Points Deduction Incoming!

[tidus_mi2]

To be fair, Mel Morris is the one who really stitched them up, tried every trick he could to cook the books, including similar things we did that were legal like selling fixed assets but obviously with the hugely overblown value of Pride Park.

So I can easily see why the EFL would come to the conclusion that Derby should face a harsher punishment, although it's only 3pts difference, probably because on the financial aspect we blew FFP out the park.

[Zammo]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/championship/table

No messing about at the Beeb.

[Scutterbucketz]

All depends if we keep to the business plan. If the additional 6 get added I reckon we’re down.

Would be interested to find out if that business plan relates to from this point onwards or covers a period of time that the EFL are yet to investigate.

Hopefully the former. You would think it would have to be, but all this seems a little shambolic.

[Snowflake Royal]

How is it fair that the club with the richest owner is able to 'buy' the league?

How would you feel if Reading spent a few seasons building up a fantastic team, got close to getting promoted and then all our rivals got richer owners and bought our entire team from under us? I'd rather that we all competed on a level playing field.

But we don’t compete on a level playing field. City have bought all their success and we’re in the 3rd division. Chelsea weren’t a traditionally big club. In our division, the ones that go up are more often than not the ones that come down because they have more money from being in the prem, from getting promoted because they have more money. If Bournemouth didn’t go up the first season they did they’d have been fcuked, but they gambled and won and got away with it and now are likely to go up again.

And your example doesn’t quite work because WE have rich owners, therefore of course I will be favouring this approach.

Life isn’t fair, and neither is football, but the ability for anyone to inject cash into whatever club they want without ramifications is just about the fairest practical way. Or strip everything at every level to the bare bones and take finances out of it completely. Obviously the latter isn’t exactly likely.

I guess we both want the same thing - that clubs compete against each other in some kind of 'fair' manner. Your argument is that FFP is basically pulling up the ladder - that some clubs benefitted from the old system and now what to prevent anyone doing the same. I get that and can understand how you see a reasonable solution as everyone else being given the opportunity to invest as much as possible. But what happens to the clubs that can't find rich owners? Is it fair that they effectively fall down through the league structure and risk going out of business trying to keep up. Sure - today Reading could take advantage of the situation, but what happens 5 years from now if our rich owners leave and we don't find anyone else to pile in the now hundreds of millions each year that are needed to stand still because you've removed all the rules? Would you be happy with Reading being a league two team for no other reason that we don't have rich owners?

I would argue that a better approach would be to enforce the rules more strictly and take some measures to redistribute money away from the rich clubs. Narrow the financial gap between the PL and Championship, take out more of the PL TV money and give it to football around the country, share gate receipts between both the home and away club. Then you'll gradually fall back towards a position where the position of a club will be dependent on the size of it's fan base and how well they spend their money. That's how it should be . If that means that Reading are never able to reach the heights of English football than so be it - i'd rather be a mid-tier club playing in an honest league than see us 'successful' in a unfair one.

the it's rich clubs pulling up the ladder never stacks up to scrutiny because it's FL rules, so no PL clubs involved, and all the FL clubs have some form of FL representation in decision making on the rules

[Snowflake Royal]

Good nrws and would agree the chance of the further 6 applying this season are slim even if we do breach the plan.

Of course, we're still a disgrace for warranting the penalty in the first place.

[Ascotexgunner]

6 points was right....I don't know who the fool that was "in the know " that said it would be 9 plus.
Fact is we have worked with the EFL for 2 years and has everything sanctioned. In other words we haven't been like Derby and challenged every decision, or bent the rules, or gone through the courts. 6 points was right.
LOL at Talksport who said it puts us second from bottom as well.

[Donny Ironside]

6 points was right....I don't know who the fool that was "in the know " that said it would be 9 plus.
Fact is we have worked with the EFL for 2 years and has everything sanctioned. In other words we haven't been like Derby and challenged every decision, or bent the rules, or gone through the courts. 6 points was right.
LOL at Talksport who said it puts us second from bottom as well.

Talksport and Adrian Durham are absolute shite

[Ascotexgunner]

6 points was right....I don't know who the fool that was "in the know " that said it would be 9 plus.
Fact is we have worked with the EFL for 2 years and has everything sanctioned. In other words we haven't been like Derby and challenged every decision, or bent the rules, or gone through the courts. 6 points was right.
LOL at Talksport who said it puts us second from bottom as well.

Talksport and Adrian Durham are absolute shite

Wasn't Durham.....it was their news team. Clearly guessing.

[Donny Ironside]

6 points was right....I don't know who the fool that was "in the know " that said it would be 9 plus.
Fact is we have worked with the EFL for 2 years and has everything sanctioned. In other words we haven't been like Derby and challenged every decision, or bent the rules, or gone through the courts. 6 points was right.
LOL at Talksport who said it puts us second from bottom as well.

Talksport and Adrian Durham are absolute shite

Wasn't Durham.....it was their news team. Clearly guessing.

