"Annoyed" - Football finance expert makes Leeds United claim involving Leicester City | OneFootball

Dan Plumley thinks Leeds will be a little disappointed after it was ruled that Leicester would escape a punishment for alleged PSR breaches.

Football finance expert Dan Plumley believes Leeds United will be "annoyed" after learning that Leicester City's appeal against charges relating to alleged financial breaches had been upheld.

He made these comments to MOT Leeds News, going on to say that he believes clubs will need to accept there will be winners and losers from these regulations until they are changed.

In March, the Premier League referred Leicester to an Independent Commission for alleged Profit and Sustainability Rule breaches, during a three-year period that ended at the end of the 2022/23 financial year.

They were alleged to have breached the £105m loss limit - but the club appealed against this - appealing on the grounds that the Foxes had ceased to be a member of the English top flight when the accounting period for the 2022/23 season had ended, having been relegated.

This appeal has been upheld - and because of this - the Midlands club look set to escape a potential points deduction.

That is a huge boost for Leicester - and a blow for the Premier League who are clearly disappointed that the Foxes managed to escape punishment.

Dan Plumley believes Leeds United will be "annoyed" with Leicester City outcome

There had been talk about Leeds potentially breaching financial rules if they had been promoted at the end of last term, due to player bonuses that would have come with their return to the top level.

Even without these bonuses to pay out, the Whites clearly felt they needed to balance the books, with the likes of Archie Gray, Glen Kamara and Crysencio Summerville all leaving, as well as Georginio Rutter, although they were desperate to retain the latter and stop him from making the move to Brighton and Hove Albion.

Having balanced the books themselves, and with the club previously being the subject of PSR rumours, Plumley believes Leeds will be annoyed with the outcome of the Leicester case.

He told MOT Leeds News: "I think they’ll (Leeds) be a little bit annoyed, to be honest.

"It is a tricky one because these are the kinds of loopholes, workarounds and challenges with the difference in governance and regulation between the leagues.

"While you’ve got a position like that where you have two different sets of reporting mechanisms, clubs are looking to move dates around and clubs that are moving between leagues, these kinds of challenges were always likely to arise at some point.

"Certainly from Leeds United’s point of view given they were in the mix of clubs that got relegated within that time and the talk of legal challenges as well, to see a verdict like this come through when Leicester are not going to get any kind of punishment, I imagine they will be pretty annoyed.

"But again, that’s the reality of the challenge with the regulations themselves.

"There are always going to be winners and losers in any given scenario and this won’t be the first time that a few clubs feel slightly upset. You’ve just got to accept that reality while we’re in a period of flux with the regulations and what it could become in the future."

Leeds United can be pleased with their summer 2024 financial decisions

The decision to sell Archie Gray was a painful one - but they probably needed to do this to balance the books.

Sometimes, tough decisions need to be taken and this is one they probably needed to take.

They managed to replace him with Jayden Bogle - and many of those who have left have been replaced adequately.

With this in mind, Leeds are in a strong position to push for promotion again and you feel it's only a matter of time before they return to the top level.

There may be some annoyance about the Leicester decision, but if there was, they probably would have moved on from that by now.