American management and consultancy group General Sports and Entertainment (GSE) has completed the acquisition of Derby County Football Club.

According to a spokesperson for the Detroit-based group, GSE has agreed an investment partnership which will not involve the company taking on any debt.

GSE is likely to rebrand the club – possibly to be called Derby County Rams – and has set itself an ambitious goal of establishing the club as “a global brand and a Premier League force of the future”.

Derby County are currently languishing at the bottom of the English Premier League and are all but certain to be relegated back to the Championship this season. Matters on the field were made worse over the weekend as Derby were knocked out of the FA Cup by lower league Preston, rendering the season pointless for Rams fans.

GSE previously owned and operated the Fort Wayne Wizards baseball team in Fort Wayne, Indiana for 8 years until the team was sold in 2006.

During the GSE ownership attendances at Wizards games increased each year and the franchise was sold at a profit.

Derby is the second Premier League team to be controlled by an US company, Following the American-lead take over of Liverpool FC last year.