Since Fodboldselskabet A/S took over Croydon Athletic last month, the Danes have gone Rams crazy.

More than 400 scarves and 300 t-shirts have been sold in Denmark - more merchandise than the club has sold in the last decade - while the heads of the fans consortium, which has 450 shareholders, have found themselves in national newspapers and on television chat shows.

"Croydon Athletic is very big in Denmark, it's like a cult or a phenomenon," says Fodboldselskabet founder Palle Katring-Rasmussen.

"We have had more than 200 articles in national newspapers and we have been guests on the Danish talk show equivalent of the David Letterman show - we have been everywhere.

"It is a huge story over here because a lot of Danes have tried to takeover football clubs and always failed.

"We tried to take over Chester City eight months ago but couldn't and then just kept on trying.

"We are not just ordinary football fans, it is an investment company but the only thing all the shareholders have in common is their interest and passion for English football.

"They are entrepreneurs, labourers, students, they come from every walk of life and they each hold a different amount of shares.

"We have a board of directors, a chairman and all those things but the only thing that is different to a regular investment company is that our shareholders all have some influence.

"We have a lot of committees so some will be on the PR committee, some the finance and business development committee or there's a merchandise committee - there's a committee for everything."

The company bought a 51 per cent share in the Rams from owner Mazhar Majeed on December 1 but have only been able to start paying players from Saturday.

The club's first ever professional players, Danes Lasse Weber, a striker, and Stefan Rasmussen, a defender, have been signed but are still awaiting international clearance so could not play in Saturday's 4-1 home defeat to Carshalton Athletic.

With the Rams bottom of the table and six points adrift of safety, more reinforcements are needed if the club are to stay on track for the new owners' goal of being a Blue Square Premier side by 2016.

"It is a sign of our ambition that we have signed these players and if you look at the table we need a couple of professional players," says Katring-Rasmussen.

"Hopefully there will be more Danish players too but it is not going to become a Danish team.

"We only want to help the club and if we can do that by sending over one or two players a season then okay.

"Our goal is to stay in the league this season, then we hope and want to go for two promotions in the next five seasons."

Rams' next three games: Jan 8 Margate (a), 11 Erith & Belvedere (London Senior Cup, a), 15 Folkestone Invicta (a).