Their existence still hangs by a thread but Derby County must do what they have done all season and that is to keep on believing

Derby County are now well into the second half of a campaign that has seen an ongoing series of unfortunate events, with the football club not existing next season a genuine possibility.

Former Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley has been associated with the football club in the news once again recently, but potentially for the final time.

According to The Sun, Ashley is pulling out of a bid to purchase the Rams and he is reportedly furious about the way Derby’s administrators rejected his offer to buy the club as well as subsidise it this season.

However, with the compensation claims of fellow English Football League clubs Wycombe Wanderers and Middlesbrough that could knock the club off the face of the Earth still to be dealt with, it became too big a cost after Ashley’s offer of around £25 million.

With the vast majority of attention directed towards the Rams being focused on off the pitch happenings, it is important to remember the club are not yet relegated and are still within an outside shout of pulling off an incredible survival story.

Having suffered points deductions amounting to 21 points, Wayne Rooney’s side are sat 23rd in the Championship and are seven points from safety with 21st placed Reading having a game in hand.

Next up for the Rams is a home game against Hull City, with the visitors also in the relegation battle, but fears of dropping back down to League One could be eased with some positive results in the coming weeks.

With a 12-point gap over 22nd place Peterborough United, the Tigers can either steer themselves clear of danger in the coming weeks or put themselves back in contention of the drop with a handful of defeats. Moreover, that 12-point advantage could be reduced with Peterborough having two games in hand.

New manager Shota Arveladze, who has managed previously in Turkey, Israel and Uzbekistan, has overseen two home games thus far, where they beat Swansea City 2-0 but lost 1-0 to Preston North End last Saturday.

As for Derby, they ended up losing 2-0 away at playoff-chasing Huddersfield Town last Wednesday evening after Richard Stearman was sent off in just the third minute and he will miss the Hull game through suspension.

Prior to their defeat in Yorkshire, Rooney’s side had put together another excellent late showing by coming back from 2-0 down to draw 2-2 against Birmingham City with goals in the final 10 minutes of the game.

It is that sort of fight that has allowed Derby to still be in contention of surviving relegation to League One, however, draws will of course need to be turned into wins and victory on Tuesday would once again give the fanbase a massive boost amid the horrific events going on behind the scenes.

Follow us on Twitter @ProstInt