The chief executive of Derby County has assured fans the planned sale of the club will go ahead despite weeks of hold-ups.
Stephen Pearce to talkSPORT radio he still expects the takeover of the club by Sheikh Khaled Zayed Bin Saquer Zayed Al Nayhan’s Derventio Holdings (UK) Limited to go through.
He said the club was also working hard to address delays with players’ wages, and other members of staff and academy players were up to date with their wages.
Current owner Mel Morris has been looking for new investment in the Championship club for the past two years.
Mr Pearce said: “I addressed the players [on Tuesday] to bring them up to speed to where we are.
“The deal, from our perspective, we’ve heard nothing from either party – Mel [Morris], BZI or Derventio Holdings of any problems whatsoever with the takeover.
“As late as last night and this morning, we have been told that it absolutely is taking place.
“We’ve been talking to them since April/May time and things in the world have changed multiple times during that period.
“All of the legals and the documentation is completely done, it’s just a case of that final closing of the deal now between BZI and Mel Morris.
“We expected that originally to take place on the 24th of December, and we put a statement out.
“That didn’t happen. If we hadn’t been expecting that to take place on the 24th, we would have made other arrangement to make sure we had the funding in place to cover the players’ payroll.
“We’re working to get that sorted ASAP. Our number one priority at the moment is to get that sorted. We’re working on that as we speak.”
Mr Pearce also said there was no danger of the club slipping into administration.
He said: “This is all about timing.
“We’re speaking daily to the prospective new owners, myself, Mel, and there’s not been a single issue raised by either party. It’s just all about timing.
“I assured the players yesterday that, that is the case. It’s an unfortunate situation that we’re in but one that we see light at the end of the tunnel of very soon.”
