Town managing director Ian Milne says the Football League has to stand firm and enforce the Championship's Financial Fair Play (FFP) rules. Recently-relegated QPR are challenging the legality of the rules, which limit the losses clubs are permitted to make in a season.

In March the West Londoners filed accounts showing a loss of £9.8 million during their 2013/14 Championship promotion season, however, they reached that figure by owner Tony Fernandes and other shareholders writing off loans of £60 million, a move which is believed to breach the FFP rules and which could see them facing a fine of £58 million.

Milne, a lawyer by trade, believes it’s important that the Football League remains resolute: “It’s got to be enforced. I think they’ve got to. The issue they’ve got is that they’ve got these regulations basically saying that if 75 per cent of clubs vote for something then that’s the new rule.

“If somebody challenges that and says that that’s the wrong thing to do it’s going to cut across not just Financial Fair Play but every regulation there is at the Football League.

“But also, and I was talking to [Norwich chief executive] David McNally about this, and he confirmed that the Premier League have got similar rules.

“So, if a court turns around and says ‘No, those regulations aren’t enforceable’, the whole thing’s going to collapse, not just for FFP but the whole shooting match.

“[Football League chief executive] Shaun Harvey was up here for the first leg of the Norwich game and they know they’ve got to fight it.”

He added: “Also, from a legal perspective, the rules seem perfectly sound and reasonable to me. If it was 51 per cent [then perhaps] but not 75 per cent of those voting.

“And you can’t say ‘We weren’t part of the league, therefore it doesn’t apply to us’. You can’t do business like that.”

While he suspects it's unlikely that clubs who refuse to pay fines would be excluded from the league, as has previously been suggested, he says other action could be taken.

“I would have thought a way of doing it, and it is within the remit, is to say ‘OK, we’ll let you play for the Championship but you will suffer a huge points deduction until you cough up. You will not get back in the Premier League’.

“I just wonder whether it might go that way, I’m sure they can do that if they wanted to. We all agreed to the rules and that’s where it is.”

Milne says Town continue to back FFP and will keep to its limits, which were reviewed and amended towards the end of last year, allowing greater losses from 2016/17.

“We’re not going to breach, we’re supporting it and will try and spend up to it,” he said.

The Blues MD admits that it’s frustrating when the club’s adherence to FFP is sometimes styled as owner Marcus Evans having stopped investing in the club or tightening the purse strings.

“People don’t understand really how the football club works,” he added. “It’s up to me and the media staff and Mick to say ‘Hold on, look at the quality of the team rather than how much it cost’.”

Does Evans feel that FFP to some extent limits his ambitions for the club? “Yes, he does but he also understands that the Championship in the long-term, as we stand at the moment with Financial Fair Play, and even with the new rules, isn’t going to be sustainable.

“Are there going to be owners there who are going to part with £5 million, £6 million, maybe £10 million or £12 million, which they would have to do, season in, season out?

“Long-term it doesn’t seem right that that would happen. You’ve got that side of it. But if an owner does come in they should have the freedom to spend.

“So, in some ways moving up from the £5 million or £6 million to £10 million or £12 million, which it will be going up to [under the amended rules], is reasonable if somebody wants to invest that sort of money.”

Photo: Action Images

swarby_7 added 11:27 - Jun 1 It's simple. The FFP was put in place and it was agreed upon by the majority of clubs. So, QPR disregarded this and got themselves promoted, not they have returned to the Championship they should face sanctions. I think the way they have conducted themselves as a club, signing players even now and saying F off to the football league and its rules, should warrant a strong punishment, and one that will hit them hard. Fines perhaps, stop their parachute payments even, deduct points or whatever but something needs to be done and they need to be used as an example. The playing field needs to be leveled which is the exact point of the FFP initiative. Personally, I think a fine would not worry them (although it should still be enforced). I also think that a transfer embargo should be in place until all outstanding fines are paid up, and instead of a points deduction (as I agree with a previous poster who said that this would water down the integrity of competition) QPR should perhaps be forced to play with 10 or even 9 men until all fines are paid up, or for every home game in a season so all opposition teams get a fair crack at them. This would still allow all teams to begin on an equal footing points wise, still provide QPR with a chance to win games/the league or promotion, assist with their transfer embargo (less players needed anyway as only playing with 10 or 9) whilst also punishing them for their breach.

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