Patience wears thin in ongoing takeover saga

WE should have been talking about an impressive and muchneed victory over Bournemouth.

We should have been praising the energy, tenacity and desire of the Derby County players in delivering a performance that brought smiles back to the faces of the fans.

We should have been basking in a display that provided hope and, hopefully, a step in the right direction in what has so far been a dismal season.

All of those things should have formed a feast of discussion following a deserved 1-0 win that lifted Derby out of the Championship’s bottom three.

Instead, after a question or two on the victory, the questioning in the post-match press conference turned back to the protracted takeover, the non-payment of players’ wages and the club’s transfer embargo.

How sad, how frustrating, how annoying - and you have to feel for the supporters whose emotions are being put through the wringer on a daily basis.

The off-the-field issues continue to dominate the headlines and the deeply-worrying limbo the club finds itself in is draining the fans. Behind their smiles at seeing a most welcome victory is deep concern for their club.

The proposed takeover by Sheikh Khaled’s Derventio Holdings (UK) Limited was said to be close at the beginning of November and again just before Christmas. And again last week. Yet we still await completion.

Fresh reports on Tuesday night first cast further doubts over the deal and then claimed Derby are “losing patience” with the prospective new owners and are drawing up contingency plans in case the sale of the club collapses.

If the club is losing patience, that would be perfectly understandable because the majority of fans lost patience some time ago.

Our headline on our website DerbyshireLive at the weekend said “This cannot continue”. The sentiment stands.

And we ask again, would this not be a good time for the prospective new owners to make a statement on their stance?

There needs to be a conclusion ASAP.