Former Newcastle owner Mike Ashley interested in buying Derby

Mike Ashley has contacted Derby's administrators to confirm he retains an interest in the club.

American businessman Chris Kirchner, named as the preferred bidder in April, failed to meet Friday's deadline to show he was in a position to complete his deal to buy the club.

Former Newcastle owner Ashley has written to Derby's administrators Quantuma, via his lawyers, saying he "remains willing and ready to transact". A copy of the letter has been seen by the PA news agency.

Kirchner's failure to prove he had the funds in place to complete the takeover prompted Quantuma to announce on Thursday that they were "continuing discussions with other interested parties".

Ashley first showed interest in buying Derby in October after he had sold Newcastle, but he made clear in his letter to Quantuma that he did not want "to be treated as a contingency measure and would require some form of security" before resuming possible takeover talks.

Quantuma said on Friday that Kirchner had still not given up on completing his deal and added in an update on Saturday it was "engaging with a number of parties who have expressed a desire to acquire the club".

It added in a statement: "Mr Kirchner is one of those parties, as he continues to seek to provide us with satisfactory evidence that he is in a position to complete the acquisition of the club."

Quantuma also said its staff had been subjected "to a tirade of unfounded abuse", which it blamed on "inaccurate reporting".

It said: "The level of inaccuracies being reported is divisive and is unnecessarily driving both a rumour mill and growing anxiety, uncertainty and ill-feeling amongst supporters."

On Friday, the English Football League said it had serious concerns over Derby's future and called on