Owners of a football club have revealed that they inherited a debt £31 million pounds when they took over the club last January.

American owners of Derby County Football Club said included in the debt is a £15 million mortgage on the club’s Pride Park stadium that will run until around 2016.

But the debt, with the mortgage, has already been reduced to £25 million.

Club chairman, Andy Appleby commented that the situation posed a challenge which they hoped to continue to tackle, having invested a lot of money in the club.

Although the club did not give details of how it intends reducing the debt by £10 million in the next one year, it is clearly focused on doing that and a business plan has already been designed.

“But that was all part of the business plan that we had moving forward so we were crystal clear with our investment group and we’re very comfortable with it,” said Mr Appleby.