Transfer activity ratcheted up a notch with arrivals and possible outgoing players as July approached. The transfer window opens shortly with players also due back for pre-season training in a matter of days.

The Dean Moxey deal was completed as he signed a three-year deal - I liken him to Paul Green, who arrived at Derby a year ago for a step up in his promising career. Moxey’s been a loyal servant to his previous club, an achiever with back-to-back promotions at Exeter City already to his credit. I expect him to add some proper defending to Derby’s left flank, which is sorely needed after the displays of the last two seasons. 

Lee Croft also joined the Rams on a free transfer and Nigel Clough anticipated that he would provide the ammunition in crosses and chances for Derby’s strikers.

A few embittered Canaries’ fans disputed Croft’s alleged quality with snide comments under our news report on the signing (See:

http://www.clubfanzine.com/derby_county/v2.showNews.php?id=25324 ).

That response is most odd, as Lee did have the best cross delivery rate in the Championship (and that in a relegated team) and was voted their Player of the Year by thousands of other Norwich fans. Sour grapes! 

Shades of last summer when Trees fans told us that Kris Commons was a ‘nothing’ player! I’d reckon that Clough can get more out of Lee Croft and coach his enterprising play towards an accurate delivery, I’d say that (like Kris) he could prove to be a free transfer bargain. 

The Shaun Barker transfer looked remote, as Nigel Clough said that £1m was a lot to pay for a centre-half; actually, it’s not  - but in the context of the club’s desire not to throw money to only assemble another underachieving, disappointing squad, I know what he means! We do need some seriously heavyweight new blood in that defence though, to make progress. 

The Rams accepted promoted Burnley’s £500,000 bid for errant full back Tyrone Mears. There are add-ons, but seeing Tyrone’s mediocre number of appearances, I don’t think that Derby would hold their breath on that one.

I doubt Burnley got the chance to see him play but perhaps Owen Coyle has had to ‘window shop’ with the odd Marseille video or The Rams’ Wembley Championship 2007 play-off final, Mears’ finest hour (just about his only one!) in a Derby shirt.  A deal should be tied up shortly. Whilst Mears’ agent said that there were other deals around (contradicting recent reports from DCFC that there was no interest in Mears) Ty is looking to swap his glamour ticket of Marseille for the modest surroundings of Turf Moor.

He’ll certainly be fully employed (if available and selected) in Burnley’s back line. I look forward to seeing his 20 seconds of fame weekly at the tail end of Match of the Day on Saturday nights. Meeooww! 

The player will be pleased to be in the Premier League, Derby will be pleased to have him off the payroll and to have taken a fee for him. He’s been under-employed and under-motivated for two seasons, that’s for sure. A question for you Ty; if the going gets tough and Burnley are struggling at the foot of the Premier League come January 2010, will you give up the ghost on your team-mates, club and fans - and do another bunk?

As the club looked to the future, an episode from its recent murky past reached a climax with convictions of ex-directors in the Crown Court criminal fraud trial

The jury at Northampton Crown Court spent several days considering their verdicts on the five defendants in the Derby County criminal fraud case before on Thursday, both ex-DCFC finance director and ex-director of football Murdo Mackay were found guilty of conspiracy to defraud Derby County Football Club.

They defrauded the club of £440,625 and their former legal adviser David Lowe was found guilty of helping to money-launder some of that amount.

They had colluded to take an illegal commission for arranging a £15m loan from the mysterious ABC Corporation of Panama; Friday saw ex-DCFC chief executive Jeremy Keith convicted of false accounting.

Keith helped to hide the £375,000 plus VAT of ‘commission’ that was taken, disguising transactions through a company with which he was personally connected

David Lowe assisted the fraud by laundering some of the funds in the monetary maze via a string of international companies, and benefits paid included such as a Malaysian holiday and funds towards a Florida property for Mackenzie.

Well, Messrs, Mackay, Keith, Mackenzie & Lowe: “Here Comes the Judge!” It is time to face the music for what you did to our club and sentencing will take place on July 17^th. Then, a sordid chapter in the history Derby County can be concluded.

