Finance expert Kieran Maguire has now revealed how much Mel Morris lost as owner of Derby County.
Mel Morris bought a 22% stake in Derby County in May 2014, shortly after the club lost the Championship play-off final against Queens Park Rangers.
After initially investing in the club, Morris assumed his position as sole owner a year later and outlined his dreams of leading the Rams back to the Premier League.
“I hope together we can help steer this club into a sustainable place in the Premier League. We have many of the key components in place, but I am conscious that we must all commit our total support in pursuit of this goal,” the lifelong Derby fan said at the time.
Unfortunately, those dreams soon spiralled out of control as overspending and breaching profit & sustainability rules saw the club go into administration in September 2021.
As a result, Derby were hit with a 12-point deduction for entering administration and then deducted a further nine points for breaching EFL accounting rules.
Following relegation to the Championship, the Rams were on the brink of going out of business altogether until David Clowes rescued the club from administration in 2022, buying Pride Park from Morris and then the club.
Now, it has been revealed how much Morris lost during his time as owner of Derby.
The amount of money Mel Morris lost as owner of Derby County
Speaking on the Price of Football Podcast, football finance expert Kieran Maguire revealed the amount that Morris lost trying to take Derby back to the promised land.
He said: “I’m hearing a variety of stories but I’ve heard some sources which I would say are very reliable that he’s lost in excess of 200 million pounds”.
Morris was not a popular figure among supporters due to the way he ran the club, which put their future in serious doubt before the sale to Clowes.
It was an incredibly turbulent few years for the Rams, whose existence was in question under the ownership of Morris.
The club very nearly fell through the same trap door that Bury and Macclesfield did as former EFL members, but fortunately, Clowes saved them from the brink of extinction.
Under a more settled ownership, Derby are now in a strong position to return to the Championship and will hope to finish in the automatic promotion places come May.
With the signing of Corey Blackett-Taylor from Charlton Athletic, Paul Warne’s side are certainly going the right way about achieving that aim.
Derby face Cheltenham Town at home on Saturday.