Premier League has charged LCFC with an alleged breach of PSR

[Sly]

On 27/06/2025 at 08:18, Claudio Fannieri said:

Our friends at the 2nd tier podcast have Kieran Maguire on Sundays show to discuss our situation, might be worth a listen. 

I forgot we’d have them inflicted upon us again! 

[Pliskin]

On 26/06/2025 at 21:06, dmayne7 said:

 What kind of experts were these. I've just seen something that Switzerland's women lost 7-1 to Lurzen's U15. Who is seriously going to pay huge sums in TV money, sponsorship etc for something if inferior quality. The women's world cup made something like 50 less than the men's and they're expecting that gap to be bridged in 10 years? Even 50 years is ambitious as it's pretty unlikely it will ever be completely on par with the men's team. But 10 years is just a ridiculous comment.

 

More importantly, why must it always be compared to the men's game. It does it no good and just harm. It's already being ruined by the massive disparity in resources between the top and bottom.

It’s because since football became the world’s number one sport (bar the United States)…. The female game has been ignored, strangled and suffocated. This is why there’s such an inferiority in quality, because basically there’s been a long lack of interest and care about the women’s game. Some female players started playing as late as their teens whereas in the men’s game you pretty much know by 12/13 if a young player will make it. If the females games gets proper investment and interest like it is doing, it will grow. It unfortunately won’t explode however, the reason being many nations, mainly outside of Europe, still don’t have equality between men and women….. so they will never show the level of interest in the game to enable it to grow. 

[Claudio Fannieri]

33 minutes ago, Sly said:

I forgot we’d have them inflicted upon us again! 

😂 too be fair since we have been relegated I have started listening to the pod again and actually I am warming to them, they are pretty knowledgeable about the championship, they are going to say the odd controversial thing because they want the clicks and interactions but overall it’s a decent pod. 

[Sly]

1 hour ago, Claudio Fannieri said:

😂 too be fair since we have been relegated I have started listening to the pod again and actually I am warming to them, they are pretty knowledgeable about the championship, they are going to say the odd controversial thing because they want the clicks and interactions but overall it’s a decent pod. 

In fairness, Leeds and ourselves aren’t exactly loved universally by other clubs in the football league. 
 

Leeds get a media lovin, similar to what I expect of Wrexham this season. Ourselves, not so much. 
 

We are just a fallen giant in some respects. A nice scalp and great for click bait.

[moore_94]

Just listened to Kieran Maguire on the Second Tier Podcast

Nothing we didn’t already know came out in it

 

[Pliskin]

17 minutes ago, Sly said:

In fairness, Leeds and ourselves aren’t exactly loved universally by other clubs in the football league. 
 

Leeds get a media lovin, similar to what I expect of Wrexham this season. Ourselves, not so much. 
 

We are just a fallen giant in some respects. A nice scalp and great for click bait.

Not necessarily true. I’ve been on a conference course for a few weeks, and when you talk football, most of the people there spoke very highly of us. Proper mix of fans too. I think as per the media drive the narrative of people not liking us. I think we’re more liked than you think. 

[lcfc_forever]

1 minute ago, moore_94 said:

Just listened to Kieran Maguire on the Second Tier Podcast

Nothing we didn’t already know came out in it

 

Same, but two new things for me:
1. He clarified that the EFL can apply any punishment from the PL - he hadn't said that before, saying previously a PL punishment could only be applied in the PL so he's changed his position on this. 

2. Surprised we hadn't sold players to put ourselves in a better position for 24/25 or taken a plea bargain with the PL so there would be just one punishment that applied in the PL, as this now opens us up to punishment in the EFL. Guess it explains why we didn't spend in January as we knew we were in trouble of breaching again. 

 

PS The tone of the Second Tier podcast is grating, just avoid them as they thrive on clickbait and getting fans from bigger clubs like us to engage. 

[ClaphamFox]

15 minutes ago, moore_94 said:

Just listened to Kieran Maguire on the Second Tier Podcast

Nothing we didn’t already know came out in it

 

Previously he has argued that the PL probably would not be able to impose a points deduction while we’re in the Championship because the rule change that allows this to happen occurred after our breach. Is he sticking to this line or does he now believe we will get some kind of deduction this season?

[st albans fox]

4 minutes ago, lcfc_forever said:

Same, but two new things for me:
1. He clarified that the EFL can apply any punishment from the PL - he hadn't said that before, saying previously a PL punishment could only be applied in the PL so he's changed his position on this. 

2. Surprised we hadn't sold players to put ourselves in a better position for 24/25 or taken a plea bargain with the PL so there would be just one punishment that applied in the PL, as this now opens us up to punishment in the EFL. Guess it explains why we didn't spend in January as we knew we were in trouble of breaching again. 

