Every Premier League Club Charged with Breaching PSR

Previously, the Premier League’s financial rules were known as Financial Fair Play (FFP), but they have now been replaced by Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR). Every Premier League club who has spent the last three seasons in the top-flight can’t lose more than £105 million. This doesn’t include some other club costs, including stadium infrastructure, the women’s team and the academy.

These rules have proved to be a problem for a few clubs in the last couple of years. Most notably, Everton and Nottingham Forest breached PSR last season, resulting in points deductions tallying up to 12 for both clubs. Here is a closer look at every club that has breached PSR and how all 20 teams in the Premier League avoided a points deduction in the 2024/25 campaign.

Everton

In November 2023, Everton were deducted 10 points – the harshest punishment in the history of the Premier League. The three-year assessment period which finished at the end of the 2021/22 season found that the Toffees had lost £124.5m – £19.5 million over the allowed limit. This took Everton into the relegation zone, moving from 14th to 19th in the table.

Everton appealed the sanction, arguing that their overspending and continued losses over the three-year period were due several factors. Firstly, the war in Ukraine saw the club cut ties with Alisher Usmanov’s company USM, who provided significant funding for the club, especially for the new stadium at Bramley Moore Dock. Also, borrowed money from their former owner Farhad Moshiri was put forward as another mitigating factor.

Finally, they argued that the impact of Covid-19 meant that selling players was more difficult than ever. In February 2024, the appeal was successful, and reduced the deduction to six points. In a statement, the Premier League said:

Second Breach

For the three-year period to 2022/23, Everton breached PSR for a second time. In April 2024, it was announced that they were given a deduction of two points. This time, the Toffees were in breach of the rules by £16.6 million. The breach was significant but was reduced to only two points due to three mitigating factors:

• Everton had already suffered a six-point deduction earlier in the season.
• The sponsorship deal with Usmanov’s company USM had been suspended due to the war in Ukraine.
• They cooperated with the Premier League – admitting their guilt early.

A month later, it was announced that Everton would not appeal the second sanction. Sean Dyche’s side finished 15th in the Premier League table – 14 points clear of the relegation zone.

Leicester City

Leicester City were charged by the Premier League in March 2024 for breaching the £105 loss limit for the three-year period up to 30th June 2023. However, at the time of the charge, the Foxes were in the Championship. As a member of the English Football League for over nine months, they were able to avoid a points deduction.

As per the Premier League’s rules, clubs can apply an accounting reference point from 31st May to 31st July. Leicester applied their reference point on 30th June –16 days after they were no longer deemed a top-flight club, following their relegation to the Championship in the 2022/23 season. The Independent Appeal Board provided the following reasons for not giving the Foxes a points deduction in September 2024:

In response to the Appeal Board’s decision, the Premier League said they were “surprised and disappointed”. With 16 matches to go in the 2024/25 campaign, the Foxes occupy a spot in the relegation zone with 14 points.

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Nottingham Forest

As already mentioned, Premier League clubs are allowed to lose £105 million over a three-year period. For the accounting period up to 2022/23, though, Forest spent two years in the Championship, where the permitted losses for each year is £13 million. As a result, the Tricky Trees were only allowed to lose up to £61 million up to 30th June 2023. The two-time European champions breached this limit by £34.5 million – 77% more than Everton’s breach.

Led by Nick De Marco KC, Forest argued that the delayed £47.5 million sale of Brennan Johnson was the main reason for the club breaking the Premier League’s rules. The Welsh forward joined Tottenham Hotspur in September 2023 – a few months after the 30th June deadline for teams to stay within the league’s permitted loss limit.

Forest argued that they could have sold Johnson before the accounting deadline – receiving offers around the £30 to £35 million mark. Waiting until the end of the transfer window allowed the club to secure a much higher fee for Johnson, which was particularly important given that he was an academy player, and selling him provided the club with “pure profit” on the accounting sheet.

The East Midlands club noted six mitigation points in their defence, including the delayed Johnson sale. One of the defences that was accepted was the club’s “exceptional cooperation” with the Premier League. This reduced the sanction from a six-point deduction to a four-point deduction.

How Clubs Avoided Points Deductions in 2024/25 Premier League Season

After four separate charges were announced during the 2023/24 Premier League season, it was expected that more would follow in the 2024/25 campaign. However, on 14th January 2025, it was announced that all 20 top-flight clubs had avoided a PSR breach. This was perhaps unsurprising given that clubs were selling players frequently ahead of the 30th June deadline this summer, with academy graduates often sacrificed as their sale is banked as “pure profit” on the balance sheet.

Examples of this include Chelsea academy graduates Conor Gallagher and Ian Maatsen, who were both sold to Atletico Madrid and Aston Villa, respectively. This was to balance the Blues’ books following Todd Boehly’s £1.5 billion spend on players since his consortium took over the club in 2022. They also found other ways of steering clear of a PSR breach – mostly by selling assets to themselves, most notably the Copthorne and Millennium hotels for a combined total of £76.5 million.

Newcastle United also frantically sold academy graduates ahead of the PSR deadline on 30th June. This included Elliot Anderson and Yankuba Minteh, who were sold to Forest and Brighton & Hove Albion, respectively, for over £60 million combined.

Clubs also navigated the deadline through mutually beneficial deals. An example of this was Omari Kellyman’s £19 million transfer to Chelsea, which was announced on 29th June 2024 – a day after Maatsen made the switch to Villa for £37.5 million. Bringing in a player allowed clubs to amortise the fee over the length of the contract, while selling an academy player allowed teams to bank the profit in its entirety.

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Statistics courtesy of Transfermarkt and Premier League – correct as of 22/01/25.