NLUJ DEAL

MEDIATION
COMPETITION 3.0

March 4 - 6, 2022

Preliminary Round I
Problem
 A Derby for Survival

Derbyshire FC is one of the oldest football clubs in England. Founded in the year 1874, the club was
one of the original founding members of the Football League - the first league competition in the
history of Football and in many ways the precursor to modern-day "Farclays Premier Championship"
("Premier Championship"), the top tier league of the present-day football system in England. Apart
from this rich history, the club's performances in competitions both domestic and international
cement its place as a proud institution of English Football. Since their founding, Derbyshire has twice
won the prestigious EFA ("English Football Association") Cup while clinching the FA Charity Shield
once in 1975. However, their most glorious phase came under the management of Nigel Clough and
Raymond Failer in the 1970s when they gained promotion to the top tier in 1969 only to conquer the
Division 1 Championship in 1970 (for the first time in their history) and repeated the feat in 1974. It
was in this phase that Derby won its first and, to date, the only European honour by winning the
European Victors League in 1975, thereby entering an exclusive list of only a few English clubs that
have managed to win the trophy.

However, ever since the departure of Clough and Failer in the early 80s, success in terms of trophies
also left the club. Once a strong team in the First Division, Derbyshire has now become somewhat of a
yo-yo club as they keep getting relegated from the First Division to the Second, only to bounce back to
the First Division in the next season. The club did enjoy a short run of success in the early 90s when
they played five seasons of the newly formed Premier Championship (It replaced the old First Division
Championship). However, the Club has never found its way to the pinnacle of English Football after
getting relegated from the Premier Championship in the 1996 season.

The club came close to promotion from the Second Tier several times but missed out every time.
However, what really set Derbyshire apart from many of its contemporaries in the 2nd Division was
the fact that right since the 1997 season, Garv Park (capacity: 38,000), the home of Derbyshire, has
never been less than a full house for the home games. The fans have stood with the club through all the
heartbreaks, but neither has their love for their club wavered, nor has their hope of seeing their great
club getting back to the place it belongs - The Farclay's Premier Championship.

This problem is drafted by Mr. Akash Anurag Jha. This problem is drafted purely for academic purposes and for use as a mock problem in the Deal
Mediation Competition. The narrative adopted by the author of the problem is purely personal and is not attributable to the organization.
Resemblance to any person or organization is purely coincidental.
The supporters’ ambitions got renewed hope when in September 2019, Mr. Shell Borris, a Derbyshire
based billionaire and a childhood Derbyshire FC fan, acquired the club from its previous owners. The
Derbyshire supporters were very happy with the acquisition of the club by Mr. Borris as now they had
the financial muscle to compete in the player transfer market with some of the biggest football clubs in
England. Mr. Borris's first press conference further cemented these aspirations of the supporters
wherein he pledged that while focusing on the development of the youth setup, he would bring world-
class players to Garv Park with the aim of making it back to the Premier Championship at the end of
next season.

These assurances were followed by swift action. At the beginning of the 2020 season, Derbyshire
roped in Akash Anurag, a club legend and one of the most sought-after young managers in the world,
as the manager of the club. With Mr. Borris's financial prowess and the lure of working with one of
the best managers in the world, a lot of proven world-class players made their way to the Derbyshire
dugout in the transfer window before the start of the season. Under Akash's youth development
policies, the youth academy of the club also flourished. One of the most promising stars breaking into
the first time from the youth academy has been an eighteen-year-old named Daolo Daldini. He has
consistently been named as one of the future breakout stars by the GA Sports Football Magazine, one
of the world's most prominent football publications. Derbyshire hopes to earn large revenues from his
sale in the years to come.

Things seemed to be on course in the 2020-21 season as Derbyshire beat Midsborough in the last game
with Daldini scoring the winner to qualify for a four-team playoff for the promotion. On account of
their defeat, Midsborough finished 7th and could not make it to the playoffs, thereby sealing their
faith in the Second Division. As fate would have it, Derbyshire would be defeated in the semi-finals,
thereby shattering their hopes of reaching the Promised Land. Despite the defeat, the 2020-21 season
was considered by the fans and the media as their best in recent times, thereby furthering the belief
that a promotion was not very far.

