Derby get six-figure bail out

Derby County have been granted a loan by the Professional Footballers' Association to tide them over their short-term financial difficulties.

The six-figure sum is to cover players' wages and allow the debt-ridden club to settle the contracts of some of the higher-paid players. But it comes with conditions.

"In addition to paying up some contracts, we also expect the club to sell some players when the transfer window opens next month," confirmed the PFA's chief executive Gordon Taylor.

"Our aim is to give the club short-term assistance so that it can build for the future. The club has a good stadium, a big and loyal fan base and has the potential to recover from its financial problems.

"The situation is not dissimilar to the one at Leicester and we have acted to prevent things from deteriorating further."

Derby, who are £20m in debt, will receive another boost when their players finally accept a wage deferral by the end of the week. The loan will help them survive until next season when their finances will be boosted by a parachute payment from Sky TV and revenue from season ticket tales.

By then Derby could be under new ownership if the former Coventry City chairman Bryan Richardson secures a multi-million pound bond that will allow him to buy out the Derby chairman Lionel Pickering and clear the club's debts.

Richardson, who is looking to raise £30m in the form of a bond, said: "It's a properly structured bond issued in an entirely correct way through a substantial bank. It's just a question of time and I'm reasonably confident.

"In my opinion Pride Park is the best of the new stadia and it's paid for. And the support for the club is superb - more than 20,000 are turning up to watch a mid-table First Division team."

Meanwhile, Richardson is confident the transfers that took Coventry City players to Aston Villa while he was at Highfield Road and the current Derby manager John Gregory was with the Birmingham club will not be scrutinised. The FA are understood to be looking at 20 of the transfers that took place during Gregory's time at Villa Park. But Richardson does not expect the list to include the deals that saw Dion Dublin, George Boateng and Moustapha Hadji move to Villa Park.

"The negotiations were conducted by me and Villa directors Mark Ansell and Steve Stride. No agents or managers were involved at any stage," he added.

· Sven-Goran Eriksson is resigned to never having the chance to work with Alan Shearer during his career as England coach.

The Newcastle striker Shearer retired from international football after Euro 2000 and has repeatedly stated his intention not to reverse that decision, despite continuing his devastating scoring form in the Premiership.

Eriksson admits he would immediately find a place for Shearer in his squad if he were available but accepts that is not going to happen.

"I think it's been the end of that story for a long time," he said.