After Norwich; I speculated that two clubs were facing 12 points deduction because of FFP rules;namely Brum and Bolton and that we only had to be better therefore than one other club.
Events have moved on, and will no doubt continue to do so.
A death bed bequest of £5 mill , has been left to Bolton(apparently the Donor wrote off a £100 mill plus loan !How much money did he have ?).Bad news for us; but I suspect the Consortium which owns the Club, even with this amount are likely to still pull the plug-£5mill in football being small potatoes.
Brum: It turns out that the EFL are in fact after more than a 12 point deduction-well over 20 (?)-but that this will be subject to appeal. The nature of negotiation and compromise, will still I suspect mean at least a 15 point deduction.
Villa: It turns out Villa are in an even wore state than Brum, and are anxiously awaiting the conclusion of Brum's appeal-they too face a 20 plus point deduction.Although it seems they may escape this season , if they manage to make an impossible profit (apparently the losses are judged over three years ) this season.
Are there any other Championship Clubs in such dire straights ? Who knows we may make the Play Offs with 30 points;with half the Division in the negative after sanctions.
Is this the season when the dire state of the Divisions finances become evident ?
Will our league position be determined by the Tribunals and not results-bizarre !
I was amazed also that as regards to our finances we managed to chop off a substantial amount of our debt in the last set of accounts -how ?
Watch the Balance Sheets this season-not the results.