Points Deduction Incoming!

[Hound]

What a sorry state of affairs. Sure it has already been mentioned but we are fortunate we have Derby who are going to get a bigger deduction than us and a selection of massively poor teams in the division who we can beat. We can also beat a lot of the better teams on our day too.

that'd be the same every year tbh. normally 6 or 7 decent teams plus a lot of average to poor ones

[morganb]

If we knew this was on the cards couldn't we have taken it last season once we knew the play-offs were out of reach?

[NewCorkSeth]

If we knew this was on the cards couldn't we have taken it last season once we knew the play-offs were out of reach?

Better yet, let's negotiate that now. A retroactive 26 point deduction for last season.

[Silver Fox]

Obviously hard to comment until something actually happens but if this does transpire what was the point of the transfer embargo? It will have punished us twice surely?

Won't it just have protected us from falling foul of the limits again?

I think my issue is what was the point in the embargo if we were just going to get a points deduction anyway? It's left us with a weaker squad than if they'd just deducted us the points.

[Coppells Lost Coat]

A fully deserved sanction for our shambolic financial handling. But this has been on the cards for a while - we had just ran out of things to sell. Hopefully we have it the known point deduction sooner rather than later.
Positive note: this couldn't have come in a better year. There is so many other teams which are dross and / or getting a deduction. The season is young. Look forward to be chasing the pack rather than floating around mid table....makes it a bit more exciting....

[Simmops]

This club is a joke, the owners have ruined us and before long there will be no more RFC

We should boycott the club and protest

[Orion1871]

Reading will also have to agree on a future business plan. - Be interesting to see what this will be regarding contract renewals and new signings. How much of the slate gets wiped clean after a points deduction?

Isn't that what we've been doing with the EFL over the last two or three Summers with the embargo this year and the soft embargoes I previous seasons?

[Zip]

Obviously hard to comment until something actually happens but if this does transpire what was the point of the transfer embargo? It will have punished us twice surely?

Won't it just have protected us from falling foul of the limits again?

I think my issue is what was the point in the embargo if we were just going to get a points deduction anyway? It's left us with a weaker squad than if they'd just deducted us the points.

I reckon the squad is pretty strong now with some quality additions at very little cost. We have gotten away with it in that respect. We were in a similar embargo in summer 2019 and as soon as the EFL released us from it we went on a spending spree which has played its part in where we are now.

We have to live within our means going forward. If that means an embargo so that we don’t recklessly overspend so be it. Hopefully lessons are learned. To be clocking up £40 million losses for a club our size is ridiculous.

[WestYorksRoyal]

Obviously hard to comment until something actually happens but if this does transpire what was the point of the transfer embargo? It will have punished us twice surely?

Won't it just have protected us from falling foul of the limits again?

I think my issue is what was the point in the embargo if we were just going to get a points deduction anyway? It's left us with a weaker squad than if they'd just deducted us the points.

Maybe we'd be looking at a bigger deduction if we hadn't worked with the EFL closely for the past few windows. Presumably the fact we need to submit a business plan means the deduction isn't the end of the issue?

[Hound]

Won't it just have protected us from falling foul of the limits again?

I think my issue is what was the point in the embargo if we were just going to get a points deduction anyway? It's left us with a weaker squad than if they'd just deducted us the points.

I reckon the squad is pretty strong now with some quality additions at very little cost. We have gotten away with it in that respect. We were in a similar embargo in summer 2019 and as soon as the EFL released us from it we went on a spending spree which has played its part in where we are now.

We have to live within our means going forward. If that means an embargo so that we don’t recklessly overspend so be it. Hopefully lessons are learned. To be clocking up £40 million losses for a club our size is ridiculous.

I guess thats it really. Learn the lessons from it. There's gambling to try to get promotion, and there's just rank stupidity, and this falls into the latter. We are very lucky not to already be languishing in Div1 with this hanging over us, and only some shrewd and successful additions over the last couple of years have kept us where we are. that period of wasting huge sums of cash on poor players and extending expensive contracts of people who we then end up paying off nearly killed us.

I still look back at where we were around the Clement era and think we really we extremely close to being in real trouble. As it is, we'll hopefully stay up, points deduction out the way and able to start progressing again sensibly.