There was good coverage of the convictions, aftermath and reaction on the “This Is Derbyshire” website at the weekend. If you haven’t mooched through these articles, do so here:

http://www.thisisderbyshire.co.uk/news

A supporters’ club spokesman picked up on fans’ demands in one TID article that the stolen money should be repaid somehow - and certainly, many of us would like to see it given to Nigel Clough for players, or some of it put to use in building the mooted Clough and Taylor stadium statue.

I’ll say it too: give the club its money back, you lying thieves! The police may be able to retrieve the ill-gotten gains via the Proceeds of Crime Act. I would hope the club would pursue a case.

However, It’s a tad more than ironic to recall that at the time of greatest concern about the governance of our club, the largest fans’ organisation opted to publicly oppose the determined protests, exposes and lobbying that was initiated by the independent supporters’ trust, fully two years before the demise of the regime, of which John Sleightholme was chairman.

Some naively declared that fans should not question the motives of any club regime or its officers in how they run the club - and a former senior figure at the club sought to divide and conquer the fans in querying why it was that some fans felt that they had to ‘police’ the club. What a good thing that some of them did just that!

I must admit that quite how Andrew Mackenzie ‘came across as a solid, reliable individual’ was totally lost on me way back in February 2003, even before Jeremy Keith & Co took over.

At a RamsTrust forum at Pride Park Stadium then, he declared that no-one had formally bid for DCFC. In Mackenzie’s own words, allegedly no one had ‘talked turkey’ regarding offers on the table to take over Derby County - a statement that was immediately challenged and had to be withdrawn.

It was at a later trust forum that the DCFC board (with Jeremy Keith as chief executive) revealed that they had paid just £3 for the club and would not invest their own funds in the club.

On that night fans told them that they could be heroes to Derby supporters - but that if they did wrong by the club, they would be run out of town. Well - they got run out of town, and last week were found to have be helping themselves to the club’s own funds.

Apart from taking the club’s debt of £35m up to £50m+ and contriving the untidy theft of £125,000 plus VAT apiece, Keith, Mackay & Mackenzie presided over a torpid period of incompetence and deceit which took the club to the precipice of extinction.

Thankfully, local and national media exposures and supporter opposition put the pressure on JK and his colleagues; RamsTrust’s petition to the Co-op Bank and the rising tide of concern ultimately produced a radical reaction, culminating in public protests at the stadium.

That helped prevent a meek and passive acceptance of such wrongdoings, with the bank ultimately seizing the club and facilitating new ownership via Peter Gadsby’s consortium. 

Gadsby’s comments in TID describe how he fought to tear away the cloak of secrecy surrounding the club’s affairs and he exposed the fraud to the police, when he uncovered the unaccounted sum of £375,000 that became the focus of the investigations.

Those lucky enough to be stage front at the sprawling Glastonbury Festival over the weekend to witness the shamanic, torrential brilliance of Neil Young and the blistering power of Bruce Springsteen and the mighty East Street Band (alongside myriad other excellent sets) will wonder why we’re concerning ourselves discussing such redundant, reviled characters as Mr Keith and colleagues.

Fair point!

RamsWeek 26 last year brought the promise that ‘better must come’ as the club were chasing new signings whilst anticipating the commencement of pre-season training. Derby declared that the team would be radically different to the one that had failed so miserably in the Premier League. The ‘whole ethos’ would change, said manager Paul Jewell.

Real activity was sluggish but Adam Pearson was confident of several more signings before the start of the 2008-09 campaign. Derby was close to signing Stockport striker Liam Dickinson but the seemingly unending Ferrie Bodde saga spluttered on inconclusively.

Wolves signed Rams’ midfielder David Jones for £1m and Giles Barnes received the all clear to resume full training after his various extended injury absences in preparation for what everyone expected to be an exciting contribution to Derby County’s recovery. Oh well…

Euro 2008 came to an exciting climax with Spain sweeping away Russia 3-0 in their semi-final whilst Germany overcame the spirited Turkish team 3-2, the games being played in monsoon conditions. Spain beat Germany 1-0 in the final (despite deserving a much bigger scoreline) with Liverpool’s new superstar striker, Fernando Torres clinching the vital goal.

Photo: Action Images

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