Derby County have accused their former chief executive of negotiating 10 'sham transactions' that included a staggering £700,000 deal for 'scouting services' to Claire Ince, the mother of footballer Tom and wife of former England international Paul.

Sportsmail reveals the details of what could be a landmark High Court case that provides a fascinating insight into English football clubs and their dealings with the agents who act as the game's middle men.

As Sportsmail revealed on Wednesday, Derby are suing their ex-chief executive and president, Sam Rush, for close to £7million after dismissing him last year for 'gross misconduct and a breach of fiduciary duty'. Rush denies any wrongdoing and has made a counter claim against the club of around £2m and a five per cent shareholding.

Paul Ince (left) with son Tom (right) and wife Claire - who was paid £700,000 by Derby

In the annual financial report the club published on Wednesday, they outlined their claim against Rush for the first time, alleging that Rush negotiated 'scouting and consultancy agreements which were not authorised by the board' and agreed transfer fees, wages for players and payments to agents that were in excess of what had been agreed by the club hierarchy. The matter is being investigated by the FA.

But having first revealed the details of that financial report, Sportsmail is now in possession of the 109 pages of claim and counter claim lodged at the High Court by Derby's parent company, Sevco 5112 Limited, and Rush.

The driving force behind the Championship club's claim is their Derby-born owner Mel Morris, ranked by the Sunday Times last year as the 245th richest person in Britain with an estimated fortune of £500m. The 61-year-old took full control of Derby in 2015 and has personally invested around £130m in the club.

He was behind Rush's sudden sacking last year, which led to Rush winning an employment tribunal for unfair dismissal last month.

Sam Rush has been accused by Derby of negotiating 10 'sham transactions' during his tenure

A date has not yet been set for the civil action at the High Court but the court documents — filed initially by Derby in December, with Rush filing his counter claim last month — reveal some extraordinary details.

In a stunning 41-page claim against Rush, Derby allege that he made payments of 'excessive fees in the context of sham transactions'. These transactions include 10 scouting agreements with different agencies and agents — totalling more than £2m — which they say 'provided, and were intended to provide, little or no actual value to Derby'.

One such agreement was with the mother of Tom Ince, the winger who became the club's record £4.75m signing in July 2015.

Termed the 'Ince Scouting Agreement', it involved the payment of £700,000 to 'Claire Ince Promotions'.

The court documents issued on behalf of Derby state: 'The Ince Scouting Agreement was dated 1 September 2015 and purports to be in respect of 'football and scouting services' with Claire Ince Promotions.

Rush introduces then-Derby manager Paul Clement (centre) alongside chairman Mel Morris

'The Ince Scouting Agreement was intended to operate from 1 September 2015 until 30 June 2019 under which…fees of £700,000 were payable purportedly in return for the service set out…[in] the agreement, namely the 'general scouting of football players at a standard appropriate for Derby', the 'scouting of particular football players' and 'reporting in writing' to Mr Rush and Mr (Chris) Evans (technical director).

'No scouting services were provided pursuant to this agreement. Although Mr Rush has asserted that verbal approval was given by the Footballing Committee for the agreement at the time of the acquisition of Tom Ince on 3 July 2015, Mr Morris is not aware of any such approval being sought for the agreement...Such conduct represents a breach of Mr Rush's obligations owed to Derby.'

In his 59-page defence Rush makes no mention of Claire Ince, instead claiming the payments were to her husband Paul Ince.

The documents state: 'It is denied that Mr Rush was the only person involved in the negotiation of the Ince Scouting Agreement as alleged. In 2015, Mr Morris, Mr Rush and Mr Evans held discussions with Paul Ince, a retired, highly decorated club and England player, regarding his taking up a football role at Derby.

WMG's £1.15m scouting report recommended Kylian Mbappe (right) and Ousmane Dembele

'At the time, Paul Ince's son, Tom Ince, was in the process of transferring or had recently completed his transfer to Derby.'

The counter claim states Derby's agreement with Paul Ince involved him attending Derby's games and 'many other games held across English football with a view to providing scouting and other football related support services', and that Mr Morris was involved in discussions with Ince about the arrangement. The allegation that 'no scouting services were provided' is denied.

Instead, the defence claims that Ince was a 'regular visitor to Mr Morris's house', that he recommended Derby should acquire players Nick Blackman and Sam Winnall, and became a 'mentor figure' to many Derby players. It is understood Morris enjoyed the company of Paul Ince but claims not to have known he was paying for the privilege.

According to court documents, two more payments under this agreement are still due — one of £125,000 on 1 September 2018 and another of £75,000 on 1 March 2019.

Tom Ince became Derby's record signing when he moved to Pride Park for £4.75m in 2015

Rush was allegedly the 'only individual at Derby' involved in negotiating Ince's transfer, one that included a 'sell-on' fee of 15 per cent over and above the original transfer fee to Ince's former club, Hull City. Derby claim these payments were 'excessive and uncommercial', and that the agreement was 'entirely negotiated without their approval'. There is also a dispute over additional wages of more than £155,000 paid to Ince.

On Wednesday, Sportsmail attempted to contact both Paul and Claire Ince but they were unavailable for comment.

