Nottingham Forest, Blackburn Rovers and Leeds United given transfer embargoes after breaking financial fair play rules

Mail 15/12/14
The Championship trio will be unable to sign players from January 1 2015
All three have been punished for breaking Financial Fair Play rules
However the clubs can still make signings if certain criteria are met
They can have their embargoes lifted at the end of the season if they prove they have stayed within the maximum deviation of £6million
By MARTYN ZIEGLER, PRESS ASSOCIATION
Blackburn, Leeds and Nottingham Forest will all have a transfer ban for the January window after breaching the Football League's financial fair play (FFP) rules.
The League announced that the three clubs all incurred financial losses more than the £8million permitted during last season.
Submissions from QPR, Leicester and Burnley - who were all promoted to the Premier League - plus the three clubs relegated last season will now be considered by the Football League.
A statement said: 'An initial analysis of FFP submissions from the current 24 Championship clubs has indicated that three clubs - Blackburn Rovers, Leeds United and Nottingham Forest - have failed to meet the fair play requirement under the division's FFP rules.
'Consequently, all three will be subject to an "FFP embargo" under Football League regulations from January 1, 2015 for the remainder of the current campaign.'
Under the transfer embargoes, the three clubs will be prohibited from signing any new players - either on a permanent or loan deal - unless they have 24 or fewer 'established players', which is described as 24 players aged 21 or over that have made at least five starts for the club.
Blackburn's managing director Derek Shaw said in a statement: 'Whilst the ruling will clearly present some difficulties, we will of course respect the rules of the Football League.
'A lot of effort and hard work has been done to reduce player costs over the last two years, but we have wanted to rebuild and challenge in this division at the same time, and we will continue to do that.'
The clubs will have their embargoes lifted at the end of the season if they can demonstrate they have stayed within the maximum permitted losses of £6million - £3m losses plus £3m covered by shareholder investment - for the current season.
RULES OF THE FFP EMBARGO
Clubs will be prohibited from registering any new professional players (permanent contract or loan) unless they have:
• 24 or fewer established players (players aged 21 or over that have made at least 5 starting appearances for the club).
Where clubs have fewer than 24 established players, they will only be permitted to sign players in the following circumstances (with the player in question being added to the club's list of established players regardless of his age or previous playing experience):
• Where the employee costs of a player being signed are less than £600,000 per annum (or pro-rata if signed on a shorter contract).
Where clubs have 24 established players, they will be permitted to trade on a 'one out, one in' basis but only if the employee costs of the player coming in to the club are no more than whichever is the lower amount of:
• 75 per cent of the equivalent costs of the player going out.
• Or a maximum of £600,000 per annum (or pro-rata if signed on shorter contract)
In addition:
• Clubs under an FFP embargo will be permitted to sign a goalkeeper on an emergency basis (in line with existing regulations).
• Clubs under an FFP embargo will not be permitted to pay transfer fees or compensation fees for professional players.
• Clubs under an FFP embargo will not be permitted to pay a loan fee to another club, they may only pay the player's wage (or a contribution towards it).
• For incoming players, clubs can only pay agents' fees as a benefit in kind to the player in question (as long as they do not exceed the £600,000 employee costs limit).

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