It would be fair to say that I have little faith in the British Justice System.

Just a few weeks ago RamBalls’ bicycle was stolen and I expected the finest officers Derbyshire Constabulary has to offer to spend the following weeks hunting down the morally bankrupt scummer who is in possession of my two wheels.

I assumed the trial of said bike theif would be over within one month of the theft;my bike would be returned to me, along with compensation for the mental distress I suffered, and the theif to be suitably punished with crocodile clips, a car battery and a few hours of my spare time.

What actually happened was markedly different. I contacted the police and they gave me a crime number. The end.

I felt cheated. I used to have a bike, now I have some numbers. I can’t cycle to work on numbers. I tapped the numbers into my mobile phone thinking it might put me directly through to the thief but I ended up calling a directory enquiry line. I asked them for the thiefs number but they didn’t know either.

That’s why I was so delighted to hear the news of last week. The police had actually done some hard investigative work which not only brought people to trial but actually resulted in convictions. Jeremy Keith, Murdo Mackay and Andrew Mackenzie, three former directors of the club, along with David Lowe, a dodgy bloke in Monaco, were given custodial sentences at her majesty’s finest B&Bs.

In case you missed it, and I’m sure you won’t have, some of the directors involved in the 2003 takeover of our club have been convicted of crimes against Derby County fans. That’s not quite true but it’s how many of us feel. Back in 2006 there was real anger amongst many fans at the way the club had been run under the guidance of the “business doctor” Jeremy Keith (Hermes from Futurama) et al.

We’d seen Rasiak and Huddlestone sold in a flash and rumours were circulating about the Co-op beginning to call in some debts. All the while we had a board of directors who were as transparent as sewage water.

At this point RamsTrust, the Derby County supporters trust, got involved . They called for more transparency from the board, along with a seat on the board for a RamsTrust representative. It was RamsTrust who first raised suspiscions but it was Rams Protest Group (RPG) who turned up the heat. RPG chose direct action as their weapon of choice; placards, protests and irate fans made the main entrance at Pride Park seem a pretty dangerous place for Keith, Mackay and co after a few home games.

Eventually, the board was replaced by Gadsby and the local consortium whom, along with former chairman John Sleightholme, it is believed tipped off police about potential irregular payments made to members of the previous regime. The payments, approximately £400,000 in total, were made to Mr Keith, Mr Mackenzie and Mr Mackay. At this stage the police took over and did their digging.

The investigation was massive. Fraud investigators interviewed over 150 witnesses, crossed countries, trawled through documents and eventually had enough evidence to prosecute. The case seemed strong from the outset and us fans were left waiting, agonisingly, from a distance as the trial took place over a few months.

We all wanted guilty verdicts and custodial sentences were the minimum we would accept (the other option was a public flogging although we’d have needed a Saudi court for that one). Then, on July 20th, our wish was granted.

We already knew that they were guilty by this point, as the verdict was delivered back in June but we were made to wait a little longer for the good stuff. I received the news by text as my Dad told me what I’d been longing to hear; Keith, 18 months (false accounting), Mackay and Mackenzie, three years (conspiracy to defraud), David Lowe, two years (money laundering). I was away at the time, hence the delay in updating the blog, but I made sure I enjoyed a celebratory pint that evening.

Mackay, Keith and Mackenzie, along with David “dirty laundry” Lowe, robbed our club. They dealt with shady corporations in distant foreign lands, spun a web of lies and personally pocketed some of the the cash that we spent on ticket money. They were crooks. Plain and simple crooks.

It’s really down to us, the fans, that this came about. We made our voices heard and demonstrated that our club is more than a fat man from Oxfordshire’s train set. It’s our community, our social centre and for some of us, our church. We weren’t prepared to let Murdo Mackay get away with this given his dreadful record at operating businesses. Quite frankly, if Murdo Mackay had gotten away with it, we would have been a pretty sorry bunch of fools. Murdo Mackay’s CV will now make the winos at the bottom of Abbey Street look like Richard Branson, Bill Gates and Martha Stewart.

The club can now move on from this whole ugly scenario and look forward to a more successful future with a transparent and honest board. GSE…it’s over to you.

RamZone welcomes Martin to our team as a regular columnist for the 09/10 season.

He also regularly updates his own blog that can be seen here: Ramballs

Photo: Action Images

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