' QPR fined £40m '

QPR ordered to pay world record £40million FFP fine after losing three-year battle


Wednesday 25th October 2017

Queens Park Rangers have been ordered to pay a world-record £40million fine after losing a three-year battle against being found guilty of breaching Financial Fair Play rules during their most recent promotion-winning campaign.

The Championship club’s claim that the English Football League’s FFP regulations were “unlawful” and that the fine levied on them was “disproportionate” was dismissed by an arbitration panel, with both parties informed of the decision last week.

QPR confirmed on Tuesday they would be appealing a verdict that also spelt bad news for Leicester City and Bournemouth, who the EFL is pursuing, too, for effectively cheating their way to promotion in 2013-14 and 2014-15, respectively.

Acknowledging it had taken “a long time” for the matter to be resolved, EFL chief executive Shaun Harvey said: “This decision vindicates the approach of the EFL board in defending this challenge. The board will continue to enforce our rules on clubs to protect the interests of those that do comply.”

QPR chief executive Lee Hoos added: “We are understandably disappointed with the decision and will be appealing.”

Rangers’ £40m fine is thought to be the largest ever issued in sport, topping the £32m the McLaren Formula One team ended up being docked over the 2007 ‘Spygate’ scandal.

It is also more than double the amount Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain ended up paying for breaching Uefa’s FFP regulations three years ago.

The Premier League and the then Football League both followed European football’s governing body in introducing cost-control measures in a bid to prevent clubs going bust.

Rules came into force in the lower leagues in 2012 which permitted Championship teams to make annual losses of £8m, with any side exceeding this placed under a transfer embargo or - if promoted to the Premier League - issued with a fine.

Fines were measured on a sliding scale for losses between £8m and £18m, with anything in excess of that calculated on a strict pound for pound basis.

QPR were widely expected to report massive losses in 2013-14 following their relegation from the Premier League on the back of a £41.1m spending spree on the likes of Andrew Johnson, Julio Cesar, Samba Diakite, Robert Green, Stephane Mbia, Park Ji-Sung, Esteban Granero, Junior Hoilett, Jose Bosingwa, Ryan Nelsen, Christopher Samba, Loic Remy, Yun Suk-Young, Jermaine Jenas and Tal Ben Haim.

But, after winning that season’s Championship play-off final, they reported a loss of just £9.8m after then owner Tony Fernandes, now the club’s co-chairman, and other shareholders wrote off £60m in loans as an “exceptional item”.

The Football League refused to do the same when it came to assessing their compliance with FFP regulations, imposing a £40m fine.

With Fernandes having already stated QPR would fight any such punishment and Harvey warning failure to pay could see the club thrown out of the professional game, a three-year legal battle ensued which both sides ultimaltely agreed to be settled by arbitration.

To complicate matters, the league relaxed its FFP rules in November of that year and harmonised them with those of the Premier League amid criticisms they were too draconian.

Since then, Championship clubs have been permitted to lose £39m over a three-year period - even more if they have spent one or two of those years in the Premier League.

QPR tried to exploit that decision to argue the original regulations had not been fit for purpose but to no avail.

It was unclear last night whether the club would have to record any fine in their latest annual accounts - putting them in danger of failing FFP again this season - or would be allowed to exclude it.

The statement from Harvey did not bode well on that front, with the EFL chief saying: “The board understand the challenges that this decision could create for our valued member club and will work with them, as and when the matter formally concludes.”

Pending the outcome of any QPR appeal, the EFL is now free to enforce multi-million-pound fines on both Leicester and Bournemouth.

Leicester won the Championship in 2014, the launchpad for their fairy tale 2016 Premier League triumph.

They went up on the back of losses of £20.8m but proclaimed their accounts were in compliance with FFP rules.

Bournemouth, fined £7.6m last year after posting losses of £38.3m during their promotion-winning season, were relying on QPR winning their case to overturn that punishment.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2017/10/24/qpr-ordered-pay-world-record-40million-ffp-fine-losing-three/amp/

They should be punished but this type of fine is not right and could wipe out a club They should be relegated a couple of divisions instead

They should be punished but this type of fine is not right and could wipe out a club They should be relegated a couple of divisions instead

that's even worse. no one will pay £25 a ticket for league two football. The players they have now on probably over 10K a week will leave, and what dont leave will create a massive debt. lots of fans will stop following them.

club costs and loses over the two seasons (if they got back to back promtions) would probably be more than 40M. And the massive change in players doesn't make me think they would get back to back promotions.

End of the day, that was the season we missed out on play offs due to them breaking FFP. Fine is the only fair way

How can they fine a club that much yet the big guns get pittance fines that probably relates to maybe two or 3 players wages.

