Derby County chief executive Stephen Pearce has spoken candidly about the chaos that enveloped the club this summer, describing the collapse of a proposed takeover as arriving "completely out of the blue" and taking the wind entirely out of the Rams' sails at a critical point in the transfer window.

An hour away from a new owner

Owner David Clowes, the Derbyshire property developer who rescued Derby from administration in the summer of 2022, was on the verge of handing the club over to Turki Al-Sheikh, a Saudi government official with a prominent profile in the world of boxing. Both the Independent Football Regulator and the EFL had sanctioned the deal. Then, according to Pearce, Al-Sheikh withdrew his interest approximately an hour before the transaction was due to complete.

"The wind was taken out of our sails, totally," Pearce told BBC Radio Derby. "We weren't expecting it to fall down, effectively, an hour before we thought it was going to complete. But we regrouped and everybody got back on the horse."

Pearce said Derby had spent much of the summer in a "holding pattern" while the bid was being scrutinised, which inevitably constrained the club's ability to move swiftly in the transfer market. That is a familiar frustration for Championship clubs whose planning is tied to ownership uncertainty; windows do not wait for due diligence.

Clowes spent the money anyway

What makes the episode remarkable, according to Pearce, is what Clowes chose to do while the deal was still live. The owner had already committed to a transfer budget and signed off on a series of signings before the sale collapsed, knowing full well that any money spent would not be recoverable once the club changed hands.

The figures bear that out. The permanent signing of Bobby Clark from RB Salzburg cost in the region of £6m. A loan-to-buy arrangement to bring Sam Szmodics in from Ipswich is valued at approximately £2.7m. Alex Mowatt arrived from Championship rivals West Bromwich Albion for around £600,000. All three deals were funded by a man who, at the time, believed he was about to sell the club.

"He thought the takeover was going to happen, he knew he was never going to get a penny back for all of that money he spent on those players and he still did it," Pearce said. "He backed it regardless and that's why we're in such a strong position."

That is press-release language, and it should be read as such. But the underlying point is valid: Clowes made a financial commitment that his imminent successor, not he, would have benefited from. Whether that reflects genuine long-term stewardship or simply a favourable reading of his obligations under the sale agreement is not made clear.

Spending continued after the deal fell through

Once the takeover collapsed, Clowes took Derby off the market and redirected his attention to the squad. The single largest outlay in the second phase of the window was £4m for David Ozoh from Crystal Palace. A series of free transfers and loans followed, with deadline day bringing a reunion with Eiran Cashin among others.

Pearce was asked directly whether the disrupted summer had stalled Derby's stated ambition of returning to the Premier League. He was unequivocal: "Not in the slightest, otherwise we wouldn't have spent all the money we've spent. We want to push on. We want progression this season."

Derby finished just outside the play-off places last season, which means the bar for "progression" this time around is clear enough: a top-six finish and the chance to go up via Wembley, or better still an automatic place. Whether a summer that was, by the club's own admission, spent in a holding pattern for much of its length has left the squad well-equipped for that challenge is something the next few months will settle rather than any amount of chief executive confidence.

What is not in doubt is that Clowes remains the man financing the ambition, whatever the summer's turbulence suggested about his original intentions.

Frequently asked

What happened to Derby County's takeover this summer?
A proposed sale to Saudi government official Turki Al-Sheikh collapsed roughly an hour before it was due to complete, despite having been approved by both the Independent Football Regulator and the EFL. Owner David Clowes subsequently took the club off the market.
How much did Derby County spend in the summer transfer window?
Derby spent approximately £6m on Bobby Clark from RB Salzburg, around £2.7m on a loan-to-buy deal for Sam Szmodics from Ipswich, roughly £600,000 on Alex Mowatt from West Brom, and £4m on David Ozoh from Crystal Palace, among other signings.
Is David Clowes still Derby County's owner?
Yes. After the takeover by Turki Al-Sheikh fell through at the eleventh hour, Clowes took Derby off the market and has committed to continuing to finance the club's Championship campaign.