Leicester City are the latest club to be charged with a Profit and Sustainability breach and face a possible points deduction.
The East Midlanders were charged by the Premier League for a breach during the 2022/23 season, the year they suffered relegation from the Premier League.
The English Football League (EFL) also suspect City could be in line for another breach this season and have therefore placed a player registration embargo on the club.
Leicester released a pretty strong statement on Friday, which confirmed their intention to issue legal proceedings against the Premier League and EFL.
“LCFC has been compelled today to issue two urgent legal proceedings against the Premier League and the EFL. LCFC will be seeking that each of these proceedings is determined by an appropriate and fully independent legal panel.”
Football finance expert Stefan Borson believes a points deduction won’t be applied until next season and he also detailed where City may be able to argue a mitigation.
Finance expert reveals what would be a ‘disaster’ for Leicester City
Speaking to The Athletic, Borson noted what outcome Leicester would prefer in their ongoing FFP case.
Borson said: “I can’t see how they could get this done by the end of the season and, anyway, jeopardising promotion seems crazy.
“The Premier League has wanted same-season punishment all along, but the surprise is we are at the end of March and they hadn’t started a process yet. If they had started the process in January, you would have struggled to get everything done by the end of the season. How do they think they can get it done in six weeks? It’s impossible.
“The only way is if all the parties are friendly with each other and they agree to an accelerated process without an appeal. Or, alternatively, an agreed settlement that can be negotiated and then signed off by an independent commission that deems it to be fair. That clearly doesn’t seem to be the case here. Why would Leicester agree to that? It would be a disaster for them.”
As Borson says, Leicester, if they are handed a points deduction, will certainly want it to be applied next season.
A six-point deduction, for example, would see them drop outside of the top two and they’d likely be forced into a play-off campaign, which massively jeopardises their hopes of a return to the Premier League.
Football finance expert outlines a positive for Leicester City
Forson did note one positive that Leicester can use in their appeal against the Premier League. He referenced the £40m James Maddison sale to Tottenham Hotspur last summer, which came on the edge of the financial year.
“It seems clear they have breached and by my model, they have breached by in excess of £40m,” Forson said.
“The question mark is James Maddison’s deal to Tottenham, which falls right on the edge of the (financial) years. That is good because they can say to the Premier League, ‘If we had sold Maddison the day before we wouldn’t breach by much at all’. That could be argued to be mitigation. The problem is they will breach again by quite a lot for this season.”
City’s stern fightback against the charge has led many to believe what their argument could be and Forson may have just revealed one of their main points.
Perhaps the Maddison sale is at the core of their defence.
The post Leicester City warned of ‘disaster’ by football finance expert amid ongoing PSR case appeared first on Leicester City News.