Sky News presenter and Sheffield Wednesday fan Sophy Ridge has hit out at the way footballing authorities treat clubs differently after Chelsea’s punishment for historical breaches of financial rules was revealed.
The Premier League handed the Blues a record-breaking fine of £10.75million, a nine-month academy transfer ban and a suspended year-long first-team transfer ban.
Chelsea have accepted the historical charges, with their owners having self-reported issues spotted under the previous regime of Roman Abramovich including ‘undisclosed payments by third parties associated with the club made to players, unregistered agents and other third parties.’ It previously emerged that Chelsea’s signings of Eden Hazard, Samuel Eto’o and Willian were among those transfers investigated.
Since the punishment was handed out, the general consensus is that the penalty was lenient and Ridge joined those calls on Tuesday.
Speaking on Ridge & Frost on Sky News, she began: ‘At the risk of angering Chelsea fans, (a fine of) £10m, a suspended transfer ban, no sporting sanctions despite the fact this clearly would have given them a sporting advantage…
‘As a Sheffield Wednesday fan you look at the difference at how the bigger and smaller clubs are treated.
Sophy Ridge hit out at the way footballing authorities treat clubs differently after Chelsea were fined just £10m and handed a suspended transfer ban for historical breaches of financial rules
She highlighted the example of her beloved Sheffield Wednesday, who have received deductions totalling 18 points this season
‘Luton Town in 2008, a 10-point deduction, Sheffield Wednesday, an 18-point deduction in this current year. A club on its knees which means we are the only club in the EFL to be relegated in February, trying desperately to get some kind of owner or future for a club that is at risk of going under.
‘Then what do we have, we learn we are also in line for a 15-point deduction next season as well. How attractive is that going to be for an owner that might be looking at back-to-back relegations (for the club)?’
Wednesday have endured a torrid season amid a myriad of off-field problems, with the club eventually going into administration in October.
They have been deducted a total of 18 points across two separate deductions, have won just one of their 38 games and remain on minus six points.
Their relegation, the earliest in EFL history, was confirmed following a defeat by arch-rivals Sheffield United on February 22 to add to the misery.
Reports then emerged that the Owls will face another 15-point deduction for next season if a deal with their new preferred bidder goes through because the group would not meet the EFL’s requirement to pay creditors 25p in the pound.
Ridge’s co-host Wilfred Frost shared her sentiments and added the current financial rules don’t seem to be working.
Ridge replied: ‘Yeah, well I couldn’t agree more. The pyramid is so important to football, the smaller clubs as well – not that Sheffield Wednesday is a smaller club, we’re a big club – but (some) smaller teams are really struggling.’
Meanwhile, Chelsea’s £10.75million fine and other sanctions come after the club’s current owners BlueCo voluntarily self-reported their financial irregularities to the footballing authorities, having discovered them while doing their due diligence amid their May 2022 takeover.
Crucially, the Premier League found Chelsea would not have breached their PSR rules during the relevant periods had those in charge of the club at the time reported these payments legitimately rather than try to hide them.
Chelsea’s £10.75m fine beats the Premier League’s previous record of £5.5m issued to West Ham in 2007.
The Blues will also pay the full costs of the league’s investigation and disciplinary processes.
Chelsea said in a statement: ‘During an extensive Premier League investigation, the club proactively disclosed many thousands of documents. Also, when requests for information were made by the Premier League, the club promptly provided comprehensive responses and facilitated all lines of inquiry to support a complex and extremely thorough process.
‘Furthermore, during the investigation, additional evidence was provided to the club by a third party regarding potential breaches of Premier League rules committed by a former employee in a small number of historical academy transactions. This information was immediately and proactively self-reported to the Premier League.
‘The club wishes to make clear that following robust financial analysis by the Premier League, it was concluded that “in no scenario would the club have exceeded the maximum allowable loss of £105 million over the three-year assessment period in the rules”.
‘Accordingly there is no scenario in which the club could have been in breach of the applicable limits in the Premier League’s Profitability and Sustainability Rules during the applicable seasons historically.
‘From the outset of this process, the club has treated these matters with the utmost seriousness, providing full cooperation to all relevant regulators. The club welcomes the recognition from the Premier League of its “exceptional cooperation” and that “without those voluntary disclosures and the act of self-reporting, a number of the Premier League rule breaches may never have come to the attention of the league”.’
Chelsea added: ‘We are pleased that the matter is now concluded.’