They should be punished but this type of fine is not right and could wipe out a club They should be relegated a couple of divisions instead

that's even worse. no one will pay £25 a ticket for league two football. The players they have now on probably over 10K a week will leave, and what dont leave will create a massive debt. lots of fans will stop following them.

club costs and loses over the two seasons (if they got back to back promtions) would probably be more than 40M. And the massive change in players doesn't make me think they would get back to back promotions.

End of the day, that was the season we missed out on play offs due to them breaking FFP. Fine is the only fair way

See you point but don’t agree £40 million at £ 25 to watch s match you need 1.6 million fans through the door just pay that with out any other costs At least if they are relegated they will get some income

Have they run out of parachute payments yet?If so they could be well screwed. Annis ought to contact that QPR geezer Stan who used to post a lot on here at one time.Maybe he could give us an accurate update.Seemed to be well enough connected although when they were doing well he was sometimes a little bit condescending to us hillbillies.

They should be punished but this type of fine is not right and could wipe out a club They should be relegated a couple of divisions instead

The fine does seem mind boggling and I would think it is more than QPR's total yearly turnover

But looking at it from the EFL's prospective QPR, Leicester and Bournemouth clearly took the piss and flouted rules they were well aware of. If the EFL is to stamp this out they need to make examples of these clubs, who after all can't blame anyone else for the predicament they find themselves in.

Mind you it does raise a point that this shifts the balance of power into the hands of bigger clubs such as Aston Villa, Leeds etc. and seeing the end of 'fairy tale' promotions of smaller clubs like Swansea and the slightly bigger club Bournemouth.

Have they run out of parachute payments yet?If so they could be well screwed. Annis ought to contact that QPR geezer Stan who used to post a lot on here at one time.Maybe he could give us an accurate update.Seemed to be well enough connected although when they were doing well he was sometimes a little bit condescending to us hillbillies.

TBH if they are receiving parachute payments they are still screwed, if they are not then they are very much screwed

Have they run out of parachute payments yet?If so they could be well screwed. Annis ought to contact that QPR geezer Stan who used to post a lot on here at one time.Maybe he could give us an accurate update.Seemed to be well enough connected although when they were doing well he was sometimes a little bit condescending to us hillbillies.

TBH if they are receiving parachute payments they are still screwed, if they are not then they are very much screwed

We're in the last year of our parachute payments and they came down the year we went up I think so I doubt very much that they are still receiving them.

There'll be a few teams in our division sweating a bit I would think after what they've been spending over the past few seasons - Derby, Sheffield Wednesday and this season Wolves have all been spending heavily without having any parachute payments at all.

They should be punished but this type of fine is not right and could wipe out a club They should be relegated a couple of divisions instead

that's even worse. no one will pay £25 a ticket for league two football. The players they have now on probably over 10K a week will leave, and what dont leave will create a massive debt. lots of fans will stop following them.

club costs and loses over the two seasons (if they got back to back promtions) would probably be more than 40M. And the massive change in players doesn't make me think they would get back to back promotions.

End of the day, that was the season we missed out on play offs due to them breaking FFP. Fine is the only fair way

We broke it as well Remeber!

They should be punished but this type of fine is not right and could wipe out a club They should be relegated a couple of divisions instead

that's even worse. no one will pay £25 a ticket for league two football. The players they have now on probably over 10K a week will leave, and what dont leave will create a massive debt. lots of fans will stop following them.

club costs and loses over the two seasons (if they got back to back promtions) would probably be more than 40M. And the massive change in players doesn't make me think they would get back to back promotions.

End of the day, that was the season we missed out on play offs due to them breaking FFP. Fine is the only fair way

We broke it as well Remeber!

Yes, but to be fair we had started to reduce our playing budget at the time. Did'nt help mind that our average gates plummeted by 5-6k.

They should be punished but this type of fine is not right and could wipe out a club They should be relegated a couple of divisions instead

that's even worse. no one will pay £25 a ticket for league two football. The players they have now on probably over 10K a week will leave, and what dont leave will create a massive debt. lots of fans will stop following them.

club costs and loses over the two seasons (if they got back to back promtions) would probably be more than 40M. And the massive change in players doesn't make me think they would get back to back promotions.

End of the day, that was the season we missed out on play offs due to them breaking FFP. Fine is the only fair way

We broke it as well Remeber!

im not sure that we did...i know we had a transfer embargo but we appealed..?

They should be punished but this type of fine is not right and could wipe out a club They should be relegated a couple of divisions instead

that's even worse. no one will pay £25 a ticket for league two football. The players they have now on probably over 10K a week will leave, and what dont leave will create a massive debt. lots of fans will stop following them.

club costs and loses over the two seasons (if they got back to back promtions) would probably be more than 40M. And the massive change in players doesn't make me think they would get back to back promotions.

