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wooo hooo.. maybe Benny will finally get a game...
Quote:
Report: American consortium buys Derby
DERBY, England (AP) - An unidentified American consortium reportedly has bought English Premier League club Derby County.
Britain's Press Association said late Friday that the multimillion deal has been completed and will be announced in Saturday's matchday program ahead of a news conference Monday.
"This new investment will establish the Derby County brand worldwide through successful alliances with sporting teams in the USA, the Far East and Africa," Derby chairman Adam Pearson said in the program for Saturday's FA Cup fourth-round match with Preston. "The key aim is to continue to build the infrastructure of the club at Pride Park and obviously develop a squad which is renowned as a Premier League force.
"This will add new financial firepower to the squad."
The Rams are in last place, having won just once in 23 games, and almost certainly will be relegated to the League Championship division at the end of the season.
The report said the investors will assume debt totaling $49 million. Derby would be the fourth Premier League club owned by Americans, joining Manchester United, Liverpool and Aston Villa.
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Andy Appleby, owner of General Sports and Entertainment Group (GSE) and vice chairman of AstroTurf, will be unveiled today as part of the latest foreign consortium to take charge of a Premier League club, this time Derby County, according to The Daily Mirror newspaper.
General Sports and Entertainment was founded in 1998 by Appleby. He went on to create and launch General Sports Venue (GSV), which is best known for being the exclusive marketing partner for the AstroTurf brand. GSV is a sports facility and turf specialty company based in Rochester, Michigan.
In addition to being chairman of GSV, Appleby has been a managing member of the Fort Wayne Wizards Minor Baseball Team since 1999. He’s also a board member of the Detroit Metro Sports Commission. GSV has built the largest indoor soccer community in the United States in Pontiac, Michigan, which has two FIFA-compliant international pitches under one roof using AstroTurf. His company has also been involved in building soccer projects in Owensboro, Kentucky and Kentwood, Michigan.
GSE is managing the investments of several members of the U.S. consortium that is purchasing the club. Appleby will be joined by Tom Glick, who will become President and Chief Executive Officer of Derby County. Glick was formerly the Chief Marketing Officer for the New Jersey Nets of the NBA. Also joining Derby’s corporate team is new Executive Vice President Tim Hinchey, who was previously vice president with the Charlotte Bobcats of the NBA.
“We are excited about the opportunity to make a significant impact at Derby County with our collective sports industry knowledge of best practices in management, sales and marketing,” said Appleby on Derby’s web site. “We have visited Derby County over the last six months and experienced a match day at Pride Park Stadium, where we were impressed with the incredible potential of the club and the loyalty of the fan-base.”
Don’t expect Pride Park to be turned into the latest AstroTurf experiment anytime soon. Derby County will make an official announcement regarding GSE at a 2pm GMT press conference today.
"This new investment will establish the Derby County brand worldwide through successful alliances with sporting teams in the USA, the Far East and Africa," Derby chairman Adam Pearson said in the program for Saturday's FA Cup fourth-round match with Preston.
Good luck to them, but I don't see Derby County ever becoming a worldwide brand.
The first thing they need to do is teach the Americans that it is pronounced "Darby" and not "Derrby".
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