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Championship clubs losing £1.5m a day

Kieran Maguire of the PriceofFootball comments, 'Has financial fair play been a success in the Championship? Now that Sheffield Wednesday have published their figures can summarise totals. In the last five years Championship clubs' income up 53%, Wages up 55% and losses up 106% (now losing £1,560,910 a day).'

Of course, the financial and prestige lure of the Premier League is considerable and encourages clubs to take risks. Given that some clubs in any one year are in a relegation battle, they have a 6-1 chance of success, although no doubt each club thinks it can beat those odds.

Financial fair play has not been as effective as some hope because clubs keep finding loopholes, the most recent being the sale and lease back of the ground as at Aston Villa and Derby County. The EFL also knows that it is on dubious legal ground with FFP as it is possibly in breach of competition law: lawyers disagree about this, but that is how they make their money.

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