Financial Fair Play: A Waiting Game and Inconsistent Punishments

Manchester City’s Ongoing Saga

Another month and still we wait for any small crumbs to digest regarding Man City’s alleged breaches of Financial Fair Play.

Let’s be clear from the off here. They are alleged. Unproven. Anyone saying otherwise is just speculating and being mischievous.

Comparing Treatment: Everton and Nottingham Forest

What has been noticeable, however, is the way in which both Everton and Nottingham Forest have been treated.

Despite what appeared to be a directive from on high at Premier League towers, both the Toffees and Forest haven’t really been hit very hard at all in terms of a punishment.

Minimal Penalties and the Premier League’s Approach

The latter have been handed a four-point deduction because their losses to 2022-23 breached the threshold of £61m by £34.5m, and the Midlands-based club are going to appeal.

Everton already did appeal, and their initial 10-point penalty was reduced to six.

In both cases, the penalties could be viewed as not really too much of a deterrent, and I’d even go as far as to suggest that, not unsurprisingly, the Premier League have been spineless – again – when it comes to metering out punishment.

Potential Implications for Manchester City

If the way in which the powers that be have acted with Forest and Everton is mirrored when Man City are hauled into the dock, the reigning Premier League champions really aren’t going to have too much to worry about.

Employing best-in-class lawyers, the Citizens and their legal representatives will simply tie their second-rate Premier League counterparts in knots.

Newcastle United’s Case

It also begs the question as to why a team such as Newcastle wouldn’t just deliberately go out and splurge some decent cash in the transfer market to land themselves with a squad that’s capable of winning the title and other honours that are up for grabs.

Clearly, the likes of Amanda Staveley et al have done their upmost to stay on the right side of the line since taking over at St. James’ Park.

It was evident that the takeover by the Saudi Public Investment Fund wasn’t universally popular, and the club appear to have been at pains to do things properly so as not to raise any further eyebrows.

That hasn’t helped them this season, however.

Consequences of Playing It Safe

Things looked so good for Eddie Howe and his men when they completely annihilated Paris Saint-Germain at St. James’ Park in their first Champions League campaign in over 20 years.

The punishment for breaking FFP rules wouldn’t have been administered for a while, therefore giving the club ample time to secure silverware.

Growing Need for Structural Change in Football Governance

The Profit and Sustainability rules are only a discussion point because the Premier League are regularly cowed by their member clubs.

As Gary Neville has espoused on more than one occasion in the past, the game needs an independent regulator that can do a root and branch review of what needs to change – and then implement it.

The likelihood of any club deliberately breaking what are stringent FFP rules is unlikely of course, but something has got to change.

In the meantime, clubs will still attempt to ride roughshod over the rule book, calling it on and simply standing their ground when there are matters arising.