The biggest story, as far as he EFL is concerned, that broke yesterday related to Derby County.
Following on the back of being deducted 12 points earlier in the season, Derby have been deducted a further 9 points, courtesy of financial irregularities.
Having been deducted, so far, a total of 21 points, it leaves Derby County facing a huge task to avoid relegation to League One.
Naturally, the noise brought back memories of when our beloved Luton Town, back in 2008, were deducted a massive 30-points before the 2008/2009 season had begun.
Despite best endeavours, the Hatters could not avoid relegation and after 89 consecutive seasons in the Football League, the club were relegated to suffer the horrors of non-league football, a fate that took the Hatters several seasons to escape from.
Now, I know rules are rules and if they are broken punishments must be handed out but what really bugs me is that it is the supporters that suffer the most.
I can recall a wave of despair enveloping the Luton support, after the last game of the season at Brentford when the realisation that non-league football was on the menu the following season.
One bright moment did come though when Luton won, at Wembley, when the Hatters beat Wembley to win the Football League Trophy, a trophy they were, due to relegation, unable to defend the following season.
Derby supporters will be hoping that their side can stave off relegation, but it will be a tough battle, once again behind-the-scenes mismanagement, by those who run a club, has resulted in on-field turmoil.
I sincerely hope that Derby, who were only a couple of seasons ago playing the Championship play-off final, against Aston Villa, can survive, purely for their supporter’s sake.
There is hope they can be successful because in the same season Luton were subjected to a draconian punishment Bournemouth, playing the same division as us, were deducted 17 points for off-the-field irregularities and managed to avoid relegation.
Please feel free to offer your thoughts on their and our won punishments in the comment facility beneath this article.
COYH’s
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Good luck derby we want you to stuff the e f l cxxts
What exactly do the EFL do apart from Ruin clubs, they sit there and take the moral high ground without even trying to understand why it happens. The divide between the Premier league and the championship is so great that owners will risk everything to get there, what have they done to close the gap exactly ? nothing is the answer just punish those that break the rules. Wow do they think that draconian attitude will work ? not a chance and as soon as the clubs come together to get rid of this unfit for purpose monster called the EFL the better.
rules are rules,but them c**ts at efl ,take the biscuit. derby will need a lot of luck to stay up. feel sorry for supporters.COYH.
Derby stole Wycombe’s place in the championship by implementing delaying tactics to get the 9 points moved to this season. It’s Wycombe’s fans we should feel for. Derby fans should already be watching a League 1 side.
Derby, Sheffield Wednesday, Reading and others are financial dopers. Their fans wanted unsustainable investment to reach the mythical promised land. Derby fans weren’t standing up against Mel Morris when he was burning his Candy Crush millions investing money the club couldn’t sustain. Fans sometimes get what they deserve when they don’t demand sustainable ownership.
Yes the EFL isn’t fit for purpose. A rule allowing £39m of losses of 3 seasons is ridiculous. As is there inability to tackle the premier league’s parachute payments which distort the EFL’s competition. And their protectionism of not allowing 4 up from the National League given there’s 4 up from League 2 hurts clubs further down the system. And the fit and proper test which hasn’t ever worked. And that’s all without looking at their feeble attempts to stamp out racism, homophobia, sexism and the (admittedly less important at a societal level) gouging of away fans by many clubs.
But owners and fans that see a £39m loss as a target to get as close to (or at Derby, Reading and Sheffield Wednesday, completely smash but try to cheat the accounts and then call foul when they get found out) are more culpable for their clubs’ woes. Derby fans didn’t stand up to Mel Morris when he bought Pride Park for £81m (allowing them to come in just under the -£39m over the 3 years but leaving them as tenants). They didn’t stand up and question where all the money was coming from and what would happen if Mel failed to get into the Prem. They didn’t complain when a betting firm was paying Wayne Rooney’s £100k a week wages as a player. They only complained when Mel Morris got found out.
We have to demand more of ourselves as fans if we want sympathy from others when things turn sour for our clubs.
But on a positive note, just as with us, it might be the failure Derby needs to rebuild a much better, financially sustainable club. I hope so. A well run Derby, living within its means, achieving success on merit rather than through financial doping, and with fans who understand and demand financial sustainability would be great.
Love the post, thanks for the enlightenment, I see Reading have now paid the price! But I would suggest very few of any clubs fans are aware of the financial restrictions their club, courtesy of the EFL, have to comply with.