Derby County's potential new owner Chris Kirchner has moved to allay fears over his source of funding for the stricken Championship club.
American businessman Kirchner was named as preferred bidder for the Rams last week. Derby have been in administration since last September and are in desperate need of fresh ownership to secure their future. Kirchner had previously withdrawn a bid to buy Derby before switching attentions to fellow Championship side Preston North End. He then backed out and made a u-turn, revisiting his interest in County.
A report in the Daily Mail claimed that the deal for Preston did not go through because the club were concerned when Kirchner did not provide proof of his sources of funding. The report claims Kirchner showed a bank statement with a balance of more than £60m.
It is said that alarm bells were ringing at Deepdale when Kirchner tried to knock down the price of the club after a deal had already been agreed.
Now, the American has given his side of the story. In a Twitter question-and-answer session, he responded: “Valuations on my company are wrong and most of that is illiquid. 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.”
Over the breakdown of the Preston deal, he said: “Let’s do a hypothetical here… Ever buy a car? If someone raises the price halfway through the deal by 10 per cent over what you agreed then wants to force you to buy options and packages you don’t want/need with the car, would you buy it?”
Kirchner's potential purchase of Derby has won the vote from manager Wayne Rooney. The former England star gave his unequivocal backing when asked about the ownership situation this week. "It's a real positive step - for the players, the fans and myself. The important thing is this club survived. As I was sat here last week, I don't think any of use knew what the future of the club was going to be. But we can now see a future for the club. There's a lot of work to be done to make sure that starts in a positive way for next season."
Next season is highly likely to be Derby's first campaign in the third tier since 1986 with the Rams running out of time to mount an unlikely Championship survival.
