The row around the sale of Derby County's Pride Park Stadium has again reared its head.
It was revealed in the club's latest accounts, for 2017-18, that the Rams had sold their ground for £80m to a company owned by chairman Mel Morris.
That sale saw Derby report a profit of £14.6m for that financial year, and a report in The Times now claims the EFL are looking into it.
When the accounts were published in April, we took a look at the highlights and key points.
Here they are in full...
Revenues largely flat – but FA Cup provided a boost
Derby only made £600,000 more season-on-season, almost entirely thanks to gate receipts from the club’s third round tie at Manchester United.
Match receipts rose from £8.7million to £9.1million, on the back of the 2-0 loss last January.
“Other match receipts have remained consistent on the prior season due to ticket prices being in line with prior seasons,” the club said. The club’s average attendance across the season was down by just over 750, falling from 27,885 to 27,175.
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Derby also pointed out that money from the Premier League’s basic award fund had increased by around £200,000 year-on-year.
Player sales fell flat for Derby
In 2016-17, Derby made a fairly significant profit on moving players out of the club, banking £16.1million largely in the wake of Jeff Hendrick’s transfer to Burnley.
There was an enormous swing this time around, the club only realising £3.7million, which Derby said was due to selling Cyrus Christie to Middlesbrough alongside contingent fees stemming from Tom Ince signing for Huddersfield.
Across the season, however, Derby received £22.3million in cash from selling players, significantly up from £8.9million the season before.
Need to sell stadium laid bare
Derby’s operating loss – its revenues minus its costs, without adding back exceptional gains and losses such as the stadium and player sales, was monumental: £30.9million.
The season before, it had hit £23.3million, but those aforementioned player sales had gone some way to soaking up the damage.
The main driver of costs were of course the wages, and Derby did not hide the fact that for every £100 that came in the door, £136 flowed out to pay players and staff over the season, up from £119 the year before.
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This was as a result of the club’s total wage bill increasing from £35.7million to £40.5million.
Meanwhile, Derby spent £12million on new players, and a further £3million on transfer fee levies and associated costs.
Presumably, the club were grateful for bagging £1.85million in compensation from Stoke after they lured managed Gary Rowett away from the club.
Not to mention the £39.1million profit from selling the stadium.
Profit and sustainability at the forefront of Derby’s thinking
Without the sale of the stadium, Derby could have found themselves in trouble with the EFL for breaching spending limits.
And the club makes clear the need to operate within those limitations, on the subject of trying to spend its way to promotion.
“Although the board wishes to attract top talent to the club in order to continually challenge for promotion, wages are monitored in line with the club’s strategy, vision and its profitability and sustainability headroom,” Derby says.
Mel Morris continues to pump cash into the club
Buried away in the club’s accounts, Derby reveals that since 30 June, it has bagged another £18million from Mel Morris’ SevCo 5112 Limited investment vehicle, Derby’s immediate parent company, to plug the gaps left by Derby’s spending.
The club also revealed a new ultimate parent: Gellaw NewCo 203 Limited, which was founded by Morris in June last year.
Meanwhile, Derby says its directors have prepared cash flow projections up to 30 June 2020, which “indicate that additional working capital is required to enable (Derby) to fund its business plan and to meet its liabilities as they fall due.”
But the club has received assurances from Morris that capital will be provided, “for a period of at least twelve months from the date of approval of the financial statements.”
Spending for 2018-19 was made clear
Derby’s accounts reveal the club has lost £1million selling players since the end of the season, by way of disposing of players with a net book value of £12.8million in exchange for only £11.7million.
However, the club also received a little under £450,000 in loan receipts and sell on fees.
More prominently, Derby’s spending since 30 June last year has amounted to £18.5million, including to bring Martyn Waghorn, Jack Marriott, Florian Jozefzoon and Duane Holmes to the club.
Derby increased kitty for promotion and other bonuses
Derby is on the hook to pay out more than £19million in signing and other bonuses, as well as bonuses for promotion and appearances, an increase from the £16.6million on offer the season before.
The bulk of this is the £13million the club is liable for in promotion and appearance-related contingents, up from £11.3million in 2016-17.
Meanwhile, the club also saw an increase in signing and other contract bonuses, which rose from £5.3million to £6.2million.
Frank Lampard provided a fanfare
Derby dedicated an entire page of their report to the appointment of Frank Lampard in May last year, providing an in-depth commentary of his career achievements, the managers who managed him and, most prominently, the social media impact his appointment had.
This is down to the ability to make money on the back of Lampard’s legacy.
“His appointment has provided a greater opportunity for the club to increase and further monetise commercial opportunities and assets across a wide range of areas,” Derby claimed.
Of course, Lampard left the Rams this summer to take charge of former club Chelsea.