QPR financial fair play saga reaches new stage

It's been one of the longest wrangles in contemporary football, but the efforts of Queens Park Rangers to avoid paying a £41m financial fair play (FFP) fine have reached a new stage after the club lost their latest legal challenge. However, the saga is by no means over.

An arbitration panel of three QC's has dismissed the club's claim that the Football League's 2012 financial fair play rules were illegal under competition law and that the fine was disproportionate.

QPR were relegated in 2015 after one season in the top flight. In 2012, the Football League's FFP rules restricted clubs to losses of £8m per year. New rules were implemented last season that allow losses of £39m over three seasons. The former rules were thought to be too draconian and the new rules harmonised them with those of the Premier League.

The club announced losses of £9.8m for the 2013-14 season when they won promotion via the play offs. However, they wrote off £60m in loans as exceptional items.

Rangers’ £40m fine is thought to be the largest ever issued in sport, topping the £32m the McLaren Formula One team ended up being docked over the 2007 ‘Spygate’ scandal. It is also more than double the amount Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain ended up paying for breaching Uefa’s FFP regulations three years ago.

QPR have said that they will appeal to a new committee. This process could take two years. FFP rules have always been open to a competition law challenge and, if Britain was still in the EU (or operating under a transitional arrangement), the European Court of Justice might eventually have to make a ruling.

A statement by the Football League indicated some room for compromise: 'The board understands the challenges that this decision could create for our valued member club and will work with them when the matter finally concludes.' Both parties could agree on a much smaller fine.

The decision has implications for Bournemouth and Leicester City, who have also challenged attempts by the Football League to impose fines for losses during the seasons in which they won promotion to the Premier League. Bournemouth were fined £7.6m last year and were awaiting the outcome of the QPR decision which they had hoped would offer them an escape route.

Wolves get raw deal from FFP

I used to see a lifelong Wolves fan for lunch once a month. He was approaching ninety, but still went to games. Sadly he passed away the other week. As football finance guru Kieran Maguire has noted, Wolves continue to be constrained by financial fair play rules. Radio 4 this morning described them as this year's 'crisis club' and the pessimists have certainly been piling in. Martin Samuel wrote sympathetically in the Sunday Times yesterday, saying that the Premier League drives talent away with regulatory red tape: 'Why could Al-Hilal sign Neves? Because Wolves needed the money. And why did Wolves need the money? Because the club had to comply with an artificial construct known as financial fair play. So Wolves are going skint, yes? No. There is no suggestion that Wolves are in financial trouble, only that they are failing to meet the rigours of FFP. Wolves’ owners appear to have the money to run the club, and invest in the club, and in fact came up with a pow

Charlton takeover approved

The long awaited takeover of Charlton Athletic by SE7 Partners from Thomas Sandgaard has been approved: https://londonnewsonline.co.uk/se7-partners-obtain-efl-approval-for-charlton-athletic-takeover/ Charlton have had unhappy experiences with owners for over a decade, so how this works out will remain to be seen. There is certainly potential there, but will it be realised? This interview with Charlie Methven gives detail not available elsewhere: https://thecharltondossier.com/charlie-methven-on-the-record/

Lau on the ropes

Financial challenges are building up for Guichan Lau whose company WBA Holdings owns 66 per cent of West Bromwich Albion. His company's accounts show that it is in default on a £2 million from a West Midlands heating company called Warmfront Holdings. Warmfront has agreed to take no action to reclaim the loan and interest until February next year. Given a punitive rate of interest of 5 per cent a month, the amount outstanding will then be around £4 million. Lai has missed three deadlines to repay a loan from the Baggies to his Hong Kong company Wisdom Smart Corporation. [sic] Meanwhile the club have a £20m loan from MSD UK holdings at an annual interest rate of 13.8 per cent.

The Political Economy of Football V2

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