Stephen Pearce says the Derby takeover collapse left the club in a holding pattern for much of the summer transfer window. Owner David Clowes was an hour away from selling when the proposed deal to Turki Al-Sheikh, due to complete in August, fell through after being sanctioned by both the IFR and the EFL. Pearce said the club still moved on once the sale was gone.

Pearce on the collapse

Speaking to the BBC, Stephen Pearce said: "The wind was taken out of our sails, totally." He added: "We weren't expecting it to fall down, effectively, an hour before we thought it was going to complete."

The timing left Derby waiting on events they thought were about to be settled. Pearce said, "But we regrouped and everybody got back on the horse. It was like, right how do we go again? And let's crack on with what we wanted to do."

Clowes still backed the rebuild

Pearce's other point was the one that really defines the summer: Clowes still funded the rebuild even though the takeover had stalled. He said: "This is why he's such an incredible owner. 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."

That spending was not small. Clowes funded £6m for Bobby Clark, £2.7m for Sam Szmodics and around £600,000 for Alex Mowatt while the takeover was in play. After the aborted deal, Derby also spent £4m on David Ozoh and added a deadline day reunion with Eiran Cashin.

Pearce said the scrutiny left Derby in a holding pattern for a large part of the summer transfer window, but he also insisted the club did not stop backing the squad. He told the BBC: "We want to push on. We want progression this season."

Derby's recent form still shows why the rebuild matters. They have won one and lost four of their last five matches, with the most recent result a 1-2 defeat to Lincoln. The only win in that run was a 2-1 League Cup victory over Chesterfield, and the other recent setback listed is a 1-3 FA Cup loss to Leeds.

The collapse did not end Derby's spending, but it did slow the summer down while the club waited to see whether the sale would go through. Pearce's account leaves that part clear, and the next result the squad can change is the one on the pitch.

Written by Sam Whitfield with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 1 outlet. How we work →