Former Rangers shareholders James and Sandy Easdale are leading a consortium to purchase Derby County [The Herald].
The brothers want to buy the club on behalf of a Malaysian consortium and are in advanced talks with the Derby administrators.
Derby are in a precarious situation as they had to call in the administrators in September following a £20m loss. The coronavirus pandemic has hit most clubs hard, but the Rams are seemingly feeling it even more than others.
A 12-point deduction was given to the club, and they currently sit bottom of the English Championship, nine points adrift from safety.
The Easdale’s have managed to accumulate a fortune worth over £750m from business dealings based on property and transport and they also own McGill’s buses in Scotland.
They both held shares in Rangers in 2013. When Dave King took over, however, the brothers were ousted from the club.
The former Rangers shareholders could face competition from American businessman Chris Kirchner who announced his attention to buy Derby in October.
The second-tier club’s administrators have also stated that Mike Ashley has not submitted a bid to buy the club. This is probably a blessing in disguise following on from the Englishman’s recent dealings with both Rangers and Newcastle United.
In other news, Rangers legend Barry Ferguson has named three key players who could attract big bids.