THE DEBATE

Are the Financial Fair Play rules really working?

- ED McCAMBRIDGE, CHRIS FLANAGAN 

Since FFP regulations were introduced to the Premier League in 2013, only one of 10 titles has been won by a club who haven’t faced an investigation from the English football authorities.

Manchester City deny the 115 charges put to them, and will contest them at a hearing. Chelsea have also been facing a probe, after the club themselves discovered that “incomplete financial information” had been submitted during Roman Abramovich’s reign.

Even Leicester, fairytale title winners in 2015-16, later paid £3.1m for an FFP issue during their Championship promotion season in 2013-14. Their £20.8m loss during that campaign was £12.8m more than permitted, albeit the EFL said the Foxes had merely interpreted the rules differently, rather than broken them deliberately.

Similarly, QPR and Bournemouth faced only financial penalties for breaking FFP rules on the way to their own Premier League promotions in 2014 and 2015, whereas in the ensuing years, other clubs have received points deductions for their FFP indiscretions. Each case is different, but it was always going to lead to this season’s situation, with Everton fans protesting that the rules seem to be applied inconsistently.