken advantage of the three month extension in submitting their annual accounts.
This is no surprise as it will actually be very difficult for them to submit accurate accounts should the league revalue the stadium at less than the sale price submitted in previous accounts, but with our owner requesting players to defer 50% of wages rather than 25% it does seem to suggest that we are staring at serious problems in balancing the books.
Henry Gabay was announced as a potential investor of the club and then Michael Dell (Though it has since turned out he is expected to be considering a £30m loan) and Mel Morris has been searching for investment for many months now!
I am sure that I am not alone in worrying about our future. To be honest if we remain in the current situation for many months many clubs will struggle to keep their heads above water.
The PFA are refusing to sanction large deferrals of players wages, but if Football doesn't restart very soon, many of the players they represent may find themselves without a club to play for!
The Coronavirus Pandemic has caused chaos for the game. Whilst everyone will acknowledge the fact that lives are much much more important than sport, it could have brought the game a reality check as something like this wasn't expected or planned for!
The game is going to need a lot of common sense from all of those earning a living from it otherwise the damage will be irreversible.
Sunday 26 April 2020
Monday 13 April 2020
D for Docherty and Destruction
I am one of the lucky ones who as a young boy saw the great Derby sides of Clough and Taylor and then Dave Mackay. Such heights have never been reached again and the big question asked by many is where did it all go wrong?
Well the truth is not the appointment of Colin Murphy who took over from Mackay as a complete rookie in the managerial hot seat, but the man who replaced Murphy!
Firstly I have to say that Mackay's sacking was the second most stupidest act by a Derby County board being beaten only by their acceptance of the resignations of Clough and Taylor.
We were going through a tough spell and a loss of form, but there was enough class in that squad to pull through it. Mackay nearly got us to league champions gain, but an injury to Charlie George left a big hole. We had covered well in 1974-75 when Roy McFarland had missed much of the campaign through injury as Peter Daniel stepped up to deputise magnificently. George we couldn't cover for.
Charlie George made his debut at the curtain raiser of the 1975/76 season against West Ham in the Charity Shield and was a main player in the side and we looked good for another title and an FA Cup until he got injured. This left a big hole in the Derby attack and the season fizzled out.
We started slow in 1976/77 and the board made the blunder in sacking Mackay!
Mackay had inherited an excellent side that won the title for Brian Clough and Peter Taylor and made his own mark on it by signing the likes of Bruce Rioch, Francis Lee, Charlie George, Leighton James etc. He also oversaw a famous 4-1 thrashing of Real Madrid in the European Cup though due to some dubious refereeing in the return leg we went out 6-5 on aggregate. He definitely deserved much longer to get us back on track.
Just over two and a half years after winning us a second league title Mackay was gone!
Colin Murphy was appointed, though no-one believed he was going to be a long term appointment. No, Derby County were about to make their worst managerial appointment in history! Tommy Docherty!
Docherty had secured a return to the first division for Manchester United after their shock relegation and won he guided them to an FA Cup final victory.
His past at Chelsea though had raised eyebrows when dropping several players who broke a curfew the Wednesday night before a game on the Saturday. That arguably cost Chelsea the league title!
He was sacked by Manchester United for having an affair with the wife of the club physio Laurie Brown! This after promotion and an FA Cup Final win.
He was appointed as Derby manager in September 1977 and had a squad that many managers would have been envious of! Three of the back four were England internationals! It wasn't long though before our best players were going through the exit door and Docherty was signing unproven and unheard of names.
Colin Boulton the clubs greatest ever keeper was soon discarded with! To add insult to injury his replacement John Middleton not only saw the exit of Boulton but also Archie Gemmill! The most stupidest of deals ever!! To our main rivals as well!
Leighton James was swapped for Don Masson and he was eventually swapped for Steve Carter from Notts County! Leighton James to Steve Carter in two moves!
Charlie George went as did club legend Colin Todd and that one really hurt|! Just tossed away like he was any old player!
Billy Hughes has started to show some real form up front and before you knew it, he was gone to Leicester!
Absolute shambolic transfer dealings! Gerry Daly who joined us from Manchester United before Docherty arrived was unsettled as he left United to get away from him, but fortunately he stuck it out. Daly was a fine player too!
Terry Curran arrived from Forest and had some good patches of form, but he lasted a season before being sold to Southampton. He went on to better things with Sheffield Wednesday.
Docherty brought back fans favourite Rioch from Everton, but second time around wasn't the success of his first spell.
The only signing that Docherty made that proved to be a long term success was Steve Buckley, a left back signed from Luton Town. He eventually replaced club legend David Nish and evolved into one of our best No3's ever behind Nish and John Robson.