 

PS The tone of the Second Tier podcast is grating, just avoid them as they thrive on clickbait and getting fans from bigger clubs like us to engage. 

Point 1 

the rules were changed last couple months to allow this 

 

point 2

a lot of us are surprised too 

maybe the idea is that we breach in one season only to avoid two punishments.  Best to make that last season for various reasons. financially we can look at 25/26 as a clean slate with it being part of the three year cycle 23/24- 25/26 with no huge losses occurring. 

[honeybradger]

On 09/06/2025 at 08:06, Crinklyfox said:

Football clubs are businesses.  In the wider business world PSR would not be allowed to exist.  Like other businesses, football clubs have historically prospered and declined.  Small clubs have gone on the become larger clubs, and some larger clubs have fallen on hard times and declined.  Unless a business has an absolutely fabulous product, or has a lot of luck, in order to grow it needs investment and has to take business risk.  This is a commercial activity which is not centrally restricted.  

 

PSR effectively limits business risk,  if a club does invest significantly with the aim of achieving success it risks being penalised by its governing body.  This effectively prevents smaller clubs from growing and preserves the status quo.  It is probably only the situation that clubs are required to sign up to this restriction that prevents it being outlawed as a non-competitive practice.

 

In my view PSR is a sickness in our sport and should go,  Bring by the days when a fan of any small club could dream of it achieving the heights of success.

Absolute rubbish.

 

Crystal Palace and Newcastle have just won their first trophies ever/in decades. Historically smaller clubs like Brighton, Bournemouth and Brentford are thriving in the top flight.

 

The dream for small clubs is very much alive and well. As much as it has ever been in fact as TV money has meant that a club's success is no longer about its crowd sizes, it's now about recruitment strategy.

 

Let's be clear, the reason we are in this situation now is not because of PSR, it's not because "we flew too close to the sun" or "we dared to dream" or "we challenged the status quo and they didn't like it".

 

It's because we threw a bunch of money around with very little strategy or planning and ended up with a team full of expensive crap players on high wages. The likes of Vestergaard, Faes, Soumare, Daka, Skipp costed us £15-20 mil each, if we buy players that are actually worth those transfers fees then we are still sitting comfortable in the PL.

 

We absolutely deserve to be a championship club simply because we are definitely not in the top 20 best run clubs in the country. One day in the next few years it will finally dawn on our fans, when Brighton, Brentford and Bournemouth are still sitting happy in the PL, that collapses like ours and Southampton's are not an inevitability for clubs that find success through the model of being better at recruitment.

 

Ours are unique situations where Southampton changed ownership and we have had a generational run of terrible decision making over the last few years that will not be recreated for a while.

[lcfc_forever]

13 minutes ago, st albans fox said:

Point 1 

the rules were changed last couple months to allow this 

 

point 2

a lot of us are surprised too 

maybe the idea is that we breach in one season only to avoid two punishments.  Best to make that last season for various reasons. financially we can look at 25/26 as a clean slate with it being part of the three year cycle 23/24- 25/26 with no huge losses occurring. 

Exactly, that's what he says. But the rule change had already happened when he was doing interviews saying a PL punishment can only apply in the PL, even though the loophole had been closed. 

[lcfc_forever]

18 minutes ago, ClaphamFox said:

Previously he has argued that the PL probably would not be able to impose a points deduction while we’re in the Championship because the rule change that allows this to happen occurred after our breach. Is he sticking to this line or does he now believe we will get some kind of deduction this season?

He's not now - he says a PL punishment can be applied in the Championship. He says he can't be for sure if we will get a deduction as he hasn't seen the figures. 

[CloudFox]

2 hours ago, Claudio Fannieri said:

😂 too be fair since we have been relegated I have started listening to the pod again and actually I am warming to them, they are pretty knowledgeable about the championship, they are going to say the odd controversial thing because they want the clicks and interactions but overall it’s a decent pod. 

I'd recommend the NTT20 (Not The Top 20) pod instead. Can't put my finger on it, but although I will give it a listen again, the Second Tier is really grating at times. Maybe the "banter" feels a bit forced? Whereas NTT20 they know their stuff inside out, cover all three EFL divisions, and provide genuinely thoughtful insight, with much better chemistry. Feels less "assembled" and more natural as a pod, if that makes sense.

[UniFox21]

33 minutes ago, lcfc_forever said:

Same, but two new things for me:
1. He clarified that the EFL can apply any punishment from the PL - he hadn't said that before, saying previously a PL punishment could only be applied in the PL so he's changed his position on this. 

2. Surprised we hadn't sold players to put ourselves in a better position for 24/25 or taken a plea bargain with the PL so there would be just one punishment that applied in the PL, as this now opens us up to punishment in the EFL. Guess it explains why we didn't spend in January as we knew we were in trouble of breaching again. 

