Following their loss against Queens Park Rangers on Monday, Derby County has been relegated to League One. While many relegated teams suffer their fate through poor performances, Derby County’s demise occurred for a special reason.
Wealth is an important aspect within soccer. In some ways, there is a blueprint associated with wealthy teams and success. In the Premier League, for example, teams that have a greater net worth perform better as their propensity to give lucrative wages assuages better players to join their clubs. Consequently, they tend to win more games, attain a higher league standing and participate in international competitions where they earn profit from broadcast views.
Although Derby was in the Championship League — a league where teams earn less in broadcast revenue — the team’s chairman in 2014, Mel Morris, attempted to use this buying power approach to gain promotion. From 2015 until 2019, the team bought several expensive players. Yet, the goal of promotion proved to be difficult as Derby failed to gain promotion either through winning the league or the playoffs. Furthermore, as a moderately wealthy team, the speculative initiative to gain promotion through excessive expenditure proved to be unsustainable and it hurt the club’s account balance.
In 2020, Mel Morris announced his intention to sell the club due to bankruptcy, which meant that the team would instantly lose 12 points going into the next season. Amid talks with potential buyers in 2021, the English Football League again deducted 9 points from Derby as they agreed through examination that the club had disregarded financial fair play rules. With these severe point deductions, the club was destined for relegation. However, the squad led by Wayne Rooney produced some great results, which left some intrigued about their effort to evade relegation.
Derby’s relegation illustrates the importance of fiscal management, prudence and uplifting the integrity of soccer. The current state of soccer would lead one to believe that fairness, especially in English soccer, no longer exists. Across all leagues, English teams spend the most. Out of the 10 teams with the most expenditures in European soccer, six of these spots belonged to English teams. In all, winning is equated to money.
While one cannot simply dislike clubs for overspending, the main issues appear when clubs value money more than soccer and the process of building a winning team. Consequently, having such a mentality eschews fairness, and it pushes teams to bully their way to success.
Amid this shameful moment, I must applaud Wayne Rooney for how he has managed the club. Although the team’s record is not the best, Rooney has led the team well. His conduct and resolve to defend the team show a great sign of an English Premier League manager in the making.
