"I think he realises" - Derby County owner David Clowes tipped for Pride Park exit | OneFootball

Having saved the club less than three years ago, Clowes could be on his way out of the Pride Park boardroom

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more...

With the Championship relegation battle set to go down to the final weeks of the season, Derby County fans will be hoping their stay in England's second tier isn't just for one season.

The Rams were guided back to the level by Paul Warne after a couple of years in League One, and whilst things went awry for him in the Championship that led to his departure, his successor John Eustace is aiming to bring the good times back to Pride Park and save County from the drop.

Yet the biggest hero in the stadium should that happen would still be club owner David Clowes, who saved his beloved side from the brink of extinction in the summer of 2022, and after two seasons at the helm he saw Derby return to the Championship.

David Clowes tipped to not be around at Derby County for the long-term

Clowes may be heralded as a lord-like figure among Derby fans, but the reality is that he's not likely going to be the owner of Derby for a very long time.

All the way back in September, reports suggested that Clowes was seeking fresh external investment into the club to push it to the next level, with a fresh update in early March claiming that he was indeed closing in on finding what he needed.

And FLW's County fan pundit Shaun Woodward is of the belief that sooner rather than later, we will see Clowes as a minority stakeholder in the club, or even handing it over to someone else or another consortium entirely.

"I think if David Clowes had suitable investors, I think he'd relinquish some of the club - if not all of it," Shaun told FLW.

"I think he realises long-term he's not going to be able to take us forward. I don't think he would just walk away, I do think he would stick with the club until there were the right people who would invest in or buy it.

"But I don't think long-term, he could maybe financially keep the club going, so I think he realises he needs investors or someone to buy the club.

"So no, I don't think he's in it for the long haul, however I do think he would look after the club until suitable investors are found."

Derby County: David Clowes needs to find the right figure to takeover - a repeat of Mel Morris would be a disaster

What Clowes has done with Derby cannot be understated - there was precious little he could do in their first year back in League One in 2022-23 thanks to restrictions that were still in place, but he was still able to convince experienced players such as Conor Hourihane and Nathaniel Mendez-Laing to the club - players that would play a huge part in their promotion.

Even with promotion to the Championship, Clowes has been sensible when it comes to transfers, with the big-money buy of Sondre Langas from Viking only coming after Eiran Cashin was cashed in on for £9 million, showing there's still a sell to buy model.

What Clowes cannot afford to do now is to pass the club on to the wrong person - previous owner Mel Morris seemed like a dream owner for a period of time, where promotion pushes were taken part in and transfer records were smashed, but his overspending ended in disaster and almost an extinction of a famous club.