- 84,516
- Rule 12
- GTP_Famine
*eye twitches*
Anyway, the Wednesday penalty is nonsensical.
Firstly, this season is still going on. Sure it ought to have ended in May, but it didn't. So the penalty should be for this season.
Secondly, why did it take nine bastard months to come up with this? Yep, we can excuse March-June because COVID lockdown, but how did it take from November 2019 when the EFL charged us to at least March 20th without resolving it?
Thirdly, our executive team - Dejphon Chansiri, Katrien Meire, and John Redgate - was already exonerated by the EFL on March 20 from any wrongdoing constituting an "aggravated breach" of the regulations; the independent panel also cleared us of an aggravated breach.
This all begs the question of exactly what it is we have been found guilty of. The issue centres on us selling our stadium to a company also owned by Chansiri, for around £60m, in order not fall foul of Financial Fair Play regulations (no more than a total £39m loss over any three consecutive seasons)... which EFL rules permit. So that's not the problem by itself.
There is a question of when it was sold. The sale appears in the 2017-2018 returns, but these were submitted a month late - in July 2019 - resulting in a soft transfer embargo. In order to fit into the 2017-2018 FY returns, the sale must have been conducted on or before April 5 2018; no actual money appears to have changed hands, which is odd and I suppose makes it hard to say when it happened, but it does appear to fit the letter regulations.
Now, if Wednesday sold the stadium after April 5 2018 and pretended it was before to fit into the returns, that's a breach. It's also an aggravated breach - it's Chansiri intending to fool the EFL in order to escape sanctions... but Chansiri has been exonerated of an aggravated breach by the EFL, and Wednesday by the independent panel. So, what exactly have we been found guilty of? I have no idea.
Reading, Aston Villa, and Derby County have all also sold their stadia to umbrella companies owned by their clubs' owners - Villa Park sold at roughly the same value as Hillsborough did, and they are equivalent stadia, but to avoid over £100m of losses in one season for their promotion to the Premier League; that's exactly why the Championship has FFP regulations - to avoid clubs spending huge amounts to get to the Premier League, failing, and going into administration. EFL is not investigating Aston Villa; the Premier League (which doesn't allow these stadium sales) did, and in March okayed it.
If it's not the sale (which was allowed), the value (which is appropriate), or the timing (which it can't be if Chansiri is not guilty)... what actually is it?
Wigan's points deduction is phenomenally stupid. The EFL did no diligence AT ALL on the new owner before okaying a sale to a man who doesn't even exist at a company in the Philippines, despite knowing that there was betting in the Philippines on Wigan's relegation. The EFL did not do its job, and Wigan are down 12pt for it - and relegated? **** off.
Great opportunist goal from Bryan though to score from the free kick. 👍
It's like when Everton put Ferguson in charge after Marco Silva got sacked, he was part of the reason Everton were playing so bad and Silva got sacked, so why the hell would you put someone in charge who had been an integral part of the problems! 
