Boss Mick McCarthy says he’s sure a number of Championship clubs aren’t adhering to the Financial Fair Play rules (FFP) and will welcome action being taken against them. While the Blues are keeping to the new rules which are designed to ensure clubs no longer build up huge debts, around five or six sides appear to be entirely ignoring them.

"Financial Fair Play is there for everybody to supposedly adhere to. We're adhering to Financial Fair Play. I'm not sure everyone else is. In fact I'm damn sure not everybody else is," McCarthy told BBC East in an interview for next Monday evening’s Late Kick Off East (11.20pm).

From this season, Championship sides are limited to losses of £3 million plus a further £5 million via owner equity investment, although some spending, such as academies, fall outside those limits.

Clubs will have to reveal their accounts for this season in December with those that are found to have overspent facing transfer embargoes or, if they have been promoted to the Premier League by that time, fines.

The FFP rules were agreed back in April 2012 with 21 Championship clubs, including Town, voting in favour and three against.

McCarthy says that contrary to popular perception, Blues owner Marcus Evans has continued to invest as much cash as he can within the limits imposed by FFP.

"People say we haven't spent anything but I reckon Marcus has put £5 million of his own dough in just to keep us where we are,” he added.

"Within those parameters, we've done well. I get frustrated at times and think we could do better, but it's not down to the funding.

"I'm reading that QPR and a few others could be having a huge fine [if they go up]. I'd like to see it and I'd like to know who's going to take the money and where it's going.

"We're sticking to it and, within it, we're doing really well. We've had some really good signings as well, bearing in mind they were Bosman signings - they've come in and given some really good performances."

Speaking earlier this month in the wake of reports that those sides who are transgressing the rules could launch a legal challenge, joint-MD Ian Milne said most Championship clubs are determined to make the rules work.

“The latest view that we’ve got is that the majority of the Championship clubs are very much backing Financial Fair Play.”

He added: “[Those who ignore FFP] will suffer the penalties, that’s the view of the majority.”

Photo: Action Images

sweas77 added 10:58 - Mar 21 points deduction and transfer ban is only way to hurt the clubs who ignore FFP, it has to be enforced, will be interesting to see what happens to QPR if they do not go up this season
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mutters added 11:20 - Mar 21 to be honest if the league does not act on clubs that break the rule in a heavy manner then it will all be a joke. a 5million pounds fine is relatively nothing for some club owners. Transfer embargo would be more damaging, or even threaten to lose points. i would be more in favour of these than fines. more real impact.
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Popeye added 12:00 - Mar 21 Some clubs are finding ways around the FFP, there's even be rumours of a legal challenge against the FFP by some clubs owners in the championship. Read the other day that there are proposals to re-write the existing FFP rules already!
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afrodids added 12:13 - Mar 21 It is said to worth 80-100 million pounds to be promoted to the PL worth a little fine I'd say!
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Mark added 12:15 - Mar 21 I will be relieved when I see sanctions imposed on clubs who do not comply, as it is worrying to think the rules will be changed or they will get away with it meaning they have had competitive advantage over teams like ITFC who stuck to the rules. In theory, meeting FFP and investing in a Grade 1 academy (excluded from FFP) puts us in a strong position, but only if punishments are dished out when they should be.

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Karlosfandangal added 12:18 - Mar 21 The BBC web page is saying Town are running at at £9.7 million loss this year, so that means we are outside the limits. As we have not spent any money on players, where is all the cost going too, it can all be on wages can it. This is a huge worry as the only way to reduce this £1.7 million is to sell players. McGoldrick, Cresswell, Smith seem to be the only ones to command that sort of fee.