[Snowflake Royal]

Obviously hard to comment until something actually happens but if this does transpire what was the point of the transfer embargo? It will have punished us twice surely?

Won't it just have protected us from falling foul of the limits again?

I think my issue is what was the point in the embargo if we were just going to get a points deduction anyway? It's left us with a weaker squad than if they'd just deducted us the points.

So we don't get an increasingly large points deduction each year.

Its not like we couldn’t have chosen to do more alongside the embargos to prevent the points deduction.

[Hound]

Won't it just have protected us from falling foul of the limits again?

I think my issue is what was the point in the embargo if we were just going to get a points deduction anyway? It's left us with a weaker squad than if they'd just deducted us the points.

So we don't get an increasingly large points deduction each year.

Its not like we couldn’t have chosen to do more alongside the embargos to prevent the points deduction.

we could, but the fact we haven't has kept us competitive. Ive no real issue with what we've done since the first embargo in 2019. Now at a point where we have little wage liabilities in the summer and able to rebuild whilst having an ok couple of years

[Elm Park Kid]

So, the EFL's logic and methods are far, far from perfect. But they are constrained by the fact that football clubs are private entities and that they don't have perfect information on which to operate.

The transfer embargo is basically the best tool the EFL has to force a club to stop spending money. It's not a punishment, it's an attempt to reign in club owners who have been acting 'irresponsibly' according to recent accounts.

The points deduction is then the punishment that is supposed to deter clubs from trying this in the first place. It's not just the case that you will be limited in your spending, but some of the benefits you gained from past spending all that money will be wiped away. It's what should happen.

I honestly think that a 6-9 point deduction would be a more than reasonable punishment for what we've done. I personally would support automatic relegation for clubs that wilfully ignore FFP requirements.

[NathStPaul]

Could ultimately see us heading down a Bolton Wanderers route. Start again with next to nothing and build back up.

[paultheroyal]

Nigel Howe could clearly see what was coming with all his football ties being severed.
6-9 points deduction is survivable but need to see the clear blueprint moving forward and what this means.
Do believe now is the time for the owners to speak up. We have every right to feel vulnerable.
The track record of clubs he owns is absolutely woeful, he clearly has money, but with 2 of his clubs going to the wall, please god dont let us be the 3rd.
Lots of rumours of other clubs facing deductions. Any idea who?

[Pepe the Horseman]

What's the difference between what we've done and what QPR did a few years back, when they just got a fine? Is it just that they've introduced stricter punishments?

[Hound]

Could ultimately see us heading down a Bolton Wanderers route. Start again with next to nothing and build back up.

its not far from where we'll be in the summer. But hopefully in the champ and not div1

[Hound]

Nigel Howe could clearly see what was coming with all his football ties being severed.
6-9 points deduction is survivable but need to see the clear blueprint moving forward and what this means.
Do believe now is the time for the owners to speak up. We have every right to feel vulnerable.
The track record of clubs he owns is absolutely woeful, he clearly has money, but with 2 of his clubs going to the wall, please god dont let us be the 3rd.
Lots of rumours of other clubs facing deductions. Any idea who?

guess just check one of those charts which show wages to turnover for each club in the champ. prob give a good idea

[URZZZZ]

I think my issue is what was the point in the embargo if we were just going to get a points deduction anyway? It's left us with a weaker squad than if they'd just deducted us the points.

So we don't get an increasingly large points deduction each year.

Its not like we couldn’t have chosen to do more alongside the embargos to prevent the points deduction.

we could, but the fact we haven't has kept us competitive. Ive no real issue with what we've done since the first embargo in 2019. Now at a point where we have little wage liabilities in the summer and able to rebuild whilst having an ok couple of years

We had a squad of around 28 players in the 19/20 season; don’t think that was the most logical action given the position we were in

Will never be able to fully comprehend the disasters of the two 2017 windows. So many average (at best) players brought in for such little effect. Position only worsened each year since then

[Simmops]

We will be in League 2, or worse, in a few years

Imagine wanting to be like Bolton. Anybody who wants that is utterly braindead and clueless.