Trying to look ahead and make sense of what may lie before us, what if A) We're relegated B) We choose to contest / refuse to pay whatever FFP fine the football league say we are liable for C) They bar us from the league How would that work? Would they give our place in the Championship to the highest placed relegated Championship team or the losing finalist in the league one playoffs, and do the same with the other two lower leagues? If we are in the process of challenging the validity of the fine how can they do the fixture list for next season as we may be vindicated (or not?) An awful lot of teams may be affected by whether we suffer a demotion or not, of course all we need to do is avoid the beastly relegation thingy to render above scenarios redundant...
I doubt they could penalise us if we were appealing any fine in court so I think we'd take our place in the Championship. If we lost that appeal during the season but were heading for promotion, now that would cause some head scratching (although I'd pretty much settle for that dilemma at this stage).
If we are relegated and the FL don't accept the validity of the accounts that have been filed with Companies House, my understanding is that it would be up to them to question them and have them declared invalid before imposing any fine. In which scenario, the threat of FFP sanctions would be the least of our worries. It's highly unlikely that the accounts would be thrown out though, given that the authorities and auditors appear happy with them.
IMO I really can not see how the FL could challenge the accounts unless they have evidence that something illegal has been done by the owners/directors and I would have thought that would then have to be referred to the Board of Corporate Enforcement or whatever it is called in the UK or the Fraud Squad........both would have to have sufficient evidence to even start an enquiry and prima facie the accounts are fine, the £60m write off is perfectly acceptable and has been shown correctly in the accounts.
