Derby County's preferred bidder Chris Kirchner has defended himself over claims that there are doubts about his proof of finances.
Nottingham Forest's East Midlands rivals gave the American businessman preferential status ahead of any other bidders at the table last week. This means the 34-year-old has exclusive access to complete a takeover of Derby, who have been in administration for almost seven months now.
Kirchner has previously been in the running to buy Championship rivals Preston North End before that interest was ended in March. The Westlake, Texas-based entrepreneur is co-founder and CEO of software company Slync.io, a global logistics technology provider.
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The Daily Mail reported last week that the deal to purchase the Lancashire club did not go through due to Preston being concerned when proof of his sources of funding was apparently not provided. Instead, they claim a bank statement with a balance of more than £60million was shown as evidence and that Kirchner did not draw up a business plan himself to submit to the English Football League.
In the aftermath of the reports, Kircher hosted a Twitter question-and-answer session and responded with his side of the story. “Valuations on my company are wrong and most of that is illiquid," Kirchner said. "The money for the team came from private investments and early investments in crypto.
“I’ve had to show this to Preston. Quantuma [Derby's administrators] and the EFL have seen it when we previously engaged in Derby. It’s also been shared with one other club we looked at as things got more serious.
“We were still completing diligence and didn’t submit a plan to the league because it would have been premature. It was written and constantly changing as we learned more.
“There was no “using” of Preston. We just found things in diligence that didn’t match what we expected and ultimately couldn’t come to a deal. It happens in business.”
