Football finance expert Kieran Maguire has recently been discussing Birmingham City’s legal battles with the English Football League.
Earlier this month, the EFL won its appeal against an independent disciplinary commission’s decision to clear Blues of a misconduct charge, however, no further points were deducted (per BBC).
That was after the St. Andrew’s club was deducted nine points by the EFL in March last year for breaching profitability and sustainability rules (per BBC).
On the latest episode of the Price of Football podcast, Maguire discussed the recent saga surrounding Birmingham and the EFL.
He said: “As people may be aware, Birmingham suffered a nine-point deduction in 2018/19 from the EFL for breaches of financial fair play. But, in the small print of the judgement, they were also given a business plan that they were supposed to adhere to.
“Part of that business plan was that they were given financial targets. Now, other clubs were aware of this. So, therefore, they knew that Birmingham had to generate money through selling players.
“So, Birmingham simply turned around and said: ‘Well, we’re not going to do that’ and they didn’t effectively comply with the business plan.
“On the back of that, the EFL says: ‘Well we’re going to charge you for failure to adhere to the business plan.’ Initially, that hearing was held in March and Birmingham were found not guilty of the charges so it all seemed tickety-boo.
“But the EFL then appealed against their initial case and it went to effectively a retrial where Birmingham were found guilty. But the tribunal says: ‘We’re going to find you guilty, but we’re not going to give you any punishment,’ which does seem to be very strange.
“The only winners here are, of course, our friends with silver tongues, because they’ve got double dibs.”
TIF Thoughts…
As can be judged from what Maguire had to say, it seems like Blues were somewhat stuck between a rock and a hard place with the business plan that they were given.
Do you believe that the EFL are out to get Birmingham City?Yes, they clearly are
No, that's ridiculous
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However, at least, despite the fact that they were found guilty at the “retrial”, the club was not handed another points deduction.