Former Reading player Jobi McAnuff has insisted that it is not a surprise to see the Royals in their current predicament with the Royals potentially set to suffer a points deduction.

It has been widely reported that the Royals could be set to face a points deduction that could seem them lose as many as nine points.  That is as a result of the club breaching profit and sustainability rules set out by the EFL.

Under the EFL’s current rules on profit and sustainability clubs are not permitted to lose more than £39 million over a three-year period. According to Berkshire Live, Reading’s most recent account detailed losses of around £43.5 million for the 2018/19 season alone meaning they are well in breach of the EFL’s limit.

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A nine point deduction would place Reading inside the relegation zone in the Championship after Derby County had also been plunged into the bottom three after they lost 12 points for entering into administration.

 

 

Speaking to Sky Sports, McAnuff suggested that it is not a shock to see Reading be put in this position due overspending in the transfer market in recent years. While he also called for more to be done by the EFL to ensure this does not continue to happen.

He said: “I think anyone who follows Reading football club know this is something that has been bubbling under the surface for a little while now, we’ve seen a couple of examples of the overspending particularly on transfer fees and wages and you’re always going to run into trouble.

“I think that’s the big issues when you have a rich benefactor whose back rolling the football club and prepared to maybe stump up them losses, but the problem is when that guy decides he doesn’t want to do it anymore it leaves the club in a big, big hole.

“So, again we know about the financial fair play, I think that’s something that should be looked at a little bit more stringently than we’ve seen over the years and try and get clubs living within their means because we all know who gets affected really badly and that’s the fans if their football club ends up getting relegated, or in the worst case goes out of business.”

The verdict

You have to feel for Reading supporters as McAnuff suggests here they are the ones that are going to suffer now alongside the current squad of players who have no control over how much money the club spends to bring them in.

The Royals are going to face a real scrap now this season in the Championship if they are handed a nine point deduction. That will make it pretty much impossible for them to have any ambition that the Royals had to get anywhere near the sort of position they were in last term when they threatened to make the top-six.

The EFL are facing a major issue at the moment with Derby also in severe financial difficulty at the moment, and as McAnuff says more is clearly needing to be done to prevent these situations from emerging every season.