The continued problems at Derby have not at all been solved by the latest transfer embargo u-turn. 

The Rams survived relegation to League by the skin of their teeth, and they also escaped a points deduction after the season had concluded.

Despite last season's heroics of staying up, the issues at Derby remain.

At this point, The Rams would begin the new campaign without a contracted centre-back, and whilst the club have been given the green light to make some temporary additions, this will just mask the problem rather than provide a solution.

Former Crystal Palace owner Simon Jordan has spoken about the situation at the Championship club - during his show at TalkSPORT - delivering quite a worrying prediction on the future of Derby County: “I hate to say it, because I’ve been the victim of it myself and put myself in the way of it, but it feels like all roads lead to administration.

“Who’s going to pick up other people’s debts, who wants to walk in there and say to Mel [Morris] ‘well look you’ve run this club into a situation where its got £50-£60m of debts that we’ve got to pick up, we might get it off you for nix and pay nothing for it but we’ll pick up £50m in debt.'

“Or, they can dump it into administration, squeeze the debt and have a much fitter, leaner business that money can be put into rather than having to pay off historic debts.

“I’m not in any way, shape, or form, advocating some ghastly, gall, coffin-chasing administrator comes along, but I think this might be one of the solutions that Derby have to look at.”

The verdict

As a football fan, it is horrible to see what is going at Derby. The problems are persistent and it seems that as soon as they seem to turn a corner, they are met with another financial obstacle.

It is even more worrying to think about what would have happened if they would have been relegated. The dramatic decrease in revenue would have left them in a far worse state.

Administration - as ghastly as it is - could be the best long-term option for sustaining the football club - the ultimate priority in this scenario.