Is it right to carry over points deductions?
- Published
³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Sport's chief football news reporter Simon Stone has been answering your questions.
Tony asked: What are your thoughts on Leicester potentially starting next season with a points deduction? Is it right to carry over punishments until a team returns to the Premier League? What if it had taken Leicester 30 years to go back up - would they have faced a points deduction in 2054?!
Simon replied: Last point first Tony, I think if Leicester had not come back up, if guilt had been proven, the points would have been deducted by the EFL, who have their own investigation.
I have sympathy with the leagues here. A lot of people say this stuff should have been dealt with more quickly. But how? Clubs have to submit their accounts to the league by the end of December. Then they have to be assessed, charges brought forward if needed, then legal argument, then a hearing, then an appeal. This all takes time. It is naïve to think this can all be sorted in a matter of days.
Leicester argued the EFL did not have the legal right to assess their accounts for a period when they were a Premier League club – and they won. They delayed the case. That was their right. What ‘faster way’ is there?