04 April 2023 , 11:37
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Reading have been deducted six points by the English Football League for a second time in 18 months after breaching financial rules.
The club have agreed to the sanctions, which take place from immediate effect and plunge Paul Ince's side down to 20th in the table, one point above the relegation zone.
A statement from the independent Club Financial Reporting Unit read: "Reading Football Club will be deducted six points from the 2022/23 Championship table, after the Club admitted that it has failed to comply with the budget restrictions imposed, following a previous breach of the EFL's Profitability and Sustainability Rules (P&S).
"The points deduction is an activation of a suspended six-point penalty, which was set out in the terms of an Agreed Decision between Reading and the EFL in November 2021.
"The EFL has been notified and will apply the sanction with immediate effect.
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"This is the first time a Club in the EFL has been subject to a review by the newly formed independent Club Financial Review Panel (CFRP), chaired by Christopher Quinlan KC, which considers matters put forward by the EFL's independent Club Financial Reporting Unit (CFRU). The entire process is independent of the EFL Board and seeks to ensure EFL Clubs' compliance with relevant financial regulations."
Paul Ince's side have dropped down to 20th in the table (James Marsh/REX/Shutterstock)The club said in a statement: "At the time of the original breach, it was agreed with the League this further six-point penalty was due to be applied if the club could not meet the demands of an agreed business plan for 2022-23.
"And, despite radical changes implemented at first team level and right across the structure of the business to its very core - and a rigid adherence to a strict league-monitored wage structure and transfer embargo, the club accepts that it has not sufficiently satisfied certain elements of the planned budget and that, as a result, the independent Club Financial Review Panel has been unable to ratify that the club has met its forecast for compliance."
Reading have dropped from 18th down to 20th in the Championship (PA)"Back in November, we vowed that lessons would be learned.
"And the strides which have been made have been significant; it is evident in our methods, procedures and actions over recent years - and most notably throughout this season - that the mistakes of the past have been understood, corrected and won’t be made again."
Reading have been placed under a transfer embargo since the time of the first points deduction, and the club say they "have not spent a penny on transfer fees since the summer of 2020 and have not paid a loan fee to any club since the summer of 2019.
They add: "Our squad has been entirely rebuilt from free transfers, free loanees and Academy graduates."