Derby complain of 'unauthorised and excessive transfer fees'. When George Thorne completed a permanent move from West Bromwich Albion to Derby in July 2014, Derby claim a deal was agreed by Rush that meant, further to the £2.75m transfer fee, West Brom received an additional £12,500 every time he played up to a maximum of £1.25m. Derby claim that Rush failed to disclose this. Also Craig Bryson, the midfielder currently on loan at Cardiff City, was allegedly granted an extra £100,000 per year by Rush for an ambassadorial role.

Rush claims that he did not have the authority to sign off any transfer deals, which instead were under the control of finance director Stephen Pearce. That said, Rush — as one half of a then two-man board with Morris — remained Pearce's line manager.

Rush's counter claim says Derby's agreement with Ince involved him attending Derby's games

The scouting agreements, described by Derby as a 'sham', were made with a number of agencies and agents, with Rush's former employers at the Wasserman Media Group among them. The fees totalled £2.079m for agreements allegedly negotiated solely by Rush without the consent of the footballing committee or Morris. Derby claim they received no written scouting reports with the exception of a file on possible targets in France from WMG.

This was the one product, claim Derby, of a £1.115m USA and French scouting agreement with WMG but was dismissed by club officials when players recommended included Kylian Mbappe and Ousmane Dembele. With a combined value of £265m, the claim points out, the pair were not exactly within Derby's reach.

The Derby claim states that in the absence of any other scouting reports it can be 'inferred that each of the scouting agreements was a sham'.

'Instead, these transactions operated no more than as a conduit for the making of additional payments to the recipients under the disguise of the justification of being a payment under a scouting agreement,' the claim says, adding that it can be 'inferred that the surreptitious nature of these transactions reveals their real, unauthorised status'. Other consultancy agreements highlighted by the claim include a £723,410 deal with WMG for commercial services for Derby's academy and other payments to agents.

Rush (left) says two extensive reviews of finances took place when Morris (right) bought Derby

Rush denies all the allegations made against him and says that two extensive reviews of Derby's finances took place in September 2015 when Morris bought the club, with a further independent audit conducted in June 2016. No issue was raised at the time.

In Rush's 59-page defence, it is 'denied that Mr Rush acted in breach of the alleged or any contractual, fiduciary, statutory or regulatory duties for the reasons alleged or at all'. His defence also claims that 'all agreements were concluded and all payments were made by Derby with the authorisation and approval of Mr Morris and Mr Pearce'.

Throughout Rush's counter claim there are references to Morris's 'hands on' involvement in the club, using the example that in August 2015 'he instructed the then recently appointed manager, Paul Clement (a WMG client), that he was forbidden from appointing Richard Keogh as his captain'.

He also claims that Morris occasionally 'handled and took charge of transactions', including the negotiation of contracts with players Scott Carson, Will Hughes and Chris Martin.

Rush alleges that Clement was forbidden from making Richard Keogh (pictured) captain

Derby complain that Rush agreed agents' fees in excess of the FIFA guideline of three per cent of the player's basic gross income for the duration of the relevant employment contract and Derby's club policy of five per cent. It is understood some agents' fees were as much as 15 per cent.

Sportsmail's revelations on January 4 2018

And they also complain that a clause was removed from a number of contracts that protected Derby from having to pay agency fees once a player had transferred from the club. In his defence Rush said including such a clause was always a starting point in any negotiation but in getting a deal done it was not always possible to keep it there. Derby's claim states that the clause was deleted 'in the majority of Wasserman contracts'.

Derby's claim also points to a possible breach of FA rules with regard to 'encouraging or permitting conflicts of interest'.

The claim states that Rush 'allowed, permitted or encouraged Ayrton Wassall, son of Academy Director, Darren Wassall, to act both as an employee for Wasserman and also as an employee of Derby'.

Craig Bryson was allegedly granted an extra £100,000-a-year for ambassadorial services

KEY PLAYERS IN DERBY SCANDAL SAM RUSH Derby's chief executive until May last year, when he was dismissed for gross misconduct. The lawyer joined the club in 2013 after working for football agency Wasserman Media Group. His £500,000-a-year salary at Derby made him the best-paid CEO in the Championship. MEL MORRIS Derby's sole owner since September 2015, having bought into the the club the previous year. Worth £500million, the Derby-born businessman developed the dating website uDate which he sold for £100m. He then helped set up King Digital — who produced the hugely successful mobile game Candy Crush Saga — and pocketed £450m when the company was sold in 2016. Advertisement

'To hold both roles is a breach of the Rule E4 of the FA Intermediary Regulations which prohibit anyone from being employed both as an employee of an agent and as a club employee,' it says.

Derby claim 'total known losses' amount to £6,841,107.60. Since Rush left it is understood Derby have not paid any agency fees in excess of five per cent.

There was no official comment from Rush's representatives on Wednesday but a source close to the former Derby chief said: 'These deals were subject to extensive due diligence by Morris's lawyers when he was buying the club in 2015 and also independently audited in June 2016 when no queries were raised.

'Sam was never warned about any alleged overpayments and as far as he is concerned, all the scouting work was properly done and would have included numerous telephone calls and meetings with the relevant agents or agencies.

'In fact, the agent network Sam set up secured more than £50m of value in transfer fees and bids received.

'Sam was part of only a two-man board with Mel Morris who was always incredibly hands on. Sam had no powers of payment sign-off. That power rested with Stephen Pearce who reported directly into Mel Morris.'