Leicester City have been told to seek an urgent meeting with the Premier League, admit the PSR charges laid against them and take “a £6m hit” to get their likely points deduction in place for THIS season.
Asked for his take on the Foxes’ plight after they were hit with three PSR-related charges yesterday, football finance expert Stefan Borson told talkSport listeners the club was “certain to get a points deduction”.
However, it was what action he recommended the Leicester hierarchy next take that came as a surprise.
He said: “The question now is whether they can quickly get round the table with the Premier League and agree what is effectively a settlement.
“If I was them, what I'd be doing now is saying we will accept almost whatever you want to put in front of us in terms of a settlement. So if you want a 12-point penalty for this breach, we'll take it.
“Then, let's get the independent commission to sign it off and try to do it all before the AGM of the Premier League, so before we're actually relegated.
“In effect, we'll take the 12 points this season, we'll finish two places lower in the league, we'll finish bottom of the table, we won't finish third bottom. We'll have the hit of two places, so that'll be about a £6m hit on top of the 12 points, but it keeps them clean for next season.”
Borson admitted such an outcome was unlikely given the timing of the charges being laid and the end of the season, plus the fact that doing so would cause an outcry, but insisted Leicester would have been hit by a points deduction this season if they had cooperated with the Premier League from the outset.
He explained: “I think it's going to be very difficult for that to happen, and Leicester will probably be surprised if that happens, but it is just swings and roundabouts.
“At the end of the day, they should have been penalised this season for the breach that they're alleged to have committed and will admit to.
“I mean, I don't think there's much doubt that they breached. They probably breached by about £30m, maybe even a little bit more, and they don't have any mitigation because if you look at the things that they're charged with, the sort of mitigation you get for early admission and cooperation, they've charged them for non-cooperation, so they're looking for more of a penalty.
“So I'm saying, accept almost whatever the Premier League want and admit it all. What they need to do is sign a settlement agreement effectively in the next seven days.
“Now, I don't know how feasible it is, and people would go crazy about it, but this is the season that it (the points penalty) should really sit in.
“It won't be palatable, but I think in many ways that is the correct outcome. Otherwise, it's going to be a very significant points hit next season.”
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