Potential Derby owner breaks silence on takeover after historic sexist tweet emerged

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The potential new owner of Derby County has broken his silence after being named the preferred bidder for the Championship club.

Chris Kirchner, an American businessman, has revisited his interest in the East Midlands side months after withdrawing his offer to buy them just before Christmas. He then turned his attention to another second-tier outfit, Preston North End, but after talks with the Lancashire club broke down he has since returned to his interest in the Rams.

But just hours after news filtered through that he would be named as the preferred bidder by Derby's administrators Quantuma, a historical sexist tweet posted on Kirchner's Twitter account went viral on social media. The post, from 2013, said: "Men categorize (sic) women in one of four ways… #factsonly " and included terms that are abusive and misogynistic.

Kirchner later deleted his Twitter account with Sky Sports News reporting that Kirchner "regrets the original message". It is claimed it was an "ill-advised" attempt to quote a song lyric.

A spokesperson for Kirchner also previously told BBC Radio Derby: "The tweets took place nearly 10 years ago... he was quoting song lyrics and movie quotes. It is not his