Businesspeople willing to take over Derby County to avoid bankruptcy

Chris Kirchner

agreed to buy the club but failed to transfer the cash by Friday's deadline.

The EFL is concerned that

won't be able to field a team next season, "risking the integrity of the tournament" with fixtures due in less than two weeks. League organizers have informed Quantuma that they must now fully participate in Derby bid negotiations.

At least five groups still want to buy

Quantuma

, according to reports. Kirchner, Ashley, and Appleby. While the objective is to finalize a club takeover before the fixtures are released, "back-up" finance could be available for Derby to build a squad and fulfill their games if that process is delayed.

Some officials worry that the EFL's plans to intervene in the administration process may violate financial protocols and compromise the bidding process' confidentiality. Ashley has the means to buy Newcastle by himself and is still keen to do so, but he thinks the administrators are ignoring him. Two other unknown groups are also bidding.

Ashley's lawyers contacted Derby's administrators, Quantuma, to say he "remains willing to transact." Ashley has approached to buy Derby since October after selling

, but Quantuma has not responded.

Ashley's letter to Quantuma's lawyers states he's "disappointed by the joint administrators' failure to engage constructively" Ashley does not want to be considered as a contingency measure and wants assurances from the administrators before selling Derby.

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