Simon Hayhow

EFL, you can’t kill a dead body! My #SWFC column thestar.co.uk/sport/football…

Well said, @SophyRidgeSky. 👏 Granted, Sophy is a Sheffield Wednesday fan, but it’s still fantastic to see + hear people with a platform talking about the double-standards that exist within English football. 👊 (Credit - @RidgeandFrost) #SWFC #LTFC #EFL

It’s time for @BBCPanorama to pull back the curtain on the @FA and @PremierLeague. Selective "justice," shifting goalposts, and a clear agenda to cripple specific historic clubs while protecting the elite. This isn't regulation; it’s an execution. Football deserves the truth.

Sheffield Wednesday's points deductions: Chelsea slammed as punishment emerges 🗣️ Read more 🔗 👇 #SWFC #CFC

Well done to @SophyRidgeSky - it is so accurate and shows disparity within the rules of the game. We need to carry this fight on. Not just for @swfc but the game itself. What has happened to us, could happen to anyone. The punishments are wrong as is the focus of them.

Chelsea have been given a suspended one-year transfer ban and fined £10.75m after admitting historical breaches of Premier League rules Sheffield Wednesday fan @SophyRidgeSky reflects on how the punishment compares to the 18-point deduction received by her team this season

Good to see Sophy taking Sheffield Wednesday's plight to a different audience.

Went on a bit of a rant on telly comparing how Chelsea & Sheffield Wednesday have been dealt with

Went on a bit of a rant on telly comparing how Chelsea & Sheffield Wednesday have been dealt with #swfc

Quite remarkable that Chelsea breaking rules to sign seven players (+ three unknown) who during their respective times at the club helped win a Champions League, the Europa League twice, two Premier League titles, two FA Cups and a League Cup didn't merit a points deduction

Everton overspent by £19.5m on a stadium and were docked 10 points. Chelsea made illegal payments to help sign players and got a fine. The Premier League is the most corrupt organisation you will ever come across. Total disgrace.

Let’s get this right Everton gets a POINTS deduction Forest gets a POINTS deduction And Chelsea .. just a slap on the risk😡 Wow I know exactly why this money league is so corrupt at its finest no real punishment here people 10.75m is absolutely pocket change for them sweet FA to them 😳

Good result for Chelsea: club fined only £10m and given a suspended transfer ban after Premier League found 36 separate undisclosed payments totalling £47.5m made “to 12 persons or entities on behalf of the club”. Lenient sanctions. No sporting sanctions. Yet these are serious offences, as the sanction agreement between the PL and Chelsea makes clear, stating “they were not only obvious and deliberate breaches of the rules but also because they involved deception and concealment in relation to financial matters”. Yet no points deductions. Just a manageable (if record) fine and a “suspended one-year first-team player transfer ban (suspended for two years)”. Surely they gained a sporting advantage by recruiting such players? So surely a sporting sanction should be in order? And where's the consistency? In 2008, Luton Town received a 10-point deduction for irregularities in dealing with agents (nb from FA). There still could be some further sanctions by the FA following its "ongoing investigation". PL points to mitigating factors: current owners Clearlake/Todd Boehly in May 2022 voluntarily self-reported potential historical breaches from the Roman Abramovich era. Club co-operated extensively and helped provide (with others) 10,000 documents for PL investigation. PL established “that between 2011 and 2018, undisclosed payments by third parties associated with the club were made to players, unregistered agents and other third parties”. Payments related to the purchases of players including Eden Hazard, Willian, Samuel Eto’o, David Luiz, Andre Schurrle and Nemanja Matic - there is no suggestion any were aware of the illicit payments. The detailed work of the investigators – and level of Clearlake’s co-operation – is impressive. The sanctions less so. It is a legitimate debate: should a club be punished for offences under a previous owner? Yes, most fans of other clubs would scream. It's a deterrent. And the value of those players' contribution and subsequent sales arguably still benefits the club. PL also investigated “potential breaches of the Premier League’s Youth Development Rules, committed by a former senior employee, relating to the club’s registration of Academy players between 2019 and 2022”. Again, self-reported by the club, this time in 2025. Chelsea punished with £750,000 fine and immediate nine-month ban from registering academy players from PL and EFL clubs. #CFC

As we knew all along, one rule for one...

So no points deduction, no transfer ban, and just a small fine which they can easily afford. Yep, nothing dodgy here at all.

Can somebody please explain to me why Chelsea get a fine and a transfer ban (which won’t affect them as they have 700 players) But clubs like Everton and Nottingham Forest get a points deduction? Am I missing something?

Here's the link on iPlayer: bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episod…

Announce an additional 15 point deduction for Sheffield Wednesday #swfc

Points Deductions: Everton 10 Leicester 6 Notts Forest 4 Juventus 15 Sheffield Wed 12 Reading 18 Rangers FC 10 Portsmouth 10 Chelsea £10m fine… 🥴

Meanwhile Sheffield Wednesday will be docked another FIFTEEN points by the EFL next season for **checks notes** not paying £15m to the mental man who ran the club into administration and nearly extinction