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.
FFP has muddied the waters of what is and isn’t allowed. It’s the same in other sports: a team is found to have fallen foul of the cap, by which time the season when it happened is long gone.
It leads fans to suspect that what we’re watching isn’t actually fair competition.
If a club has money, why shouldn’t they be allowed to spend it? FFP protects the big teams who already had more than enough protection, as it’s now harder for a smaller club to rise to the top with investment while also staying within the rules.
FFP is only worthwhile if it levels the playing field, and makes the outcome unpredictable.
Instead, Manchester City have been champions in five of the past six seasons, and the four highest points totals in Premier League history have come since 2018.
Either City won their titles fairly and FFP hasn’t levelled the playing field at all, or they won them unfairly and several seasons are retrospectively tarnished forever.
Neither eventuality was one people wanted when the rules were introduced in 2013.
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