Other signings weren't a success at Derby or any other top flight side! Vic Moreland, Billy Caskey, Jon Clark and even Gordon Hill the winger who was responsible for knocking us out of the FA Cup under Mackay when he was a Manchester United player. We had gone to signing unknowns and players who simply weren't up to the job.
Docherty also brought shame on the club off the field when he tried to sue Willie Morgan and Granada TV.
Morgan was on their soccer show Kick Off and stated that Docherty was the worst manager he ever played under. Docherty took exception to this and this led to a court case lasting three days where it was concluded that in giving evidence, Docherty had told a pack of lies!
Derby fans drew a huge sigh of relief when he finally jumped ship to QPR though the damage would take years to repair and much of it was irreversible.
Well the truth is not the appointment of Colin Murphy who took over from Mackay as a complete rookie in the managerial hot seat, but the man who replaced Murphy!
Firstly I have to say that Mackay's sacking was the second most stupidest act by a Derby County board being beaten only by their acceptance of the resignations of Clough and Taylor.
We were going through a tough spell and a loss of form, but there was enough class in that squad to pull through it. Mackay nearly got us to league champions gain, but an injury to Charlie George left a big hole. We had covered well in 1974-75 when Roy McFarland had missed much of the campaign through injury as Peter Daniel stepped up to deputise magnificently. George we couldn't cover for.
Charlie George made his debut at the curtain raiser of the 1975/76 season against West Ham in the Charity Shield and was a main player in the side and we looked good for another title and an FA Cup until he got injured. This left a big hole in the Derby attack and the season fizzled out.
We started slow in 1976/77 and the board made the blunder in sacking Mackay!
Mackay had inherited an excellent side that won the title for Brian Clough and Peter Taylor and made his own mark on it by signing the likes of Bruce Rioch, Francis Lee, Charlie George, Leighton James etc. He also oversaw a famous 4-1 thrashing of Real Madrid in the European Cup though due to some dubious refereeing in the return leg we went out 6-5 on aggregate. He definitely deserved much longer to get us back on track.
Just over two and a half years after winning us a second league title Mackay was gone!
Colin Murphy was appointed, though no-one believed he was going to be a long term appointment. No, Derby County were about to make their worst managerial appointment in history! Tommy Docherty!
Docherty had secured a return to the first division for Manchester United after their shock relegation and won he guided them to an FA Cup final victory.
His past at Chelsea though had raised eyebrows when dropping several players who broke a curfew the Wednesday night before a game on the Saturday. That arguably cost Chelsea the league title!
He was sacked by Manchester United for having an affair with the wife of the club physio Laurie Brown! This after promotion and an FA Cup Final win.
He was appointed as Derby manager in September 1977 and had a squad that many managers would have been envious of! Three of the back four were England internationals! It wasn't long though before our best players were going through the exit door and Docherty was signing unproven and unheard of names.
Colin Boulton the clubs greatest ever keeper was soon discarded with! To add insult to injury his replacement John Middleton not only saw the exit of Boulton but also Archie Gemmill! The most stupidest of deals ever!! To our main rivals as well!
Leighton James was swapped for Don Masson and he was eventually swapped for Steve Carter from Notts County! Leighton James to Steve Carter in two moves!
Charlie George went as did club legend Colin Todd and that one really hurt|! Just tossed away like he was any old player!
Billy Hughes has started to show some real form up front and before you knew it, he was gone to Leicester!
Absolute shambolic transfer dealings! Gerry Daly who joined us from Manchester United before Docherty arrived was unsettled as he left United to get away from him, but fortunately he stuck it out. Daly was a fine player too!
Terry Curran arrived from Forest and had some good patches of form, but he lasted a season before being sold to Southampton. He went on to better things with Sheffield Wednesday.
Docherty brought back fans favourite Rioch from Everton, but second time around wasn't the success of his first spell.
The only signing that Docherty made that proved to be a long term success was Steve Buckley, a left back signed from Luton Town. He eventually replaced club legend David Nish and evolved into one of our best No3's ever behind Nish and John Robson.
Other signings weren't a success at Derby or any other top flight side! Vic Moreland, Billy Caskey, Jon Clark and even Gordon Hill the winger who was responsible for knocking us out of the FA Cup under Mackay when he was a Manchester United player. We had gone to signing unknowns and players who simply weren't up to the job.
Docherty also brought shame on the club off the field when he tried to sue Willie Morgan and Granada TV.
Morgan was on their soccer show Kick Off and stated that Docherty was the worst manager he ever played under. Docherty took exception to this and this led to a court case lasting three days where it was concluded that in giving evidence, Docherty had told a pack of lies!
Derby fans drew a huge sigh of relief when he finally jumped ship to QPR though the damage would take years to repair and much of it was irreversible.
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