DERBY County Football Club has made an application to get back £375,000 which was taken by three of its former bosses.

The club made the request for compensation at Northampton Crown Court yesterday.

Former director of football Murdo Mackay, 53, and ex-finance director Andrew Mackenzie, 55, were last month each found guilty of conspiring to defraud Derby County of £375,000 plus VAT, or a proportion of that money.

Ex-chief executive Jeremy Keith, 44, was found guilty of false accounting in the removal of some or all of that money.

The cash was received for securing a £15m loan which saved the club from receivership in 2003.

Yesterday, the process of sentencing Mackenzie, of Burton Road, Derby; Keith, of Abingdon, Oxfordshire, and Mackay, of Fife, Scotland, began.

During the hearing the prosecution handed a letter to Judge Ian Alexander from Derby County asking for compensation.

Prosecution QC Richard Sutton said: "They are seeking the sum of £375,000. The club is also asking for interest that would have been earned on the amount."

Before yesterday's hearing, the officer in charge of the case – Detective Sergeant Ian Penman – said the level of compensation the club would get was down to the judge.

He said: "It is a matter for the court as to what action will be taken. They will consider all assets, such as Andrew Mackenzie's home in America."

Yesterday, the judge heard mitigation for Mackay, Mackenzie and Keith, along with a fourth man, David Lowe, 58, of Monaco, who was found guilty of money laundering as part of the same trial.

Mackay and Keith's lawyers told the courts their clients had already suffered as a result of the investigation and trial.

Paul Mann QC, Keith's lawyer, said his client's reputation as a businessman had suffered, that he had to resign as a non-executive director of Evolution TV and was £110,000 in debt.

Mackay's problems as a result of the case were listed, among other things, as insolvency and the breakdown of his marriage.

His lawyer, Howard Godfrey QC, said Mackay had "been relying on the charity of friends".

David Howker QC, representing Mackenzie, highlighted his client's work for charities Sporting Futures and Young Enterprise.

Mr Howker said that Mackenzie had "worked hard and in the best interests of the club."

All four men will be sentenced on Monday, having pleaded not guilty to their crimes during the trial.

No one from Derby County was available for comment.