Enzo Maresca speak to media ahead of Leicester City’s FA Cup clash

Q: In your opinion, do the club genuinely think they have found a loophole in which we exist in some kind of limbo and can’t be investigated by either the Premier League or the EFL this season?

A: I don’t think the club see it as a loophole, but their argument does appear to be one based on technicalities and timing, and they seem willing to really fight on that front. Their point seems to be that they can’t be investigated by the Premier League because they’re not a Premier League club, and that they can’t be investigated by the EFL because the season they’re investigating hasn’t finished yet.

I think the latter argument is a stronger one than the former. Particularly because City are fighting for promotion, the Premier League are bound to want to investigate now ahead of the club’s potential rise back into the division.

The point about the EFL’s embargo being premature I think is a solid one. But it is written into the rules that the EFL can hand out embargoes to clubs they feel are at risk of breaching financial regulations.

Q: Wasn’t there going to be a review of last season’s decisions? Has this been done? If so, will it be published?

A: Yes, there was supposed to be one. I don’t know if it’s been conducted, no, but I would imagine that there would have been soul-searching to a degree. To be relegated despite having a top-half wage budget means questions need to be answered about where it went wrong. No, I don’t think it would be published, although there may be some reference to mistakes that were made when the finances for last season are published at some point in the next week.

Q:The club needs support now more than ever yet all I see is finger-pointing and the blame game towards LCFC. Why do you think Foxes “supporters” are so bad in a moment when we need to rally around the team?

A: I think fans can support the team while still wanting their club to be better. I think, once kick-off comes on Friday, the fans will get behind Maresca and the players. They’re innocent in all of this. But matters like this, if fans truly believed the club had been wronged, would make for a siege mentality that would raise the atmosphere at the King Power Stadium significantly. I don’t think that will happen. For plenty of fans, their allegiance isn’t blind. They can see mistakes have been made. It will be more difficult for them to support a club that may have worked outside the lines.

Q: It’s highly likely that both Everton and Forest will avoid relegation this season thus rendering their points deductions redundant. If the Premier League are assessing us over the last three years then could we not use our relegation last season as mitigation? It would seem disproportionate for us to be effectively punished twice.

A: I think that point will be made, yes. But I don’t know if it will wash. The relegation wasn’t punishment for the alleged PSR breach, it was punishment for not doing well enough as a club to stay up. If the charge is proven by the independent commission, then that will need a separate punishment, I think. That City may have worked outside the rules and yet still gone down is the club’s problem, not the Premier League’s.

I’d also say that I don’t think Everton and Forest’s points deductions have been rendered redundant. I think both, but particularly Forest, could still go down (although I do think both teams will be happy to have taken a points deduction in this season more than any other, when the Premier League definitely is a weaker division). Even if they don’t go down, their deducted points are likely to lead to less prize money. Each place in the Premier League is worth over £2m. There was a point earlier in the season where Everton would have been five places higher without their points deduction. If it finishes that way, that’s more than £10m they’ve lost out on.