WALMOT Posted March 27, 2019 Share Posted March 27, 2019 How Birmingham points deduction came about:- A line has been drawn in the sand. In being docked nine points with immediate effect, Birmingham City became the first club in the Championship to be punished under the division’s Profitability and Sustainability – or P&S – Rules for breaching spending limits. The independent commission that doled out the punishment was methodical in reaching its decision. This is an important point to make, because a refrain heard around the nine point deduction runs along these lines: that it had waited until Blues were essentially in no man’s land, neither in danger of relegation nor able to climb into the play-offs, before handing out the deduction. Almost as if the punishment were arbitrary. It’s a murky issue, in this instance. The commission acknowledged that for relegation or promotion outcomes potentially to be affected by a points deduction, it was “far from ideal” a decision was announced only in the last few weeks of the season. “It is regrettable that in this case, for a number of different reasons, it was not possible for the hearing to be held until seven months after the charge was brought,” the commission acknowledged, without explaining further. Regardless of the timing, the commission was crystal clear on one point: “There is considerable merit,” it said, “for both the EFL and all the clubs in the Championship in having clear guidelines which provide some measure of predictability as to the severity of sanction which may be imposed in the event of breach of the P&S Rules.” Weeks after the EFL referred the Blues to a disciplinary commission after finding the club had exceeded losses of £13million a season from 2015/16 to 2017/18, the board of the EFL had approved sanctioning guidelines for P&S cases. For emphasis, sanctioning guidelines for P&S cases were not agreed and put into effect by the EFL before the charge had been brought against Birmingham City. The club was a guinea pig. But, crucially, the commission that heard the EFL’s charge against the Blues had the power to ignore these guidelines, if it so desired. More on that later. Under the EFL’s guidelines a points deduction of 12 points is imposed for breaching the spending rules: which is to be reduced by reference to the amount of overspending above the upper loss threshold – i.e. £13million. The lower the amount overspent, the larger the points deduction. So, breaches of less than £2 million would see a reduction of 9 points; and breaches of £15 million or more would see no reduction. With Blues having breached the limit by a little under £10million, the 12 point starting point was reduced by five to seven. Then, Blues had a further point shaved off for admitting expeditiously the breach. How six became nine was down to the commission’s conclusion that Blues’ defence – “the club deeply regrets its breach and has taken steps to avoid a repeat” – did not “carry much weight,” based on the evidence before it. Pointing, in particular, to the more than £20million breach seen last season, the commission underlined: “Those figures, and the trend in expenditure, are adequately taken into account by the guidelines, but the conduct which gave rise to the breach, in particular the spending on new managers and players in 2017, demonstrates a deliberate disregard of the rules.” Here lies the clincher for other Championship clubs: there is no blanket punishment merely for exceeding the £39million aggregate loss threshold; it is down to an independent commission, separate from the EFL, to judge how far and how flagrantly a club has disregarded the rules, and punish accordingly. Fundamentally, the EFL’s sanctioning guidelines ultimately constituted “instructions”; but the guidelines “do not have any legal force and are not binding on the commission,” it said, “which retains its general power to impose any sanction falling within [the EFL’s] Regulation 91.2” – including expulsion from the league, at the very top of the punishment pyramid. Also among the punishments in the 13-point list of Regulation 91.2 are a financial penalty, EFL membership suspension and a transfer embargo – sanctions which the club thankfully avoided. The wider footballing world now awaits a further Championship club being punished – as is inevitable, given the profligacy of club’s desperate to return to the big time – to see if a commission will continue to be instructed by the EFL’s guidelines; or if it takes action that goes above and beyond. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
senorsoupe Posted March 30, 2019 Share Posted March 30, 2019 Watching Boro vs Norwich, not great viewing but Marco Stiepermann is lucky to be on the park after a late challenge. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