End of the day, that was the season we missed out on play offs due to them breaking FFP. Fine is the only fair way

We broke it as well Remeber!

im not sure that we did...i know we had a transfer embargo but we appealed..?

I don't know the details to be fair I don't pay too much attention to all the politics. I just know ogs set us back 2/3 years!

i thought the point of FFP was to stop clubs getting into debts they could not honour..ending up in admin and court..

dont for the life of me see how QPR can accommodate 40 million into their yearly accounts even spread over a number of years without it pushing them outside of FFP again..

they cheated and took the piss ,fuvk them

They should be punished but this type of fine is not right and could wipe out a club They should be relegated a couple of divisions instead

that's even worse. no one will pay £25 a ticket for league two football. The players they have now on probably over 10K a week will leave, and what dont leave will create a massive debt. lots of fans will stop following them.

club costs and loses over the two seasons (if they got back to back promtions) would probably be more than 40M. And the massive change in players doesn't make me think they would get back to back promotions.

End of the day, that was the season we missed out on play offs due to them breaking FFP. Fine is the only fair way

We broke it as well Remeber!

im not sure that we did...i know we had a transfer embargo but we appealed..?

I don't know the details to be fair I don't pay too much attention to all the politics. I just know ogs set us back 2/3 years!

Like you, I don't take too much notice of the politics and the FFP of the club. Reading the posts on here over the last couple of years, there's only a couple that get anywhere near understanding the FFP laws so I rarely comment.
What I do know is that we have to give credit to the club and especially Dalman and Ken Choo who have managed things very well recently after some sticky times.
If not not for that we could well be in the position of QPR and potentially Bournemouth and Leicester.

Wasnt arry knap in charge at time of this!?

Not as bad as teams that screw creditors over yet get lauded by media for being well run! In fact Leicester are also guilty of screwing creditors and breaching ffp

Not as bad as teams that screw creditors over yet get lauded by media for being well run! In fact Leicester are also guilty of screwing creditors and breaching ffp

Leicester did it almost immediately after ground was completed so in reality had brand new ground for basically nothing.

Wasnt arry knap in charge at time of this!?

I think he was yeah, and lucky Birmingham got shot of him otherwise they could be following the same path as Qpr and Portsmouth.

Like you, I don't take too much notice of the politics and the FFP of the club. Reading the posts on here over the last couple of years, there's only a couple that get anywhere near understanding the FFP laws so I rarely comment.
What I do know is that we have to give credit to the club and especially Dalman and Ken Choo who have managed things very well recently after some sticky times.
If not not for that we could well be in the position of QPR and potentially Bournemouth and Leicester.

Great post and yes we do have to acknowledge the brilliant way Choo and Dalman have ran the club. It is mad to think that some fans wanted us to still pay Whittingham £25kpw 'out of loyalty' without understanding the implications of FFP.

Further they along with NW have somehow put together a promotion challenging squad on a shoestring whilst Wolves have thrown the financial sink at an attempt to get promoted this season. It seems that even if WW are successful in getting to the PL there will still be a significant financial penalty waiting for them down the line.

This also spells trouble for out friends down west if they finally fall through the PL relegation door this season. Every year they sail close to the wind by spending nearly everything they earn on an attempt to stay in the top league. If their income is seriously curtailed by relegation then they will be in serious FFP hot water the same as QPR if they don't do viscous cost cutting.

i thought the point of FFP was to stop clubs getting into debts they could not honour..ending up in admin and court..

dont for the life of me see how QPR can accommodate 40 million into their yearly accounts even spread over a number of years without it pushing them outside of FFP again..

But the point is QPR knew this and still went ahead anyway hoping they could wriggle out of it on a technicality. The EFL really have to look after all those clubs who DID adhere to FFP and didn't get promoted because Rangers broke the rules.

I feel sorry for QPR fans as their club has been badly run, but I also feel sorry for the fans of other clubs who were cheated out of a chance of promotion.

Like you, I don't take too much notice of the politics and the FFP of the club. Reading the posts on here over the last couple of years, there's only a couple that get anywhere near understanding the FFP laws so I rarely comment.
What I do know is that we have to give credit to the club and especially Dalman and Ken Choo who have managed things very well recently after some sticky times.
If not not for that we could well be in the position of QPR and potentially Bournemouth and Leicester.

Great post and yes we do have to acknowledge the brilliant way Choo and Dalman have ran the club. It is mad to think that some fans wanted us to still pay Whittingham £25kpw 'out of loyalty' without understanding the implications of FFP.

Further they along with NW have somehow put together a promotion challenging squad on a shoestring whilst Wolves have thrown the financial sink at an attempt to get promoted this season. It seems that even if WW are successful in getting to the PL there will still be a significant financial penalty waiting for them down the line.

