Phil SumblerThe chairman of Wycombe Wanderers, Rob Couhig, has made a firm and direct accusation against Derby County accusing them of ‘cheating’ last season as the row between the two clubs rumbles on in light of the EFL decision not to deduct points last season which would have saved the Chairboys Championship status.
It is not just the words that rumble on as Wycombe raised a legal claim against Derby back in October.
However in a firm, clear and some would say, incredible, rant on The Old Spice Boys You Tube channel last week, Couhig was very much on the offensive and clear with what he believed when he said Derby were cheats and that the EFL should have acted sooner.
“Where I fault Derby, Derby was cheating systematically,” he told the podcast. “Everybody knew it.
“The league, in my estimation, should have moved much more quickly, but their rules are so cumbersome that they sometimes can’t get in front of themselves.
“And then, this most recent thing of the agreed decision, they acknowledge that they cheated.
“They acknowledge that it was our season that was affected and everybody says, ‘oh poor Derby, they might go out of business.’
“I mean think about it. We were right there with them, on a budget that was maybe 25% or 30% what they spent because they were systematically cheating.
“It makes no sense and I don’t know what happens now. Everybody says ‘well Derby’s gonna come out of it.’ I have always been more sceptical than most. What are you buying when you buy Derby? Somebody tell me
“I made a recommendation when all this came down. I said, ‘here’s what you do, let Wycombe and Derby switch places, we’ll drop our claims against them. Let Derby go in and plead guilty to everything as they now have so that they don’t have to worry about next year getting points deducted, let them play in League One where they would have a fighting chance to come up to the Championship this year.’
“But everybody is so enamoured with the system and ‘oh my gosh, Derby this, Derby that,’ makes me sick to my stomach to hear about it because their fans got jammed, but that’s not my problem. Our fans got jammed, that is my problem.”
Derby currently sit bottom of the Championship with just 4 points from 22 games having been deducted a total of 21 so far this season.
The comments on Derby County can be found around the 20 minute mark of the below video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0E4eK1s0dq4
100% with WW