LONDON, Sept 24 — Administrators for Derby County said there is considerable interest in the Championship side and that while difficult decisions will have to be made the club have a "viable future”.

Derby, who are managed by former England and Manchester United captain Wayne Rooney, were handed a 12-point deduction on Wednesday for going into administration and are bottom of the second-tier table on minus two points.

They could be docked further points for breaching the English Football League’s financial regulations, and joint administrator Andrew Hosking said they were not underestimating the task ahead of them.

"The assessment of the club is that we do consider, firstly, obviously a club of this magnitude is such that it does have a viable future moving forward,” Hosking told reporters.

"Clearly there will need to be some difficult decisions being made over the coming week or two, in terms of, whether we sadly need to consider the need to be any efficiencies made during that period.

"But there is a considerable degree ... of interest in this club and a lot of it was expressed prior to obviously making the administration order.”

Rooney, who helped Derby avoid relegation on the final day of last season, said he will not walk away from his role at the club despite their situation.

Hosking said Rooney’s position was not at risk.

"We need a manager to motivate the team and that’s not come into our consideration at this stage at all,” he said. — Reuters