However, things would eventually go south in the 2021-22 season. An investigation conducted by the
English Football Association revealed that Derbyshire had altered its accounts to show that they had
been running under huge profits, allowing the club to sign big players during the previous seasons.
According to the rules of the English Football Association, no club can sign players if the

This problem is drafted by Mr. Akash Anurag Jha. This problem is drafted purely for academic purposes and for use as a mock problem in the Deal
Mediation Competition. The narrative adopted by the author of the problem is purely personal and is not attributable to the organization.
Resemblance to any person or organization is purely coincidental.
the financial situation of the club does not allow the club to pay the wages of a footballer without
incurring losses. As a result, the Football Association slapped Derbyshire with a 10-point deduction
and a fine of $5 million dollars. Derbyshire appealed against the ruling up to the Apex Court, but the
decision never came in its favour.

News finally broke out in December 2020 that Derbyshire had run into severe debt with the football
club, not in a position to pay the monthly wages of its staff and players for the rest of the season. The
Football Association, as per its Rules, placed Derbyshire into Administration, with the club now being
run by a Committee of Administrators appointed by the Football Association. As per the Rules of the
English Football Association, if the committee of administrators cannot find a buyer for a football
club which they are administering, the club automatically becomes insolvent at the end of a season and
is de-registered by the Football Association. As a direct implication of the same, if no buyer buys
Derbyshire with an agreement to pay off the debts of the club before the end of the season, the club
would cease to exist.

Investigations revealed that Mr. Borris had borrowed large sums from the market to sign big names for
Derbyshire FC. At the time of doing so, he expected the club to be promoted to the Premier
Championship and hence be able to manage all the expenses with the Broadcasting Rights and other
forms of revenue that would have followed.

Adding further woes to injury, Middsborough had now decided to sue Derbyshire in the Court of
Law on account of it losing out on an opportunity for promotion directly as a result of Derbyshire
violating the rules of the game. In a notice served on Derbyshire, Middsborough has pressed a claim of
$40 million dollars on the ground of unjust enrichment. The same could be the death knell for a club
like Derbyshire FC, which is already battling insolvency threats.

Since the news of Middsborough’s claim went viral, prospective new buyers of the club have conveyed
to the Committee of Administrators their unwillingness to buy the club unlestill no settlement is
reached with Middsborough. The English Football Association realising the gravity of the situation
and the history of Derbyshire FC, then decided to waiver its $5 million dollars penalty on the club
with the 10 point deduction still being operational. Due to the deduction, Derbyshire now finds
themselves in a relegation battle, with them needing to win the last five games of the season to avoid
getting

This problem is drafted by Mr. Akash Anurag Jha. This problem is drafted purely for academic purposes and for use as a mock problem in the Deal
Mediation Competition. The narrative adopted by the author of the problem is purely personal and is not attributable to the organization.
Resemblance to any person or organization is purely coincidental.
relegated. However, despite the stand of the English Football Association, the prospective buyers of
the club remained adamant on their position with respect to the Middsborough claim.

Seeing the gravity of the situation, the English Football Association has called the representatives of
both parties to find an amicable solution to their dispute. In the absence of Bell Morris, Derbyshire
would be represented by its manager, Mr. Akash Anurag and its General Counsel Parikshit Shukla in
the mediation, while Middsborough would be represented by its CEO Ms. Mayuri and its General
Counsel Mr. Viraj.

The system of promotion to the Premier Championship:

Position in the Table Remarks

1. Automatic Promotion

2. Automatic Promotion

3. Play-Off

4. Play-Off

5.
Play-Off

6.
Play-Off

This problem is drafted by Mr. Akash Anurag Jha. This problem is drafted purely for academic purposes and for use as a mock problem in the Deal
Mediation Competition. The narrative adopted by the author of the problem is purely personal and is not attributable to the organization.
Resemblance to any person or organization is purely coincidental.