Portsmouth’s former relegation rivals seek investment as Wrexham deny interest in Leeds United star
Portsmouth’s former Championship relegation rivals Derby County are seeking new investment just weeks after avoiding relegation into League One.
The Rams are owned by local businessman David Clowes after he completed a takeover at Pride Park during the summer of 2022 before taking the club out of administration just weeks later. The lifelong Derby fan immediately spoke of his excitement over the future and they were promoted alongside Portsmouth last season before following Pompey’s lead by mounting a successful battle against an immediate return to the third tier this season.
However, Clowes is now keen to bring in further investment and has enlisted the help of Jonathan Price, the man who helped broker his initial takeover of the club. Price is the founder of Union Rights Management, a company that provides an advisory service for sports business owners and is said to be acting as Clowes’ representative in discussions with potential investors.
He told BBC Radio Derby, Rams chief executive Stephen Pearce clarified Price’s role within the Pride Park setup and moved to deny claims he had played a part in the decision to part company with former head coach Paul Warne just over three months ago.
He said: “”That’s absolutely not true. He (Price) has no operational or decision-making power in terms of day-to-day on the football club. Jonathan Price is just an adviser to David and there are no secrets. It’s not a mystery figure. Jonathan works for David in terms of (being) his representative in those investment discussions.”
Wrexham deny links with Leeds United star
Wrexham’s historic promotion into the Championship has brought a raft of transfer speculation over high-profile additions to Phil Parkinson’s squad.
Backed by Hollywood duo Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds, the Dragons have secured three consecutive promotions to progress from the National League to the second tier of the English game. The likes of former England striker Jamie Vardy, Fulham midfielder Tom Cairney and Leeds United striker Patrick Bamford have all been linked with a move to Wrexham in recent weeks – but the Welsh club’s director Humphrey Ker has moved to quell speculation over a move for the latter of that trio.
After denying links with Foxes legend Vardy, Ker was asked about a possible move for Leeds striker Bamford. He told Radio X: “No. Actually, I should stop doing this because eventually you might say someone and I have to be like, ‘Yes, that’s true.’ One of the things, much like Ryan Reynolds, the name Wrexham generates clicks. So we’ve started now getting linked with absolutely everybody, we’re like, ‘Who?’ I see our fans getting absolutely incandescent on Twitter about it, ‘What on Earth are they doing trying to sign this guy?’ Well, none of us have heard of him before.”
