Simon Jordan assesses Mike Ashley’s approach to potential Derby County takeover

The Derby County takeover situation has been dragging for a number of months now with Quantuma still yet to announce the club’s preferred bidder, and setting deadlines for the announcement that have been consistently missed.

Mike Ashley has been one well publicised interested party after moving on from Newcastle United last year.

The desperation of Rams supporters to have a club to support next season has Ashley as a desirable option and one that could secure their long term future.

Former Crystal Palace owner Simon Jordan offered his insight on Ashley’s approach to negotiations on TalkSPORT, quotes are provided by DerbyshireLive.

He said: “Mike Ashley is in the mix.

“The discussions with Mike, I imagine, will be on the basis of he wants everything to be at the lowest price.

“I’m pretty sure they don’t want another 15-point penalty (from the EFL).

“They cannot exit the CVA without 25p in the pound to secured creditors.

“There’s debates about how low it’s going to have to go and I think the administrator is going to have to up his game.

“He’s going to have to get people like Ashley in a room and say ‘I understood what you want but you can’t take my pants down, this deal only happens in this way…

“Believe me, negotiating with someone like Mike Ashley is not a cakewalk.

“He doesn’t want to pay the creditors any money if he can help it.

“He didn’t build business empires being a charity-based individual.

“I don’t think Mike Ashley has been at the table as long as people think he has.

“What Mike Ashley does is what everyone that buys a business out of administration does, they throw a fiver on the table metaphorically and say ‘give me a call when you need me’.

“Unfortunately, this is a public domain business and Derby fans are