Tom Lawrence makes Derby County points deduction admission

Derby County captain Tom Lawrence believes the target of staying afloat in the Championship despite suffering a 21-point deduction was just one step too far for his side this term, speaking to the Rams’ media team.

The Rams have endured horrific off-field turmoil this term, starting last summer with a transfer embargo that hampered their ability to get any deals over the line during the early stages of the transfer window and although they did manage to get signings over the line, they didn’t bring in a sufficient number of players needed to compensate for those that had left Pride Park.

Derby suffered further off-field troubles in September when Mel Morris officially put the club into administration, leaving the second-tier side in real danger of going out of business until preferred bidder Chris Kirchner was able to step in.

With off-field distractions and a squad severely lacking in depth, Rooney encountered a major task in keeping his side in the second tier, with his task being made harder by the 12-point deduction they were handed when they went into administration.

And this quest to survive was made all but impossible when a further nine-point sanction for a breach of the EFL’s financial rules was implemented in November.

In fairness to the East Midlands outfit, they continued to fight bravely against adversity and looked favourites to get themselves out of danger just a couple of months ago.

But with key first-teamers in Graeme Shinnie and Phil Jagielka leaving in the January window and the club failing to get out of administration, they have suffered from a spell of bad form in recent months, a spell that ended their chances of staying afloat.

Lawrence believes this assignment of staying up was just out of