THE TWO MEN BEHIND DERBY’S DISPUTE
MEL MORRIS DERBY’S sole owner since September 2015, having bought into the club the previous year. Worth £500million, the Derby-born businessman developed dating website uDate, which he sold for £100m. He then helped set up King Digital — who produced the mobile phone game Candy Crush Saga — and pocketed £450m when the company was sold in 2016. SAM RUSH DERBY’S chief executive until May last year, when he was dismissed for ‘gross misconduct and breach of fiduciary duty’. The lawyer joined the club in January 2013 after working for football agency Wasserman Media Group, where he was head of football operations. His £500,000 salary at Derby was the highest of any CEO in the Championship.