The Football League has announced that Fulham, along with Bournemouth and Nottingham Forest, will be sanctioned after breaching Financial Fair Play (FFP) regulations.
“exceeding the maximum permitted deviation of £6m – consisting of a maximum adjusted loss of £3m plus a further maximum of £3m of shareholder investment.”
Fulham and Nottingham Forest will be subject to an FFP embargo – possibly in the form of a transfer ban – for the remainder of the season while Bournemouth, who won the Championship last season, will be subject to a financial sanction.
Millwall also fell foul of the regulations but will not face any further sanction following the club’s relegation to League 1 as they are not deemed to have gained any significant advantage.
A Fulham club statement read: “
Following the announcement made today by the Football League, Fulham Football Club can confirm that it faces a transfer embargo during the January 2016 window.
The embargo arises as the Club made an adjusted loss greater than the £6m limit allowed by the Football League in the year following relegation.
The Football League has since recognised this limit is low, especially for clubs recently relegated with Premier League overheads in place, and the limit has now increased to £13m per annum.
Unfortunately Fulham’s embargo falls in the final year of the previous limit, but the Club does not anticipate being in breach in future years.
The action imposed by the League has been anticipated since the summer, which saw a sustained period of investment in the team with that understanding. The purchase of players such as Ross McCormack and Matt Smith (in summer 2014), to enable the Club to compete effectively in the League, were the result of that investment.
The period of embargo will be imposed during January 2016 and the Club will be able to fully trade again in the summer 2016 transfer window.
It will still be possible for the Club to trade within the set FFP limits, and therefore the potential of recruiting players is still something that the Club will look to do, if the right players are available.”