I know. He is still shite

[Linden Jones' Tash]

Let's hope the owner means it when he says he remains committed.
Still think the AC signing and timing was to soften the blow and remain to be convinced it's in any way viable.
We have a chance, if the manager can get some better cohesion and performances from the squad

[andrew1957]

Just seen that Paddy Power are now offering 10/1 for us finishing top half. That seems pretty generous to me and worth a tenner!

50/1 to reach top 6. Very unlikely but might be worth a couple of quid. I can see the team doing better now that we know where we stand and with players hopefully returning from injury. Top half definitely a possibility IMO and who knows a strong 10 games or so ahead and top 6 might be back on.

[SCIAG]

Obviously should never have come to this. £27m over. No easy answers but we need to stop spending £5m+ on players and stick to a sustainable wage budget.

Only 6 points mean promotion is very much still on the cards. With 9 it would have been possible but that bit harder.

[andrew1957]

Let's hope the owner means it when he says he remains committed.
Still think the AC signing and timing was to soften the blow and remain to be convinced it's in any way viable.
We have a chance, if the manager can get some better cohesion and performances from the squad

I cannot see that a 2 month deal for AC will break the bank and hopefully by then we will have some strikers back fit. Good for AC too as he will be back in the spotlight and if he does well, it should help him get a deal somewhere else in mid Jan. Win win as far as I can see.

[muirinho]

Let's hope the owner means it when he says he remains committed.
Still think the AC signing and timing was to soften the blow and remain to be convinced it's in any way viable.
We have a chance, if the manager can get some better cohesion and performances from the squad

I cannot see that a 2 month deal for AC will break the bank and hopefully by then we will have some strikers back fit. Good for AC too as he will be back in the spotlight and if he does well, it should help him get a deal somewhere else in mid Jan. Win win as far as I can see.

Interesting point from TalkReading here
https://twitter.com/TalkReading/status/ ... 1127367684


Reading’s business plan includes:

• Total salary cap of £21.1m this season, down to £16m next season
• A maximum of 25 “permitted players” (players with 3+ starts in Championship or PL)
• No transfer, compensation or loan fees
• An average salary cap on new contracts

----
The maximum of 25 “permitted players” rule may explain why we haven’t seen the new Academy graduates start games (i.e. Clarke has been substituted on 11 times this season, but has not started a game).

Basically by bring on new Academy players as subs only, and not as starts, we keep some player slots free.

[WestYorksRoyal]

Let's hope the owner means it when he says he remains committed.
Still think the AC signing and timing was to soften the blow and remain to be convinced it's in any way viable.
We have a chance, if the manager can get some better cohesion and performances from the squad

I cannot see that a 2 month deal for AC will break the bank and hopefully by then we will have some strikers back fit. Good for AC too as he will be back in the spotlight and if he does well, it should help him get a deal somewhere else in mid Jan. Win win as far as I can see.

Interesting point from TalkReading here
https://twitter.com/TalkReading/status/ ... 1127367684


Reading’s business plan includes:

• Total salary cap of £21.1m this season, down to £16m next season
• A maximum of 25 “permitted players” (players with 3+ starts in Championship or PL)
• No transfer, compensation or loan fees
• An average salary cap on new contracts

----
The maximum of 25 “permitted players” rule may explain why we haven’t seen the new Academy graduates start games (i.e. Clarke has been substituted on 11 times this season, but has not started a game).

Basically by bring on new Academy players as subs only, and not as starts, we keep some player slots free.

Does that mean we could start with Puscas and sub him off for Clarke 2 minutes in every week?

[WestYorksRoyal]

Lots of ITK people posting details about our business plan, and it looks pretty strict. But, surely it gives us freedom at the same time? We can offer the likes of Halilovic, Hoilett etc. extensions if we see fit, given that we know our limits. We were always going to lose Swift, but I wonder if retaining Laurent is out of reach too.

[Linden Jones' Tash]

If this is right, next season will be the tough one....

[The Royal Forester]

I cannot see that a 2 month deal for AC will break the bank and hopefully by then we will have some strikers back fit. Good for AC too as he will be back in the spotlight and if he does well, it should help him get a deal somewhere else in mid Jan. Win win as far as I can see.

Interesting point from TalkReading here
https://twitter.com/TalkReading/status/ ... 1127367684


Reading’s business plan includes:

• Total salary cap of £21.1m this season, down to £16m next season
• A maximum of 25 “permitted players” (players with 3+ starts in Championship or PL)
• No transfer, compensation or loan fees
• An average salary cap on new contracts

----
The maximum of 25 “permitted players” rule may explain why we haven’t seen the new Academy graduates start games (i.e. Clarke has been substituted on 11 times this season, but has not started a game).

Basically by bring on new Academy players as subs only, and not as starts, we keep some player slots free.

Does that mean we could start with Puscas and sub him off for Clarke 2 minutes in every week?

Technically, probably. EFL wise "That's another six points you've thrown down the drain"

[Linden Jones' Tash]

Is my maths right and the package being mentioned basically limits our average to around £10k a week?
Probably less as it covers more than just the 25 premium players?

So a fire sale of most of our assets...

[windermereROYAL]

Crikey, staying within those wage guidelines with Liam Moore still in contract will be a big ask. maybe we could cheat a little and ask him to take a pay cut then pay the difference when his contract expires.