One of the key things that we heard about when the play off semi finals were being planned was that the EFL were keen to protect the integrity of their competitions.\u00a0 \u00a0That was in relation to doubts as to whether fans would be allowed into stadiums in Wales for the semi finals.\u00a0 \u00a0Common sense prevailed and the integrity was retained but events at Pride Park and Derby are starting to put that into doubt again.<\/p>\n
Last week it emerged that the football league now have interchangeable fixture lists despite the new season being less than 6 weeks away from starting.\u00a0 One of those fixture lists has Derby County in the Championship and the other has them in League One with Wycombe taking their place.<\/p>\n
It seems entirely possible now that events on the pitch in May that saw the Rams stay up at the expense of the Chairboys could be deemed irrelevant should the EFL win a case after Derby avoided a points deduction for their breach of the EFL\u2019s accounting rules after an independent disciplinary commission hit them with a \u00a3100,000 fine.\u00a0 \u00a0However, the EFL are appealing the decision and if they are successful then Derby will be relegated.<\/p>\n
This leaves both sides – although it is difficult to have sympathy for Derby given their indiscretions – uncertain of what the new season will bring which becomes more of a challenge as the transfer budgets (and targets) at the two different levels are likely to be very different.<\/p>\n
Last month the EFL won an appeal to have a disciplinary commission decision in Derby\u2019s favour overturned, but when meting out their punishment that independent body has now opted to dole out a fine alone and not a points deduction like the twelve points Sheffield Wednesday were docked last year.<\/p>\n
That was later reduced to six points but still made the difference between the Owls staying up or going down in the end, with Rotherham United and Wycombe joining them in dropping into League One.<\/p>\n
A statement on the EFL website published last week said: \u201cAn independent Disciplinary Commission has delivered its verdict on sanctions for Derby County relating to ongoing disciplinary proceedings.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn May, an Independent League Arbitration Panel ruled that the Disciplinary Commission was wrong to dismiss the League\u2019s expert accountancy evidence, which demonstrated that the club\u2019s policy regarding the amortisation of player registrations was contrary to standard accounting rules.<\/p>\n
\u201cMore specifically, the panel determined that the club\u2019s policy was not in accordance with accounting standard FRS102 because it failed to accurately reflect the manner in which the Club takes the benefit of player registrations over the lifetime of a player\u2019s contract.<\/p>\n
“The EFL can confirm that it has developed an interchangeable fixture list for Derby County and Wycombe Wanderers, while the disciplinary process is finalised.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe fixture list for both the Championship and League One will be published in full based on the 2020\/21 final standings, pending any appeals relating to this decision.\u201d<\/p>\n
These ongoing appeals and decisions without a doubt impact on the league’s integrity and there is little doubt that the League will want this resolved sooner rather than later or there is an increased risk of additional appeals behind heard not least from Wycombe Wanderers.<\/p>\n
It seems – looking in from afar – a reasonably clear situation that Derby have broken the rules, something that doesn’t seem in any dispute.\u00a0 \u00a0Behind that there are clear examples of points being an appropriate sanction for such rule breaks and that should happen.\u00a0 \u00a0And that should mean the penalty being applied for last season which would see Derby relegated to League One which feels the right outcome based on everything we see in front of us.<\/p>\n
And certainly for the continued integrity of the football league the decision needs to be quick and clear in what happens and that should be the end of the matter.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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