The Global Brand

I was reading Mihir Bose's article (see below - dated 28th Jan 2008), I don't often agree with this journalist's comments but he did raise valid points way back in 2008.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/mihirbose/2008/01/derby_an_attractive_propositio_1.html

I've taken the following extracts out as they are the key points:

Derby will earn £11.5m a year in parachute payments, nearly five times as much as other clubs in that league. That money will give them more chance of bouncing back up.

Then there are the property aspects of the deal to consider. There is planning permission to develop Pride Plaza, the area around the
stadium, an area of 120,000 square feet. And the training ground of 25 acres is situated in a prime residential area.

So given that the investors are paying £20m for the shares of Derby, this for them is a very good bargain in a franchise which they can see making them money.

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It's always been about making a buck, Bose, there's no love involved with the club.

How much approximately would Derby County have earned for their one season in the Premier League with the TV rights etc...? ( I read 30 million in the article, how much of this revenue was spent by the existing owners on the rubbish that Billy Davies and the board bought in, Earnshaw, Claude Davis, Miller et el...?)

Who are the Chinese and Koren investors?

The parachute payments are paid over two years and then stop, correct? Which would mean 23 million over two years.

So during the two year period 2008 - 2010 would the parachute payments, stadium revenue, sponsorship money, TV rights etc not have covered the cost of running the club without any real investment from the board?

At this stage they began their cost cutting plans under the 'Financial Fair Play banner', players on over inflated wages for the Championship (or purchased for a transfer fee but released on a free transfer) . Players such as Hulse, Commons, Pearson, Bywater, Leacock etc were shipped out ( some we were only too pleased to see leave the club) to be replaced by cheaper and some on a few occasions inferior ( Ben Pringle, Martin, Porter, Conor Doyle etc) that we were not so pleased to see.

Bose highlights the potential to expand the property around the stadium, with the Derby Plaza, which in 2012 has finally been proposed that would net GSE a substantial amount of money in terms of letting the units, advertising etc...

Sure this might be great for the club, it generates jobs, but how many restaurants, hotels, bars does a city require that's in recession? I do wonder how much of the revenue from the club is being streamed into this project? I know Slick Glick has said the owners have invested in the Plaza project personally, but, if they can finance the deal via the club and then sell / let there's less risk involved for them.

The club needs to pay for itself, I agree with that, all businesses require this model to be successful, but what concerns me is at what cost is the Plaza being constructed?

The current squad has been built on a one in one out basis, we've got a defender considered to be Shackell's ideal replacement and a target man in C. Sammon but have S Davies (appreciate he has personal reasons), Green, Maquire, Addison possibly made way to finance the deal if you take the wages and transfers into account? Coutts and Jacobs were the additional major signings, hardly expensive acquisitions or likely to demand high wages.

What GSE say and do I believe the majority the of fans can consider for themselves whether it's an appropriate way to run the business. What concerns me is, how much of their personal ambition with wealth is actually causing our club, the city and Derby fans to suffer?

Desi