David Clowes’ Derby County cash injection cannot go on forever – £3m reveal hints at next move

Latest Derby County news from DerbyshireLive brings analysis of the Rams’ accounts for the year ending 30 June 2024 which were released by the club on Tuesday

The extent to which Derby County owner Clowes Developments is funding the Rams was laid bare in the club’s most recent set of accounts released on Tuesday. The books for the financial year ending June 2024 include promotion to the Championship on the pitch as well as the ongoing resurrection of the club after it was bought out of administration, which was only two-and-a-half years ago.

The detail has been covered extensively, with the headline that Clowes Developments – the club’s ultimate owner – pumped in another £10 million to take the total amount owed to the Ashbourne-based property company to close to £48m. A £14m loss was recorded, up £3.5m from the previous year because of one-off payments such as bonuses and clauses to players because of promotion.

Some of the most interesting bits of detail from company accounts can be found in the post-balance sheet events section. There, transactions that happened after the accounts’ cut-off date are discussed and in this instance include transfers for players like Kenzo Goudmijn and Jacob Widell Zetterstrom from AZ in the Netherlands and Sweden’s Djurgardens respectively.

Included in that £2.9m figure is Ebou Adams’ transfer fee due to Cardiff City. The full amounts will be made clear given instalments and clauses aren’t included, but that figure tells a story of how the Rams plan for the long-term to stop relying on CloBuying young players from abroad with plenty of upside like Zetterstrom and Goudmijn indicates a potential move toward a player trading model. It’s not palatable to suggest those players will be moving on so soon after joining, but it is what clubs do now to avoid Financial Fair Play sanctions.

“While the willingness to invest in the football club by David Clowes has been an undeniable positive in terms of affording Derby the chance to progress, the focus will now be on trying to find a path towards a more stable business plan that isn’t solely reliant on the goodwill of one man,” chief business of football writer for Reach PLC Dave Powell says. “Clowes’ ownership has seen the non-playing staff headcount increase as the club looks to expand operationally, while the playing staff headcount has also grown.wes’ cash.