Published: 22/01/2010 00:00 - Updated: 28/03/2010 06:25

Glick dismisses talk of financial crisis

DERBY County chief executive Tom Glick has rubbished reports that the club is up for sale and must conduct a fire sale of its top players to find £8 million by the end of January, writes TOM SLOAN.

A national newspaper ran a story yesterday saying that US-based General Sports and Entertainment, which bought the Rams two years ago, had put the club up for sale for £30m.

But Glick has hit back branding the story "untrue" and "false" and stating that the club does not need to sell its best players.

And the Rams last night asked for a full retraction of the story due to the inaccuracies it contained.

Glick said: "The story in question is categorically untrue and inaccurate. It was very frustrating to read it and there are a whole series of false statements.

"No, we are not in financial crisis. We are on a very sound footing and that is at a time when football clubs up and down the country are in financial crisis.

"We are not in a position where we need to sell players.

"No, we do not need to raise £8m by the end of the month, no the club is not for sale, not about to sell, not making presentations (to potential buyers) no, no, no so there you have it.

"A series of false statements and I am happy to tell you that none of them are true.

"I think we have been consistent all along and very transparent, I think more transparent than other ownership groups of Derby County, so there are certainly no secrets to hide. We have talked about (reducing) debt levels and we have talked about (lowering) wage bills."

Derby have been subject of much negative press in the last two years, and Glick is at a loss to explain why.

He said: "I have been here for 24 months now and I have got used to unsubstantiated rumours and inaccurate stories about the football club.

"We wonʼt let it distract us and think the supporters should know that it will not distract us from the job in hand.

"That is success on the pitch and also bringing financial stability and governance to a club that frankly has lacked it for a number of years."

Yesterdayʼs article also stated that cash was still owed to former chairman Adam Pearson, with Glick confirming that payments agreed with the now Hull City supremo were taking place.

He said: "When Adam left in October he sold his shares back to the club, so that actually is accurate and very similar to probably a million business transactions being made up and down the UK today.

"We have an agreement to buy those shares back from him and there are a series of payments to do that and all of that remains on schedule.

"That has been consistent since October. There is absolutely no issue with those payments and it really represents a small and insignificant portion of the shareholding of Derby County."

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