Leicester City points deduction on the cards as finance expert pinpoints £83m PSR issue

Leicester City’s PSR troubles have been put under the microscope once more as they wait for their 2023/24 accounts to be released.

Leicester breached the Premier League’s spending rules in the three-year period leading up to the 2022/23 campaign

While the Foxes won their PSR case and avoided a points deduction, they could now experience a similar fate to Everton and Nottingham Forest, who were both handed point deductions last term for breaking the rules.

With Ruud van Nistelrooy’s men currently 19th in the Premier League table, any significant deduction could give them a long way back.

Team

MP

W

D

L

GD

Pts

19

Leicester

20

3 5 12 -21 14

In fact, according to one finance expert, it seems inevitable Leicester will be charged for breaking the rules and as a result, left fighting for their top-flight status

Finance expert predicts Premier League points deduction for Leicester City

To gain further insight into Leicester’s current situation with PSR, Leicester City News spoke to TBR’s Football Finance expert Adam Williams who sees no other outcome than a point deduction.

“Top flight clubs are allowed to lose £105m over a rolling three-year period, with that figure tapering down proportionate to the EFL’s £39m allowable loss limit over the same period,” Williams explained.

So for Leicester, their maximum allowable loss for the period the Premier League are currently assessing is £83m.

“In 2021-22, they lost £92.5m. In 2022-23, the deficit was £89.7m. Already we can see that, even allowing for PSR-exempt costs like infrastructure investment, they look well over the limit.

“Significantly, we don’t have access to the 2023-24 figures yet. The likes of Swiss Ramble, who I will always defer to when forecasting club accounts, reckons they need to have made a profit of around £15m to get within that £83m threshold.”

“It’s very hard to see how they get to that mark, even with the £80-90m they made in player sales last season. I think they might be over by a fair margin.

Leicester’s overspending in seasons gone by, especially during the Brendan Rodgers era, looks like coming back to bite them. However, there could be one factor that redeems the Foxes.

“The only saving grace will be if there is an accounting sleight of hand that I – and just about everyone else in football finance – haven’t picked up on,” Williams added.

“Or, if they get off on a technicality as they effectively did for the previous three-year window despite the fact that exceeded the threshold numerically.

“Points deductions are proportionate to the scale of the breach, so a bigger breach would come with a bigger sporting sanction

What Ruud van Nistelrooy has said on Leicester City’s PSR issue

Leicester will be told by January 13th whether they’ve breached PSR and face a points deduction. The above comments on Williams suggest there’s no way of them avoiding it this time, leaving the Foxes anxiously looking over their shoulder.

Supporters will hope that the punishment isn’t too severe, and with some excellent work in the transfer window, van Nistelrooy can turn their fortunes around.

Van Nistelrooy equalled an unwanted 22-year record against Aston Villa on Saturday, becoming the latest Leicester manager to lose five games in a row while conceding at least twice in each match.

It demonstrates how difficult his side have found things of late, with a point deduction potentially providing a hammer blow to their hopes of survival.

This situation won’t come as a surprise to the Dutchman, though, as van Nistelrooy had conversations about PSR with owner Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha and Director of Football John Rudkin before signing the contract.

“The most important thing in our conversations before I signed, it was a topic,” van Nistelrooy said when asked about his stance on PSR.

“As well, the January window. For me, onwards, especially on the PSR stories, it’s important I know internally how things are being managed. For me, it’s up to the club to communicate this towards the media and then for me to focus on winning games and performances.”