Derby County: Are Championship club finally emerging from 200 days of administration?

Chris Kirchner has been selected as preferred bidder to buy Derby County, a club managed by England great Wayne Rooney

It has been 200 dark days for Derby County, but finally there is a glimmer of hope.

The debt-riddled Rams were placed into administration by former owner Mel Morris on 22 September.

In the 28 weeks since then, the Championship side's existence has become increasingly fraught, with legal challenges being fought off the pitch as a battle to avoid relegation has taken place on it.

For more than six months prospective buyers have come and gone.

Livelihoods have been lost, fans' patience has been severely tested, with protests used to vent frustrations and marches held in a bid to try to save the club.

Finally, US businessman Chris Kirchner revived his interest in buying the Rams - three months after withdrawing an initial bid - and, on Wednesday, was selected by administrators Quantuma as the preferred bidder to take over.

A sale is yet to be agreed, questions about the ownership of their Pride Park home ground remain unanswered and the club may yet face a further points deduction.

BBC Sport takes a look at how the Derby crisis has unfolded and what could happen next.

Will Rooney rebuild the Rams?

The Derby County job is Wayne Rooney's first in management

Rooney, England and Manchester United's all-time record goalscorer, ended his illustrious playing career as a Ram in the second tier before taking on the job as Derby boss on a permanent basis in January 2021.

He steered them to Championship safety last term, while his first full campaign in charge this season has been crippled by the club's perilous situation.

A 12-point penalty for going into administration in September was followed by a nine-point deduction for breaches of accounting rules. Players have been sold along the way to help fund Derby's ongoing operations.

Despite the setbacks, they are nine points from safety with five games remaining.

Rooney - who backed Kirchner's initial bid to buy the club last year after meeting the American - has been resolute in his commitment to see out the season, but he admitted last month that his future is in serious doubt after making an "urgent" call for the takeover saga to be resolved.

He has said a recruitment drive to find 40 players before next season would be needed for a club that cannot currently sign any because of a transfer embargo.

Just five first-team players - Krystian Bielik, Max Bird, Jason Knight, Louie Sibley and Jack Stretton - have contracts for next season. Rooney has suggested two of those contracts are subject to extension options, which could leave him with just three players.

"You cannot just pick players out of thin air, you can't just pick staff out of thin air," Rooney told BBC East Midlands Today.

"I think we need 40 players in the summer between first team and under-23s - that is 40 players you have to convince to come to the club, convince them the club is moving in the right direction, convince the right players to come to the club.

"Then the staff, convince them they have a future at the club, convince staff why it is a good place to come and work, staff you want to try to bring in."

What division Derby are playing in next season is yet to be determined, but they could start with a 15-point penalty wherever they end up if outstanding debts are not settled in line with the EFL's insolvency regulations.

'Derby closer to avoiding extinction'

Gerald Krasner, an insolvency expert who served as Leeds United chairman when the club was on the brink of administration in 2004, says "Derby are getting further away from extinction" but added that they have a "few hurdles to get through".

He says, as the "exclusive bidder", Kirchner will now trawl through Derby's finances, while the American, and others associated with the takeover, will also be subjected to the EFL owners' and directors' test - which includes scrutiny of his ability to finance the purchase, fund the club in the future and the source of that money.

In a question-and-answer exchange with Derby fans on Twitter, Kirchner confirmed that he intends to appoint former Manchester City chief executive Garry Cook as the Rams' CEO.

"First thing he will do is put his team in to do due diligence, which means looking at the books and all the company records to see if there are any skeletons in the cupboard which he is not aware of," Krasner told BBC Radio Derby.

"If he finds anything he doesn't like he will go back and negotiate on price or walk away again. This is not a bound deal.

"This [sale] is going to take a minimum of two months to do, at which point we are going to be in the close season. Who is going to pay the wages once the season ends? That's another side issue that needs to be thought about."

Derby's Pride Park home ground, which is owned by former majority stakeholder Morris, is not part of Kirchner's bid and is another major element of the takeover which now needs to be negotiated.

"If the price for the ground is too high, he has a reason to walk away, so there will be another poker game played," added Krasner.

Kirchner has tweeted that Derby City Council, who have been linked with a potential bid to buy for the stadium, have "been instrumental" in him returning to try purchase the club.

'Grateful to have someone to sort the mess out' - fans' reaction

Derby fans unfurled a banner during one protest this season saying 'A founder member of the Football League with 138 years of football history - save Derby County'

Life-long Derby fan Lisa Howard welcomed Kirchner's renewed interest in the club and hopes the Texas-based businessman's already-established relationship with Rooney will "be a bonus".

"I'm eternally grateful that Chris Kirchner wants to come in try to save the football club and sort this mess out," she told BBC Radio Derby.

"What I like is that he has this relationship with Rooney already. He is ahead of the game in that sense."

Nigel Owen, from fans' group Black and White Together, said the revival of the American's bid after attempting to buy Preston "is a positive reflection on Derby and what we have got as potential".

"We have to say potential because the current situation is obviously not great," he continued.

"Things are happening and things are moving, which is what we have been waiting for for the last six months."

How did Derby get into this situation?

• 2 April 2019: Derby report a pre-tax profit of £14.6m - the club's first in 10 years - but only after selling their Pride Park stadium to owner Mel Morris for £80m.

• 27 May 2019: Derby are beaten 2-1 by Aston Villa in the Championship play-off final, a game described by sports finance expert Dr Rob Wilson as "last roll of the dice sort of stuff" for both sides.

• 16 January 2020: Derby charged by EFL for a breach of spending rules, relating to losses in the three years up to June 2018. The charges are dismissed in August.

• 7 September 2020: EFL appeals against the decision to clear Derby of breaching spending rules, particularly with regard to how the Rams measured the value of players.

• 17 March 2021: Morris calls off proposed sale of Derby to Derventio Holdings, owned by the Bin Zayed Group, four-and-a-half months after talks had begun.

• 8 May 2021: Derby avoid relegation from the Championship on the final day of the season, with a draw against Sheffield Wednesday. Wycombe go down by a point.

• 14 May 2021: Proposed takeover by Spaniard Erik Alonso is called off.

• 24 June 2021: Derby are fined £100,000 over some of their accounting polices, with the EFL developing an interchangeable fixture list in the Championship for the Rams and Wycombe pending any appeal about the punishment.

• 22 September 2021: Derby are placed into administration, triggering a 12-point deduction by the EFL.

• 16 November 2021: Derby are docked a further nine points for breaches of EFL accounting rules.

• 24 December 2021: US businessman Chris Kirchner withdraws his interest in taking over Derby, having first declared his interest in October.

• 27 January 2022: A deadline to show how Derby will be funded is extended by a month by the EFL, a week after the league had demanded that administrators Quantuma provide proof.

• 30 January 2022: Fans hold a protest march to try to help force the sale of the club.

• 11 February: Derby and Middlesbrough reach a "resolution" over a compensation claim brought against the Rams which had complicated takeover attempts.

• 3 March 2022: Administrators provide forecasts showing "sufficient cash" is available to finish the season.

• 10 March 2022: The US-based Binnie family end takeover discussions after submitting an offer for the club in January.

• 1 April 2022: Rooney admits his future as Rams boss in uncertain as administrators are further delayed in efforts to name a preferred bidder.

• 6 April 2022: Kirchner is confirmed as preferred bidder after reviving interest in the club just days earlier.