Derby owner Mel Morris reveals staggering amount of cash Nottingham Forest's rivals are wasting on players not even in Frank Lampard's plans

Mel Morris has revealed the eye-watering amount of money he spends each month to pay for players who aren’t even playing under Frank Lampard at Derby County.

The Rams owner, who is reportedly prepared to sell Nottingham Forest’s bitter rivals for just £1, says it costs him £1.25m every month to fund the 40 percent of players who aren’t involved in their play-offs bid.

Players including George Thorne, Chris Martin, Nick Blackman and Marcus Olsson have not played for County this term, with their absence contributing to the £34.6m wage bill which Morris funded during the 2016/17 campaign.

“Something like 40 percent of our wage bill is associated with players who have barely featured or who did not feature at all in the 2018-19 season so far,” Morris told a fans' forum on Wednesday evening, as reported by Derbyshire Live.

Mel Morris, manager Frank Lampard and chief executive Stephen Pearce at the Rams' fans forum (Andy Clarke)

"I am not blaming Frank (manager Frank Lampard) for that, at all.

"Frank and I talked about this at the beginning of the season because we wanted to establish a style of play that would allow the club to build on and go forward.

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"The cost of that is for me to write a cheque every month for about £1.25m just to pay the 40 percent of the squad that aren't utilised.

"So our wage bill will go down next year substantially, which is helpful for FFP (Financial Fair Play) and getting our costs under control, and all of those things with it, and that is a natural process."

Chris Martin is on loan at Hull and faced Forest earlier this month (Joseph Raynor)

Morris, who took sole charge of the club in 2015, admitted the Pride Park wage bill will drop in the next year owing to those players who see their contracts expire, and that will allow Lampard to further shape the squad.

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"As we get through the end of this season, 26 percent of the 40 percent drops off the wage bill because of contract expiry," he added.

"So our wage bill will go down next year substantially, which is helpful for FFP (Financial Fair Play) and getting our costs under control, and all of those things with it, and that is a natural process.

"We will need to take some of that saving and obviously bring in some players to help us with the rest of the squad. Then the following year the remaining 13.5 percent of the 40 percent drops off at the end of next season as well.”