Birmingham City are set to face a nine point deduction for exceeding Financial Fair Play regulations and their resulting transfer embargo, it has been reported by Talksport.

The club had been under investigation over breaches of FFP, and the subsequent signing of full back Kristian Pedersen, with reports claiming the club could have been deducted up to twelve points over the breaches.

It now appears however that the punishment won't be quite that heavy, with Talksport2 tweeting on Friday morning to say that they have the club will be handed a nine point deduction.

If that is confirmed, Birmingham will drop from thirteenth position in the table with 50 points, to a 41 point tally that leaves them 18th in the table and five points clear of the relegation zone.

The verdict

This is a massive blow for Birmingham, but it is not as bad as it could have been. A five point buffer over the relegation zone should see them safe.

It also means that while their fading play-off hopes for this are now over, they will at least be able to build for an attempt on the top six next season, rather than having to wait until the season after that had the deduction been held back until next season, as was rumoured to be the case.