West Brom shock at 24-hour verdict while Manchester City case drags on
West Bromwich Albion have been left shocked at how swiftly the judgement was reached in the EFL Profit and Sustainability case that cost them a points deduction.
Last week it was announced that the Championship club would be docked two points for a breach of spending rules. The two-day hearing concluded on Thursday evening, and by Friday lunchtime – less than 24 hours later – the club had been informed they had been found in breach.
Legal experts told Morning Wire that cases of this nature usually take weeks before a judgement is delivered. On Friday, West Brom received only a brief explanation of the punishment before it was made public at 5pm.
Meanwhile, the independent panel considering the Premier League’s 115-plus charges against Manchester City – which the club strongly deny – is yet to reach a verdict, almost 18 months after the hearing.
West Brom are accused of spending less than £2m above the permitted limit in the three-year period up to June 20 last year, making it “the smallest ever breach of the P&S Rules across the EFL Championship and the Premier League,” they said in a statement. The club are adamant they are innocent.
The key point of contention is that in 2023-24 the EFL’s Club Financial Reporting Unit allowed “Community Development Expenditure” to be included in P&S calculations. West Brom claim the CFRU told them this year the rules had changed and that retrospective alterations had been made to their P&S assessments.
Sources familiar with the process insist community development expenditure was not the only factor considered in the judgement. Nonetheless, it has been pointed out to Morning Wire that this approach risks discouraging investment in club charities.
West Brom were given 14 days to appeal but, given a point against Ipswich on Saturday secured their safety, they may simply decide to take the hit.
FA disciplinary process criticised again
Lawyers representing Fulham and Marco Silva, after the Football Association accused their manager of alleging refereeing bias, have become the latest to criticise the governing body’s approach to disciplinary cases.
The FA wrote to Silva in early March requesting his observations on comments “of concern” following the club’s 1-0 defeat against West Ham.
In post-match interviews, Silva repeatedly referenced the influence John Brooks, who was VAR for the match, had in overturning on-field decisions. He said it was “difficult to understand [so] many mistakes from him this season against” Fulham.
Fulham lawyers wrote back suggesting “you do not make clear which comments in particular give rise to any such concern, nor what your concern is”. They noted that “this letter seems to be in the FA’s standard form, which routinely results in disciplinary action being taken” and that “until we understand what that concern is” they could provide only a “general observation”.
An independent commission subsequently fined Silva £90,000 and issued a one-game ban. On appeal, Silva – represented by leading sports law KC Nick De Marco – had the ban suspended for one year.
It follows the severe criticism levelled at the FA over its handling of the Lucas Paqueta spot-fixing allegations. In its 314-page report, the commission, which ruled there was no evidence of corruption, was damning, highlighting the “obvious flaw” in failing to seek an independent assessment of data and the disagreements between the governing body’s betting integrity investigator and main prosecutor.
Ganguly in your kitbag
Sourav Ganguly, regarded as one of India’s greatest cricketers, will soon be able to coach countless children, teenagers and keen amateurs simultaneously.
Well, an AI version of Ganguly will. Kabuni, a machine-learning-powered platform, has created a device that watches you bat and, using biomechanics and real-time motion tracking, allows AI Ganguly to provide feedback. The yellow orb, fitted with three cameras and perched on a small black tripod, looks like something from a sci-fi film.
“Kabuni is about giving every young cricketer access to the kind of insight and coaching that’s traditionally only been available at the professional level,” founder Nimesh Patel told Morning Wire. “We take real-world play and turn it into clear, personalised guidance that players can actually use, helping them understand not just what to improve, but how to improve it.”
Shane Watson, the former Australian all-rounder, has also signed up as a “super coach” and will be integrated into the platform as a “digital twin” for mental performance coaching.
Bournemouth add Hollywood star
It has been a fantastic season for Bournemouth on the pitch – with the club on course to qualify for Europe for the first time – but they have marked an unexpected record off it with a sparkling new addition to the club shop.
A red star has been added to the side of the megastore next to their Vitality Stadium home, reading: “Michael B. Jordan. First Premier League owner to win an Oscar.”
The actor, who became a minority owner in 2022, recently won a best actor Oscar for his role in Sinners, which this columnist can highly recommend if you enjoy genre-bending horror.
His new star is strikingly similar to those scattered along the Hollywood Walk of Fame, with its gold edging and The Cherries’ red replacing the traditional pink.
‘There was no bacon involved’
“It’s fake news, there was no bacon involved. I can 100 per cent categorically confirm there was no bacon sandwich.”
The quote, from Forest Green Rovers manager Robbie Savage, will surely go down as one of the great football lines, alongside Sean Dyche’s denial of eating worms.
In case you didn’t spend your weekend online, a social-media video showing a Morecambe fan being ejected from Forest Green’s stadium by stewards, claiming it was because he brought a bacon sandwich into the famously vegan club, went viral.
Never has it been truer that a lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes, as the saying popularised by Mark Twain goes. The clip and caption have been viewed millions of times across platforms and were reported in the US and Spain.
Twenty-four hours later, Forest Green Rovers issued a statement addressing “baconbuttygate”, insisting the fan was not in fact removed for bringing bacon into the stadium.
Some digging by Morning Wire has found the video appears to originate from a TikTok account with a little over 450 followers, existing solely to produce viral content. If only anyone had bothered to check.