senorsoupe Posted March 30, 2019 Share Posted March 30, 2019 (edited) That's a really nice finish by Onel Hernandez after some keystone kops defending by Middlesbrough Edited March 30, 2019 by senorsoupe 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrewDon Posted March 30, 2019 Share Posted March 30, 2019 Kenny McLean with a one-way ticket to the Barclays, is it? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gc_smfc Posted March 31, 2019 Share Posted March 31, 2019 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul-r-cfc Posted March 31, 2019 Share Posted March 31, 2019 Sunderland cruising here. Decent goal from Mcgeady although pretty soft foul for the free kick. Morgan playing well too 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
accies1874 Posted March 31, 2019 Share Posted March 31, 2019 Only caught the last 20 minutes but that was terrific entertainment. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
senorsoupe Posted April 1, 2019 Share Posted April 1, 2019 QPR Sack Steve McLaren which is not surprising at all given that QPR are not very good and Steve McLaren isn't a very good manager. Why do clubs (and national teams) keep hiring these dinosaurs? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Minertaur Posted April 1, 2019 Share Posted April 1, 2019 3 hours ago, senorsoupe said: QPR Sack Steve McLaren which is not surprising at all given that QPR are not very good and Steve McLaren isn't a very good manager. Why do clubs (and national teams) keep hiring these dinosaurs? His hair island will be missed. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WALMOT Posted April 1, 2019 Share Posted April 1, 2019 Bolton Wanderers players refuse to train for 48 hours in protest over unpaid wages.https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/47775158 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WALMOT Posted April 2, 2019 Share Posted April 2, 2019 One way to get round the FL financial fair play:- https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/47789258 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Savage Henry Posted April 4, 2019 Share Posted April 4, 2019 On 4/1/2019 at 18:30, WALMOT said: Bolton Wanderers players refuse to train for 48 hours in protest over unpaid wages.https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/47775158 That's not a nice story. Seems that the first team forewent their wages so as to allow the non-playing staff to get paid, thus allowing them to open the stadium to play games. You'd imagine they're heading for the old Rangers treatment. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brummie Clyde Posted April 6, 2019 Share Posted April 6, 2019 6 wins in a row for Villa and we keep beating other teams fighting for the playoffs. Think we have Bristol City next and we usually beat them too. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brummie Clyde Posted April 9, 2019 Share Posted April 9, 2019 Doesn't look like the Baggies are going to do us a favour, 3-0 down to Bristol City after 19 minutes 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WALMOT Posted April 10, 2019 Share Posted April 10, 2019 Last five games for the top 3:- Sheffield United Millwall (H), Notts Forest (H), Hull City (A), Ipswich (H) and finish with Stoke (A). Norwich Wigan (A), Sheff Wed (H), Stoke (A), Blackburn (H) and finish with Aston Villa (A) Leeds Sheff Wed (H), Wigan (H), Brentford (A), Aston Villa (H) and Ipswich (A) Norwich with a 6 point lead should win the Championship but who will be 2nd? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brummie Clyde Posted April 11, 2019 Share Posted April 11, 2019 May be Sheffield United, looking at those fixtures. Although Hull are on a great run at home. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bishop Briggs Posted April 13, 2019 Share Posted April 13, 2019 3 minutes ago, G_Man1985 said: Paul Lambert doing good job at Ipswich He's relegated Stoke and Ipswich in successive seasons. Yet another sacking seems likely even though he's got two years left on his deal. Lambert was woeful at Villa and achieved little Wolves and Blackburn. Let's hope that he does not replace McLeish when he gets his jotters. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NorthernLights Posted April 13, 2019 Share Posted April 13, 2019 1 hour ago, G_Man1985 said: Paul Lambert doing good job at Ipswich *insert Mick McCarthy gif here* 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rab B Nesbit Posted April 13, 2019 Share Posted April 13, 2019 1 hour ago, G_Man1985 said: Sky Sports have just reported that police are investigating an alleged assault by Joey Barton on Daniel Stendel at Oakwell after Barnsley's 4-2 win over Fleetwood Town. Missed this guy Was thinking he was a bit quiet. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mackie The Staggie Posted April 13, 2019 Share Posted April 13, 2019 (edited) 1 hour ago, G_Man1985 said: Sky Sports have just reported that police are investigating an alleged assault by Joey Barton on Daniel Stendel at Oakwell after Barnsley's 4-2 win over Fleetwood Town. Missed this guy Damn....it's not loading the video attached to that tweet, shows Barton trying to get out of the carpark before the police stand in front of his car. Edited April 13, 2019 by Mackie The Staggie 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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