Update emerges on Mike Ashley’s pursuit of Derby County amid Middlesbrough dispute | OneFootball

Ex-Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley is planning talks with the EFL and Middlesbrough owner Steve Gibson to come to an arrangement on compensation according to The Sun, as Derby County’s takeover saga continues to drag on.

The Rams are currently in a dispute with both Boro and League One side Wycombe Wanderers, with the former claiming the East Midlands side cost them a chance of winning promotion to the Premier League and the latter feeling aggrieved that Derby stayed up at the Chairboy’s expense at the end of the last season.

This is proving to be a real barrier to progress in the club administrators’ quest to name a preferred bidder, potentially putting the Rams in real danger of going out of business.

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Although he is yet to submit a bid to purchase the Rams, former Newcastle owner Ashley is thought to be interested in buying the club with his tenure at St James’ Park ending in October and is prepared to enter crunch talks with Boro shareholder Gibson and the EFL in a bid to resolve this issue.

As per the same Sun report, Ashley and Gibson enjoyed a close relationship with each other recently and this could be key in breaking the deadlock, with the former wanting this problem to be settled without future legal action.

When the future of a football club hangs in the balance, it’s disheartening to see these disputes still causing issues and it would make sense to deal with these issues after their long-term future is secured.

Middlesbrough are reported by The Telegraph to potentially face their own sanctions regarding financial rules, so they could set a precedent here that could come back to bite them if they continue to pursue this course of action.

What all parties do need to be aware of, including Ashley, is that the clock is ticking and administrators will need to name a bidder as soon as possible to provide the off-field certainty potentially needed for the club to remain afloat in the Championship.

This will allow a takeover to be concluded as quickly as possible, then allowing manager Rooney to plan for the future and this is something he hasn’t been able to do at this stage due to the uncertainty surrounding the Rams’ future.

Phil Jagielka’s departure symbolises how costly these delays are, so it’s time for all parties to come to an agreement to prevent a potential catastrophe. It’s avoidable – but everyone needs to be pulling in the same direction.