Football finance expert Kieran Maguire has been speaking on the latest edition of The Price of Football podcast about Derby County’s latest situation with the EFL.
An independent panel found the Rams to have breached rules on their amortisation policy and were ordered to pay a fine of £100,000.
However, the EFL can appeal to get the fine turned into a points deduction, which would see Derby relegated from the Championship.
The Rams were also told to resubmit their accounts to assess if they had breached the EFL’s FFP limits from the period 2016-2018.
Maguire revealed that should the EFL appeal and win; there could be a very strange situation involving Wycombe Wanderers and the Rams, following the EFL’s decision to publish two sets of fixture lists, one for each outcome of the appeal.
He said: “So it’s a very messy situation. Derby now have to resubmit their accounts.
“The rough figures are Derby County are probably going to be close to, but not necessarily exceeding, the £39m limit.
“So they could submit their accounts to the EFL [and say] ‘we’ve recalculated our FFP losses, they’re £38.6m, we’ll take the £100,000 fine, and we’re looking forward to starting next season in the Championship’.
“The EFL, then, of course, have the right to appeal against that. The clock’s ticking towards the 7th of August. I think the appeal by either side has to be in by the 18th of August.
“So we could have a crazy situation where Wycombe and Derby County, in theory – and I can’t see how this can work in practice – could have played two or three games of next season, and then they end up in different divisions.”
Do you think that this scenario could happen?
No, not a chance
Yes, the EFL could do anything
TIF Thoughts on the Rams’ relegation…
The EFL seem determined to punish the Rams, and it doesn’t seem as if the fine will be enough for them.
However, if the 2021/22 season were to start with the Rams in the Championship and Wycombe in League One, surely the two couldn’t then swap divisions if the EFL won their appeal?
That would not only be unfair on Derby but also Wycombe, who are probably preparing for this season with a League One budget.
So, we hope that Derby don’t receive any points deductions, but if they do, surely it would have to be applied for the 2021/22 season and not the 2020/21 campaign.
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