This also spells trouble for out friends down west if they finally fall through the PL relegation door this season. Every year they sail close to the wind by spending nearly everything they earn on an attempt to stay in the top league. If their income is seriously curtailed by relegation then they will be in serious FFP hot water the same as QPR if they don't do viscous cost cutting.

Thanks Tony.
Talking to Ken, it appears to me the clubs most in danger are the ones that go up into the Prem and then struggle.
I include yourself in my statement as one having a really good grasp of FFP.

i thought the point of FFP was to stop clubs getting into debts they could not honour..ending up in admin and court..

dont for the life of me see how QPR can accommodate 40 million into their yearly accounts even spread over a number of years without it pushing them outside of FFP again..

But the point is QPR knew this and still went ahead anyway hoping they could wriggle out of it on a technicality. The EFL really have to look after all those clubs who DID adhere to FFP and didn't get promoted because Rangers broke the rules.

I feel sorry for QPR fans as their club has been badly run, but I also feel sorry for the fans of other clubs who were cheated out of a chance of promotion.

yes i know the point..

but how can a fine of 40 million be an appropriate punishment for overspending.when paying the 40 mill is guaranteeing that youll break FFP rules again in doing so....not disputiing they were wrong.cheated.it was unfair etc etc..and i dont really know the answer..just this aint it..

i thought the point of FFP was to stop clubs getting into debts they could not honour..ending up in admin and court..

dont for the life of me see how QPR can accommodate 40 million into their yearly accounts even spread over a number of years without it pushing them outside of FFP again..

But the point is QPR knew this and still went ahead anyway hoping they could wriggle out of it on a technicality. The EFL really have to look after all those clubs who DID adhere to FFP and didn't get promoted because Rangers broke the rules.

I feel sorry for QPR fans as their club has been badly run, but I also feel sorry for the fans of other clubs who were cheated out of a chance of promotion.

yes i know the point..

but how can a fine of 40 million be an appropriate punishment for overspending.when paying the 40 mill is guaranteeing that youll break FFP rules again in doing so....not disputiing they were wrong.cheated.it was unfair etc etc..and i dont really know the answer..just this aint it..

Whatever the rights or wrongs of the fine isn't the amount governed by the rules in respect of how much you go over ect

i thought the point of FFP was to stop clubs getting into debts they could not honour..ending up in admin and court..

dont for the life of me see how QPR can accommodate 40 million into their yearly accounts even spread over a number of years without it pushing them outside of FFP again..

But the point is QPR knew this and still went ahead anyway hoping they could wriggle out of it on a technicality. The EFL really have to look after all those clubs who DID adhere to FFP and didn't get promoted because Rangers broke the rules.

I feel sorry for QPR fans as their club has been badly run, but I also feel sorry for the fans of other clubs who were cheated out of a chance of promotion.

yes i know the point..

but how can a fine of 40 million be an appropriate punishment for overspending.when paying the 40 mill is guaranteeing that youll break FFP rules again in doing so....not disputiing they were wrong.cheated.it was unfair etc etc..and i dont really know the answer..just this aint it..

i haven't looked into it, but i would have thought a significant part of the fine would be suspended if they complied with FFP in future.

clearly, an FFP fine will not then have a knock on effect on the following years finances for FFP purposes. i hope so, anyway

no sympathy with QPR - they knew the rules, and are now simply complaining that the rules are unfair. the football league is simply enforcing the rules they agreed to be governed by.

i thought the point of FFP was to stop clubs getting into debts they could not honour..ending up in admin and court..

dont for the life of me see how QPR can accommodate 40 million into their yearly accounts even spread over a number of years without it pushing them outside of FFP again..

But the point is QPR knew this and still went ahead anyway hoping they could wriggle out of it on a technicality. The EFL really have to look after all those clubs who DID adhere to FFP and didn't get promoted because Rangers broke the rules.

I feel sorry for QPR fans as their club has been badly run, but I also feel sorry for the fans of other clubs who were cheated out of a chance of promotion.

yes i know the point..

but how can a fine of 40 million be an appropriate punishment for overspending.when paying the 40 mill is guaranteeing that youll break FFP rules again in doing so....not disputiing they were wrong.cheated.it was unfair etc etc..and i dont really know the answer..just this aint it..

i haven't looked into it, but i would have thought a significant part of the fine would be suspended if they complied with FFP in future.

clearly, an FFP fine will not then have a knock on effect on the following years finances for FFP purposes. i hope so, anyway

no sympathy with QPR - they knew the rules, and are now simply complaining that the rules are unfair. the football league is simply enforcing the rules they agreed to be governed by.

its not that i have sympathy..just this fine ,for me poses more questions than answers..
does this fine become part of the clubs accounting ..or is it something an owner if wealthy enough can pay off..?
if its the later how is that fair play ..some owners have far more money than others..
if the club is expected to pay the fine out of its yearly income, id imagine its impossible to do.