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Blue041273 added 12:41 - Mar 21 The FFP rules are designed to protect the long term interests of all clubs and their fans by trying to make them operate within their means. The crucial problem of course is that this creates a playing field within each division that is not level. Consequently the rich will get richer, particularly in the Championship where teams relegated from the Premiership enjoy vastly more financial advantages via parachute payments than the other teams in the league can possibly dream of. Thus clubs like ours will be increasingly hamstrung in their efforts to get promoted. It appears that we are trying to adhere to the FFP rules but even now we are running at a level of losses that will require some creative accounting to pass the FFP tests. Each ongoing season will be harder, requiring even more cost cutting with less owner investment permitted. As a result, despite the calls for more money to be made available for squad improvement, we will not be able to recruit quality players, as quality is expensive, and our chances of promotion will shrink exponentially. Ultimately promotion/relegation will involve a small group of yo-yo clubs who will be able to finance their ambitions through Premiership finance including the lavish parachute payments. The rest of us will be there to make up the numbers. This cannot be good for the Football League and until the parachute payment rigmarole can be equalised in some way our chances of a shot in the top league are increasingly remote.

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Mark added 12:52 - Mar 21 > The BBC web page is saying Town are running at at £9.7 million loss this year, so that means we are outside the limits. That was 12/13 when we had the huge wages paid under the contracts issued during Keane and Jewell's time. I presume 13/14 will show a reduction in wages to bring us under the £8M deficit.
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coolcat added 13:21 - Mar 21 Blue041273 very good point. Couldn't have put it better. Been thinking that way myself for a long time. Teams get stuck in a rut.
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ericclacton added 13:41 - Mar 21 Fair play.
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LordMamu added 13:49 - Mar 21 FFP can never create a level playing field because it makes a club so reliant on income from attendances and transfers. Smaller clubs like Yeovil are never going to be able to compete with the likes of Leeds are they? You could easily argue that allowing owners to invest their own money actually makes it more competitive . If there had been FFP in the Premier League from the start then who apart from Man U and Arsenal would have won it in the last 20 years or would ever win in the future? As with everything to do with football it is badly thought through. I suspect that ME uses it as a smokescreen to avoid having to fund yet more....

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Seasider added 14:17 - Mar 21 As Mark said the £9.7 million loss relates to previous year as the current financial year does not end until June. I feel it would have been prudent for Mr Evans to have given the Manager money to spend on transfers last season before FFP kicked in; although this would of course inflated the above loss,but if spent wisely would have meant the club would have been in a better position by having one or two better than Tabb,Green or Anderson. Now of course the club is hamstrung by the new rules which excludes money spent on the academy I believe;so this is no doubt why ME is going down this route for No1 status;but this is a long term aim,so quite what happens in meantime?

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ArnieM added 14:50 - Mar 21 Transfer embargos are a complete waste of time to those who have flouted the rules. Because they will already have their players insitu at their Club. Points deduction HAS to be the penalty to rule breaking . They should also prevent / limit the amount of spending Clubs who are relegated can do., terby creating a more level playing field for all teams in the Championship. Otherwise its a nonsense trying to compete with recently relegated , so called PL clubs when trying to sign players .

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RegencyBlue added 15:16 - Mar 21 I hope I'm wrong but I have a feeling the whole FFP idea will end up watered down, like so many of the promises made by football authorities. There is already talk of a number of clubs going to court to take on the Football League over FFP and if that happens I can see FFP being kicked into touch for years to come! Even if it comes in can anyone seriously see meaningful sanctions being taken against the number of clubs who have completely ignored FFP because I cant. The Championship would be in utter chaos and I just don't see the League having the balls to do it!!

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SanDiego added 16:59 - Mar 21 Arniem makes a point that I have thought about too. Clubs could easily ignore FFP and go out and build a strong team, making a transfer embargo pointless. If they are filling the academy with quality players as well then they could be preparing for such a punishment. You only get fined if you get promoted and in the big scheme of things the fine probably won't reflect the financial gain gotten from promotion. As some have said, will the current incarnation of FFP remain or it will it be changed along the way?

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muccletonjoe added 17:45 - Mar 21 If they don't act against those breaaking the rule , then it isn't a rule in the first place and should be ignored by everyone
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tractorboyz82 added 19:37 - Mar 21 I said right at the start it seems town are following the ffp rules to strictly and that if it turns out that no punishments are handed out we will be left miles behind,the only person who suffers if we over spend is mr invisible because he'd have to foot the over spend or face punishments which we still don't know if they'll happen. I still think if he'd of spent 2 million in January we'd be looking at a very different end of season.i don't think ffp will work if we over spend we get a transfer embargo so we don't spend and we don't compete at the top of the table it seems like we'll be going round in circles

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