 

PS The tone of the Second Tier podcast is grating, just avoid them as they thrive on clickbait and getting fans from bigger clubs like us to engage. 

Chuffed others have listened and relayed what was said, was debating having to give it a listen to see 

[Claudio Fannieri]

1 hour ago, CloudFox said:

I'd recommend the NTT20 (Not The Top 20) pod instead. Can't put my finger on it, but although I will give it a listen again, the Second Tier is really grating at times. Maybe the "banter" feels a bit forced? Whereas NTT20 they know their stuff inside out, cover all three EFL divisions, and provide genuinely thoughtful insight, with much better chemistry. Feels less "assembled" and more natural as a pod, if that makes sense.

Will give it a listen 

[Vlad the Fox]

3 hours ago, CloudFox said:

I'd recommend the NTT20 (Not The Top 20) pod instead. Can't put my finger on it, but although I will give it a listen again, the Second Tier is really grating at times. Maybe the "banter" feels a bit forced? Whereas NTT20 they know their stuff inside out, cover all three EFL divisions, and provide genuinely thoughtful insight, with much better chemistry. Feels less "assembled" and more natural as a pod, if that makes sense.

Is that the bbc one? 

[Jimmy]

people seem to forget the years of high transfer fees are now off the PSR books so we may not need to sell that much anyway so long as we can shift the higher earners

[WorcesterBlue]

6 hours ago, honeybradger said:

Absolute rubbish.

 

Crystal Palace and Newcastle have just won their first trophies ever/in decades. Historically smaller clubs like Brighton, Bournemouth and Brentford are thriving in the top flight.

 

The dream for small clubs is very much alive and well. As much as it has ever been in fact as TV money has meant that a club's success is no longer about its crowd sizes, it's now about recruitment strategy.

 

Let's be clear, the reason we are in this situation now is not because of PSR, it's not because "we flew too close to the sun" or "we dared to dream" or "we challenged the status quo and they didn't like it".

 

It's because we threw a bunch of money around with very little strategy or planning and ended up with a team full of expensive crap players on high wages. The likes of Vestergaard, Faes, Soumare, Daka, Skipp costed us £15-20 mil each, if we buy players that are actually worth those transfers fees then we are still sitting comfortable in the PL.

 

We absolutely deserve to be a championship club simply because we are definitely not in the top 20 best run clubs in the country. One day in the next few years it will finally dawn on our fans, when Brighton, Brentford and Bournemouth are still sitting happy in the PL, that collapses like ours and Southampton's are not an inevitability for clubs that find success through the model of being better at recruitment.

 

Ours are unique situations where Southampton changed ownership and we have had a generational run of terrible decision making over the last few years that will not be recreated for a while.

And dont forget the HOPE factor.

When the Foxes took the EPL championship it gave hope to all the other teams that perhaps they too could defeat the big clubs stranglehold of silverware.

More recently Wrexham and Ipswich have done the same by achieving what had been considered impossible.

Hope is what puts bums on seats and shoes on terraces at all clubs all over the country. 

It is the grease that keeps football wheels turning.

[VLC86]

1 hour ago, Jimmy said:

people seem to forget the years of high transfer fees are now off the PSR books so we may not need to sell that much anyway so long as we can shift the higher earners

About 90% of our squad are high earners at this level making your post a complete contradiction.

[coolhandfox]

5 minutes ago, VLC86 said:

About 90% of our squad are high earners at this level making your post a complete contradiction.

It a combination of high wages and high transfer amortisation.

 

Both have come significantly over the past 2 seasons.

 

Just Vardy leaving alone is a reduction in wages of 5m.

[VLC86]

16 minutes ago, coolhandfox said:

It a combination of high wages and high transfer amortisation.

 

Both have come significantly over the past 2 seasons.

 

Just Vardy leaving alone is a reduction in wages of 5m.

It undoubtedly does, but I’d hazard a guess that we need to reduce our wages by a further by another £30m to equal the higher (Leeds) from this year.

[STUHILL]

When are we going to hear our punishment? 

 

It is so ridiculous how long this drags on. We aren't Man City. Get on with it you nobbers! 

[Jimmy]

There's relegation reductions too remember if we can shift Coady, Soumare, Winks and Vestergaard that would probably be enough

[coolhandfox]

3 minutes ago, VLC86 said:

It undoubtedly does, but I’d hazard a guess that we need to reduce our wages by a further by another £30m to equal the higher (Leeds) from this year.

Depend if we have relegation clauses or not.

Edited 29 June 2025 by coolhandfox

[Jimmy]

1 minute ago, coolhandfox said:

Depend if we have relegation clauses or not.

We did last time, only Vestergaard signed a new deal since