OT Quantuma

[SithHappens]

Actually from the creditors, not from DCFC, Clowes et al. Presumably HMRC and MM

So it seems. Says Clowes bought Derby but did not inherit any liabilities. Odd he was allowed to do that considering the EFL demanded any buyers agreed to take on the claims from Boro and Wycombe before Mel stepped in.

Perhaps more proof that was just the EFL getting involved to prevent a sale in January as it looked at the time Derby might do the impossible and stay up which I'm sure was not part of the plan for the EFL.

[Geoff Parkstone]

The administrators are appointed by the directors but are effectively working for the creditors to maximise their yield by retaining and selling the football business(es) as a going concern. Their fees are initially paid out of money raised by selling the company assets (including the football club) in effect reducing the creditors' return - thus they in practice "pay" them). Once the football club - the business - is sold, then the creditors get their payout. The adminstrators have sold the asset and have no further role to play in it. Thus the only place they can go is the creditors (they probably havent paid them out in full yet anyway!)

[swaledale]

So it seems. Says Clowes bought Derby but did not inherit any liabilities. Odd he was allowed to do that considering the EFL demanded any buyers agreed to take on the claims from Boro and Wycombe before Mel stepped in.

Perhaps more proof that was just the EFL getting involved to prevent a sale in January as it looked at the time Derby might do the impossible and stay up which I'm sure was not part of the plan for the EFL.

Not sure the EFL stepped in and demanded that the Boro and Wycombe claims were met, they wouldn't have the power to interfere in a separate legal claim. The issue was that those two outstanding claims were unquantified and no buyer was going to buy the club, knowing that they could still be subject to further payments if the claims were successful, hence why Mel Morris stepped in and agreed a settlement.

Its an open question as to how justified and how successful those claims might have been, after all both clubs were operating under the same rules as Derby and Derby received the punishment as stated in the league rules, which both clubs had agreed to. But of course any legal action or threat of legal action can be costly to defend and could take months to reach a conclusion, some might say both Boro and Wycombe were "flying a kite", because they knew such claims whilst unlikely to succeed, would be an issue in any takeover and (as it turned out) mean they could possibly get a settlement.

One could take the view that it was an act of blackmail or demanding money with menaces, which might possibly have forced Derby out of existence if they remained a barrier to a successful sale. Not in my view a particularly friendly thing to do, but there we are.

As for Clownes not inheriting any liabilities, thats generally the case in buying a company out of administration, the purchase price is the best price the administrators can achieve for the assets on behalf of the creditors, the new owner has no legal liability (except in certain specific circumstances) beyond paying the agreed price.