ROO HITS OUT AT OWNER
DERBY BOSS SAYS MORRIS ‘WAS NOT HONEST ENOUGH’ ON SITUATION
WAYNE ROONEY has accused owner Mel Morris of a lack of sincerity and honesty when telling the players and staff at the club that administration was likely.
Rooney also labelled Morris disrespectful for the way he has conducted himself, having not made the effort to speak with him for more than six weeks.
The Rams officially entered administration earlier this week, triggering an automatic 12-point deduction that sunk them to the bottom of the Championship table, with the possibility of further points being taken away hanging over the club.
Rooney hit out at Morris in his press conference, ahead of tomorrow’s Championship game at Sheffield United, for the way the businessman delivered the news and subsequently handled the situation.
‘In my opinion, it wasn’t sincere enough, it wasn’t heartfelt enough and it wasn’t done with enough honesty,’ said Rooney, who vowed not to walk away from the club.
‘I personally haven’t spoken to Mel Morris since August 9. I still haven’t had a one-onone conversation, no phone call, no text message. Nothing.
‘I find it a bit disrespectful, to be honest. Communication is so important, whether it’s good news or bad, so we can deal with it.
‘He doesn’t have to apologise to me. I just found, as manager of this club, getting questions from players and staff and not being able to answer, I was hurt by that.
‘He’s put a lot of money into the club, and he deserves a lot of respect for that, but there are ways of handling things and it has left me disappointed.’
Morris said Derby missed out on £20million in lost revenue as a result of the pandemic and the administrators confirmed debts run into ‘tens of millions of pounds’.
Administrators offered hope to supporters yesterday, expressing confidence they can find a buyer by the end of the year.
Andrew Hosking and Carl Jackson from Quantuma said they had already held conversations with ‘genuine, credible’ buyers, with the prospect of some of the club’s debts being discounted due to administration making them a more attractive purchase than they were previously.
Following talks with the administrators, Rooney is confident the club will survive.
‘The conversation was a lot more positive than I thought it would be,’ revealed the 35-year-old.
‘I don’t think the club will go into liquidation, we’ll get through this. The club won’t be short of buyers, that’s for sure.
‘It is taking a step backwards, of course, but sometimes in life that’s what you have to do. But the quicker we can get through this the better, obviously.’
I find it a bit disrespectful. There are ways of handling things and I am disappointed