Rams’ Bin Zayed takeover deal ‘off’
MORRIS LOOKS TO PROGRESS TALKS WITH OTHER PARTIES
DERBY County’s protracted takeover by Bin Zayed International is understood to be off.
As a result, Rams owner and chairman Mel Morris will now look to progress talks with other interested parties.
It is believed that negotiations with BZI have ended. Reports last week had pointed to a resolution this week over whether the deal woould go ahead or not.
Four months have passed since Derby announced on November 6 that they had agreed a deal in principle with Derventio Holdings, a company set up by Sheikh Khaled’s Bin Zayed International, and the takeover was approved by the English Football League.
Deadlines came and went but the deal was not closed.
There are three interested parties waiting in the wings.
One of them is believed to be Spanish businessman Erik Alonso, who owns the management company WBD Sports and is said to be attempting to buy the club on behalf of his company, No Limits Sports Ltd.
EVERYTHING Derby County did not want to be in the first half, they were.
Everything they wanted to be in the second half, they were.
In the end a draw stretched their winless run to six matches but the bigger picture of the 2-2 result against promotion-chasers Brentford and how it was achieved means this point could prove hugely valuable.
But a point looked most unlikely at half-time.
Brentford bossed a first half in which they had far too much for Derby.
Their movement, their threat, their confidence was on another level and the visitors built a two-goal lead through an Ivan Toney penalty, his 27th goal of the season, and a Sergi Canos strike.
Bryan Mbeumo had missed an easy chance between the goals and, in truth, Brentford should have been out of sight. Derby had barely laid a glove on their opponents and they limped their way to the break.
Something had to change, there had to be an improvement.
Rams manager Wayne Rooney was clearly of the same opinion because he made three substitutions and changed a faltering formation.
Credit to him but greater credit to the players who were excellent after the break as deep concern drifted away on the evening breeze.
Kamil Jozwiak, Max Bird and Louie Watson struggled in the first half. They were not alone but they were the three who made way for
Lee Gregory, Louie Sibley and Teden Mengi.
This was a tough baptism for 19-year-old Watson on his first senior start. The position he was asked to play, on the left of a narrow three behind Colin Kazim-Richards in a 4-2-3-1, did not get the best from him but there will be other opportunties.
What a manager wants from his substitutes is an impact. That is what Rooney got and he didn’t have to wait long for it.
Gregory reduced the deficit two minutes after the restart when he added the finish to Nathan Byrne’s inviting low cross. The movement in the box Rooney demanded following Saturday’s home defeat by Millwall was provided by Gregory and the striker was rewarded with a goal.
The quick response was just what was needed and the pendulum began to swing.
Derby stepped higher up the pitch, there was suddenly purpose, passion and controlled aggression in their play.
They rediscovered their bite and what to this point had been a comfortable evening for Brentford had taken on a decidedly different look.
Jason Knight and Graeme Shinnie, now operating as a dynamic midfield pairing, snapped and snarled, Gregory linked with fellow-striker Colin Kazim-Richards, and Sibley slotted into the position to which he is best suited – a ‘10’ behind a striker or strikers.
Fearless and willing to carry the ball and run at opponets, Sibley capped a fine performance with a
quite wonderful equaliser.
Receiving a clever pass from another of the substitutes, Patrick Roberts, he shifted the ball onto his left foot and from the edge of the box curled an exquisite finish high and beyond David Raya’s dive.
A first goal of the season for Sibley and he has the quality to score more before the season is up. He added a much-needed spark and was the Sibley we saw at the back end of last season.
Can the plus points from the second half, which included Tom Lawrence’s return to action after three months out, prove to be a turning point for Derby’s run-in?
The point lifted the Rams on to 40 and plumped the cushion between themselves and the bottom three to eight points.
There is still work to be done and the next challenge is to reproduce the second-half showing on a more consistent basis.