Being a graduate of the club’s academy, he was a highly marketable asset, and the full sum was banked as profit under PSR regulations. Within the relevant financial period, Brentford made a bid of about £30 million, but Spurs and Forest demanded more. In the end, the £47.5 million deal was completed on the last day of the summer window. But by then, the rulebook said, it was two months too late.
Fair or unfair?
Is it unjust to set a deadline for the fiscal period that includes a transfer window? If you try to persuade Daniel Levy, the chairman of Spurs, to approve a move two months ahead of the window’s closure in order to adhere to PSR, he will most likely hang up on you.
Should Forest have just given up on Johnson for the less sum in order to comply, missing out on substantial spending power that was already well behind competitors? Is Forest just a victim of attempting to compete on an uneven playing field when it comes to money?
“In my view Forest have got a fairly raw deal in respect of Financial Fair Play,” football finance expert Kieran Maguire told.
“They were promoted against squads that cost billions of pounds, with a squad that cost £12 million.” They only have a permitted loss of £61 million for FFP reasons, while the established Premier League clubs have an allowable loss of £105 million [since they were an EFL club for a portion of the accounting period].
Having said that, it appears like they have gone over the bounds. In the EFL, they were quite near to them. They signed an absurd number of players for large sums of money, and some for lesser sums but with large salaries.
“So it’s come as no surprise that when I did my sums, I called them out as being very high risk a few weeks before the announcement was made.”
Precedent, which is based on the results of previous cases and the rulings of judges, shapes the law. It could be said that efforts to rein in the excessive and uncontrollably high spending in English football are taking place in this vein right now.
The result of Everton’s appeal, which is anticipated to be made public this week, will impact both the approaching date for Forest and the next hearing into the Merseyside club’s second case for a subsequent breach.
Indeed, the result of Forest’s Johnson argument will impact cases in the future.
“If they manage to persuade the commission that the sale of Brennan Johnson can be backdated to 30 June 2023, that really sets the cat among the pigeons in respect of all both current and previous FFP commissions,” Maguire adds. “But you never know with the way the rules operate these days.”
Why are clubs being punished?
A cynic could interpret what’s happening as making up the rules as they go along.
Many believe Everton’s 10-point loss was too severe, especially in light of Portsmouth’s nine-point reduction for going into administration in 2010. And will believe that the punishment would be even harsher if Forest received a comparable punishment for attempting to fight fire with fire—or, in this case, money with money. Some would argue that you should be punished if you spend more than £100 million in a single transfer window beyond your means and the law.
And points deductions are the only thing Premier League clubs really care about and respond to. Issue a fine and clubs either don’t care or it creates a self-perpetuating financial hole. But threaten their chances of winning the title, or making the Champions League, or Europe, or, in the cases of Forest and Everton, their places in the top flight, and clubs take notice.
The Premier League has been rocked by Everton’s 10-point deduction for exceeding the allowed loss of £105 million by £19.5 million over a three-year period. Just take a look at the January transfer window, which was the first since Everton received the penalty, Forest was accused, and Everton once again. a startling 88% drop in spending from the last comparable window, from £815 million to just under £100 million.
Perhaps this is, after all, the ideal counterbalance to the Premier League’s ridiculous transfer policy and financial mindset. Even yet, if it means that Everton and Forest miss out on a Premier League spot, that will be a bitter thing to swallow.
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