Derby face relegation after EFL confirms it has won Financial Fair Play appeal with points deduction on cards

EFL chiefs have confirmed they have won their Financial Fair Play appeal against Derby County.

Wayne Rooney’s Rams have now been left open to a points deduction that would consign them to relegation from the Championship.

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In a statement, the EFL reported that an independent League Arbitration Panel backed its appeal after the initial disciplinary hearing only gave Derby a reprimand for the breaches.

And that cleared the way for an immediate punishment for a club that survived the drop by a single point ahead of Wycombe.

While Derby were cleared of wrongly using the £81million sale of Pride Park to a company run by club owner Mel Morris to get around FFP regulations, the club was found to have broken rules on valuation of player contracts.

Player values are routinely “amortised” over the length of their deals but the appeal panel upheld the EFL argument that Derby had acted against standard accounting rules.

According to the EFL statement, the panel ruled that Derby had “failed to accurately reflect the manner in which the Club takes the benefit of player registrations over the lifetime of a player’s contract”.

The statement added: “The club and EFL will now have the opportunity to make submissions on the appropriate sanction arising out of those breaches.

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“There is no definitive timescale for a determination on sanction though the League will press for a decision as soon as reasonably possible and will provide a further update at the appropriate time.”

Wycombe are pushing for an immediate sanction and any points deduction applied for this season would spell despair for Derby.

That remains a possible outcome although it is believed more likely that it would be felt to be unfair on the Derby players and especially fans, with any points penalty more likely to come into effect for next season.

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