Derby the next Championship club facing massive 21-point deduction | OneFootball

Derby County are facing a season-defining points deduction after the £80m sale of Pride Park.

It’s anything but quiet at the club this season, with captain Richard Keogh sacked after suffering a season-ending injury as a passenger in a car driven by drunken team-mates.

Since then, there has been a delay to the payment of players’ wages in December and the January arrival of Wayne Rooney.

And now this.

Championship clubs are not allowed to make a loss of more than £39m over the course of three seasons.

It is a threshold Derby were in danger of exceeding in 2018, before the Rams sold their stadium to a company owned by chairman Mel Morris. Pride Park was then leased back to the club.

However, the initial £80m sum paid for the stadium is now under investigation, report the Daily Mail.

The report claims the EFL’s own independent valuation puts a £50m price tag on Pride Park.

With the sale not considered a fair market rate, Derby could now face a 21-point deduction.

The Championship club have stood by the value of the original £80m sale and the case is likely to go to court.

If the EFL charge is upheld, Derby’s accounts will show they exceeded the spending limits by £15m and can be hit by the maximum 12 point sanction. They could be docked a further nine points for an “aggravated breach”.

The Rams are currently 17th in the Championship on 34 points. The maximum deduction of 21 points would see them slip to the bottom of the league as things stand.

Sheffield Wednesday are also facing a similar punishment after the sale of Hillsbrough to chairman Dejphon Chansiri.