Okay so I know I've been a bit of a party pooper of late but I've done a bit more reading on the FA case and criteria, and am now feeling more positive about the outcome of the Hearing next week. I put my reasons for the change of heart in my last reply to Congleton's 'OH NO!! Please don't let this be true!!' thread this morning so forgive me for largely repeating it here. I just felt that opening another thread might make the reasoning more visible and give those negatively affected by the the media speculation the chance to forget it and get back to enjoying the football in the final week of an amazing season. I've now listened to the Sun journalist Custis explaining the background to his exclusive. What he's saying is that he's been chatting to an FA insider and been left in no doubt that the FA believe: "There's no question QPR have broken the rules. They know it as well. The only debate is what to do about it. "If they aren't found guilty you might as well scrap the rules about third-party owners." Also the FA source has made clear that the maximum sanction is an undisclosed fine and/or a 15 point deduction. So that strongly suggests the Sun is right - but right about what? The FA would not have charged us with breaching those 7 regulations after a lengthy investigation if they didn't believe QPR were guilty - we know all that already so no great revelation there. What is a revelation for us (the FA would have had to have informed Rangers reps in advance) is the level of sanction applicable. The fact that in their protests about the Sun and media speculation, neither the FA nor Rangers have disputed maximum sanction. So again, no great revelation there either. However, what the protests against the Sun are about is the way it presented the story, like it's a done deal: Rangers will (definitely) be docked 15 points. This is misleading and now appears very unlikely for the following reasons. There are two levels to these hearings: 1. is the accused guilty of the charges as put; and 2. if so, what is their case for mitigation (in other words can the club convince the inquiry that something less than the maximum punishment is appropriate in this case?). It seems to me that we're probably guilty as charged; and that our future hangs on our reps ability to present a case for mitigation sufficient to reduce a points deduction so as not to preclude automatic promotion (e.g. zero to 5 points). If this is the case we would surely argue that any points deduction that prevented promotion to the premier league would effectively become an additional financial sanction to the tune of ã80 million plus. This would clearly be ott in this case - and a simple increase on the level of fine would be a just outcome! So, you lot, you could yet be right, minimal if any points deduction - and promotion (if the team are still up for it) to the prem! If you knew all this already, my apologies for wasting your time.
Cheers for this Brixton, I keep changing my tune and logic about the outcome. Where I am at the moment is - if the charges were that significant that the likely penalty was a hefty points deduction it would have happened by now. Imagine the impact of that outcome now - we appeal the decision, the play offs and automatic promotion places are thrown into chaos; complete nightmare for the FA. Also if they decide to deduct the points from the start of NEXT season, there would be challenges from clubs in the Championship who would have benefited if the deduction had happened in the current season. For these reasons, I see us getting a big fine and / or a nominal points deduction.
I can't see how the offence(s) would amount to the appropriate fine PLUS prem money that would buy Torres AND Carroll ! Surely they can't prevent us going up and damage us to that extent...
