Derby County, managed by England and Manchester United great Wayne Rooney, have been relegated to the third tier of English soccer to cap a miserable season that also saw the club docked 21 points for breaches of financial rules.
A 1-0 loss at Queens Park Rangers left Derby 10 points from safety with three games remaining in the second-tier Championship.
Derby have been in administration – a form of bankruptcy protection – since September, with the debt-laden club’s sale to a new owner yet to be finalised.
They received two separate points deductions of 12 and then nine, because of accounting breaches under previous owner Mel Morris, at the start of the season.
“We know we’d be safe without the penalties we’ve had,” said Rooney, who has been Derby’s manager since November 2020, having previously been player-coach at the team from central England.
“This is where we’ve been left by the previous owner and we’ve been trying to pick up the pieces from that and trying to pull off something really special. We’ve got close and haven’t managed to do it.”
Derby’s joint administrators have named Chris Kirchner, an American software entrepreneur, as the preferred bidder for the club and entered a period of exclusivity aimed at ending a protracted takeover process.
Rooney has emphasised the importance of a deal being completed, and soon.
“It has to happen quickly,” he said. “I’m not stupid. I know Premier League teams and top clubs in the Championship are looking at some of our players.
“I need to be able to give them something, to offer them something to stay.
“I want to rebuild this club. But the takeover has to happen.”
Fulham were forced to wait to seal their immediate return to the Premier League.
If Nottingham Forest had lost to West Bromwich Albion, Fulham – currently in first place – would have been assured of a top-two finish and therefore one of the two automatic promotion spots. Forest, though, won 4-0.
Fulham can secure promotion by beating Preston at home on Tuesday.
They were relegated from the Premier League last season.
The London club has swung back and forth between the top two divisions every season since gaining promotion to the Premier League in 2018 after a four-year absence.
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