Derby County supporters are still digesting news of their club's relegation from the Championship.
Easter Monday saw the Rams' brave fight against the drop end, with defeat to Queens Park Rangers coupled with Reading's draw against Swansea confirming demotion into the third tier next season.
It means Derby fans will see their side play League One football for the first time since 1986 after a horror season including administration, points deductions and transfer embargoes. Despite the grim reality of relegation, manager Wayne Rooney said he was proud of his players efforts.
And that feeling extends to would-be owner Chris Kirchner. The American businessman is in the process of buying the club, having been named as preferred bidder by administrators Quantuma earlier this month.
He recently attended the win over Fulham at Pride Park and has been a vocal presence on social media in the wake of Monday's loss.
Posting on Twitter, replying to a video of Derby fans applauding the team coach as it returned to their training base following defeat in London he wrote: "Say what you want… I’m buying the right club with the right fans. We will be back. And we will be better. Together."
In a further thread of tweets, Kirchner also provided an update on how his prospective takeover is coming along.
He wrote: "(We) start next year on 0 pts and also wanted to make sure we were planning for the correct division which we know now. This will go to the EFL on Friday and we anticipate a quick turnaround from them for approval as they have been very supportive in helping us to be in a position to close the deal. At a high level our target next steps of the process are, 1)EFL approval on business plan 2) stadium situation sorted 3) Creditor approval on waterfall 4) Takeover completion. I'll keep an update on each of these key milestones as they are achieved."
Will Derby come straight back up next season? Let us know in the comments
Kirchner's period of exclusivity ends on May 7 - the final day of the Championship season. Rooney is desperate for it to be concluded as soon as possible so he can begin planning properly for an assault on the third tier in 2022-23. That campaign begins in just over three months (July 30) owing to the disruption caused by the winter World Cup in Qatar in November.
Speaking about "The takeover has to happen. If it doesn't I fear for the club. It has to (go through). If it happens, I want to rebuild the club. This is a special club, I've said all along. I want to try and bring the happy days back. In some ways we can draw a line under everything that has happened and really start the rebirth of this club. The quicker the takeover happens the quicker we can develop the squad."
Rooney's side still have three games of the season remaining, against Bristol City, Blackpool and Cardiff.
