League Championship sides Blackburn, Leeds United and Nottingham Forest have been given "transfer embargoes for the rest of the season for breaching Financial Fair Play rules," according to the BBC. The clubs have been handed the bans for "not meeting the Football League's Fair Play Requirement." The clubs will have the "opportunity to have the embargoes lifted in June." To do so, they will need to "prove they have stayed
within an operating loss" of no more than £3M ($4.7M), with a maximum of £3M of
shareholder investment for the '14-15 season (BBC, 12/15). The PA's Martyn Ziegler reported submissions from EPL clubs Queens Park Rangers, Leicester and Burnley -- which were "all promoted to the Premier League -- plus the three clubs relegated last season will now be considered by the Football League." Under the transfer embargoes, "the three clubs will be prohibited from signing any new players -- either on a permanent or loan deal -- unless they have 24 or fewer 'established players,' which is described as 24 players aged 21 or over that have made at least five starts for the club" (PA, 12/15).
LONG TIME COMING: The BBC's Colin Fray opined few people can "claim to be surprised" by the transfer embargo imposed on Nottingham Forest. It "has been coming for months." And, "though owner Fawaz Al Hasawi has previously claimed to have been unconcerned by Financial Fair Play, his club, his ownership and his manager will now be severely tested." Nottingham Forest has "not yet revealed the full extent of their losses" for the '13-14 season "and are not commenting at this stage." But an "educated guess would suggest that their losses will be significantly over" the £8M ($12.5M) permitted limit. And, "if that does prove to be the case, the likelihood of a swift exit from the embargo diminishes." However "far over the threshold they were for last season, they need to claw that back," and save a further £2M ($3.1M), before "they can emerge from the transfer shadows and begin trading again on an unrestricted basis" (BBC, 12/15). In Nottingham, former Nottingham Forest player Kenny Burns wrote in an op-ed if Hasawi "wants to spend his family's millions to get us there then he should be allowed to do exactly that." Burns added, "I'm not just saying this because it's my old club that is going to be on the receiving end of the FFP sanctions, I don't agree with the rules full stop." Surely if Fawaz can "prove he has got the money in the bank, he should be able to spend it on players to make Forest even stronger and improve their chances of winning promotion back into the top-flight, so long as he gives the League certain concrete financial guarantees" (NOTTINGHAM POST, 12/15).
