Sheffield Wednesday’s punishment for breaching profit and sustainability rules has been cut to a six-point deduction from a 12-point deduction on appeal, the Championship (second-tier) club said on Wednesday.
Wednesday was hit with the points deduction at the start of the 2020-21 season after being charged with misconduct by the Football League (EFL) in November 2019.
The club was found guilty of recording profits from the sale of its Hillsborough Stadium to its Thai owner Dejphon Chansiri in its 2017-18 accounts despite the ground being sold a year later, in a bid to avoid breaching spending rules.
“In August 2020 the club filed an appeal to a League Arbitration Panel against the decision of the EFL Disciplinary Commission to impose a sanction on the club of a deduction of 12 points in season 2020/21,” Wednesday said in a statement.
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“The club confirms that today its appeal was upheld in part. The decision of the League Arbitration Panel is that the sanction is reduced to a deduction of six points. The club is digesting the content of the decision and will not provide further comment until it is published.”
The independent panel that handed out the 12-point penalty had decided it would be unfair to impose it in the 2019-20 campaign because it would have meant Wednesday was relegated from English football’s second tier.
23rd position
The partially upheld appeal means that Wednesday rises to 23rd in the 24-team Championship and has five points instead of minus one.
The EFL said in a statement that it had noted the League Arbitration Panel’s decision.
“The independent panel... rejected the club’s appeal related to matters surrounding the stadium sale and on consideration of the sanction; they did not agree with the club’s assertion that a points deduction should not have been imposed,” the ELF said.
“However, they did opt to reduce the sporting punishment from 12 points to six, which will be effective immediately.”
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