The new American owners of Derby County have vowed to follow Randy Lerner’s lead at Aston Villa and ensure that they do not alienate supporters or drag the club into debt. Andy Appleby yesterday became chairman of the Barclays Premier League club in a $120 million (about £60 million) takeover and, conscious that his compatriots at Liverpool and Manchester United have mortgaged their clubs up to the hilt, pledged transparency and immediate cash backing in an ambitious bid to make Derby a top-ten club.

The 45-year-old chairman of General Sports and Entertainment (GSE), whose sports management company has bought a 93 per cent share of Derby, is acquainted with Tom Hicks and George Gillett Jr, who have borrowed against Liverpool’s future success and attempted to line up Jürgen Klinsmann as a replacement for Rafael BenÍtez, the manager.

“We’ve got some lessons to learn - to be more in touch with the fan base – and I think we’ll be very good at that,” Appleby, who offered total support to Paul Jewell, the manager, said.

“We believe there’s no reason why we can’t make Derby County an iconic worldwide brand and if we do that, we should be able to generate increased revenue streams, which will enable us to put more resources into Paul and his team. We are absolutely in it for the long term. We will leave English football to the experts.”

Adam Pearson, who retains a 7 per cent share in the club he bought into in October, becomes chairman of football operations. Pearson confirmed Derby’s desire to follow Villa’s template. “It’s astute leadership, good financial injection, nice and calm,” he said. “You’ve got a situation at Liverpool and you’ve got a situation at Aston Villa. One is remarkably successful, the other is going down a different route. When you’re injecting debt into an institution that is Liverpool Football Club, you’re going to have problems. We’re looking at a completely contrary route to that.”