Championship

READING face a scrap to avoid relegation from the Championship after being deducted SIX POINTS for financial breaches.The Royals were docked six points for breaching financial regulations last season, with another six points suspended until the current campaign.
Reading have been hit with a six-point deduction for financial rule breachesCredit: Getty
But they have now been hit with the further punishment after they accepted they have not been able to comply with the EFL business plan despite making “radical” changes across the board.
Reading confirmed the news in a statement.
It read: “We can confirm that the club has accepted a six-point penalty which has been applied immediately following the club’s failure to fully satisfy a business plan agreed after a historical breach of the EFL’s Profit & Sustainability limits.”
“The points deduction will be applied to our total with immediate effect.”
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The blow sees them move from 18th to 20th in the Championship table.
Reading now sit just ONE point above 21st-placed Huddersfield and six points ahead of bottom-placed Wigan.
The club further explained the deduction, writing: “In November 2021, the club were issued with a six-point deduction for a cumulative breach of the regulations – with a further six-point penalty suspended until 2022-23.
“At the time of the original breach, it was agreed with the League this further six-point penalty was due to be applied if the club could not meet the demands of an agreed business plan for 2022-23.
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“Despite radical changes implemented right across the structure of the business to its very core – and a rigid adherence to a strict league-monitored wage structure and transfer embargo – the club accepts it has not sufficiently satisfied certain elements of the planned budget.
“As a result, the independent Club Financial Review Panel has been unable to ratify that the club has met its forecast for compliance.”
Reading further detailed their attempts to stay within the rules in a lengthy statement.
It read: “Back in November, we vowed that lessons would be learned.
“And the strides which have been made have been significant; it is evident in our methods, procedures and actions over recent years – and most notably throughout this season – that the mistakes of the past have been understood, corrected and won’t be made again.
“In abiding by the EFL rules, the club have not spent a penny on transfer fees since the summer of 2020 and have not paid a loan fee to any club since the summer of 2019.
“Our squad has been entirely rebuilt from free transfers, free loanees and Academy graduates.
“Every single professional contract proposed has been scrutinised and ratified by the EFL before it has been offered.
“We have operated under a mutually-agreed capped wage bill imposed following our breach of the Profit and Sustainability regulations – our wage bill has been almost halved since the start of the 2019-20 season.
“We have worked closely with the EFL and the independent Club Financial Review Unit throughout the process in our aims to achieve the targets set out in the agreed business plan and every reasonable effort has been made to construct a competitive squad of players whilst avoiding further punishment.
“However, despite the substantial progress we have undeniably made and the lessons that have indeed been learned, as promised, we accept that the situation was never going to be easily or quickly fixed.
“The progress made has been recognised.
“It has been agreed with the EFL that the club’s restrictive embargo will effectively end this summer.
“The club will, for the first time in years, be able to act sensibly in the transfer market – within a budget currently being reviewed by the Club Financial Review Unit and compliant with Profit & Sustainability boundaries, but free of the strictest limitations which have proven problematic in trying to piece together a team capable of challenging in the Championship and a squad tasked with taking this club towards a brighter more self-sustainable future.
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“However, in the here and now, we find ourselves with another huge fight on our hands.”
Reading have been in the Championship since getting relegated from the Premier League in 2013. More

LIAM ROSENIOR’S future as Hull City boss is in serious doubt.SunSport understands the Tigers’ owner Acun Ilicali is considering axing the 38-year-old at the end of the season.
Liam Rosenior is in danger of being sackedCredit: Getty
It is also understood that the Turkish entrepreneur is already sizing up a replacement, with G.D. Chaves manager Vitor Campelos on his radar.
Having left Derby on September 27, Rosenior took over at Hull on a two-year-deal on November 3, overseeing a steady rise up the Championship table and away from danger.
Rosenior has taken charge of 21 league games since his dugout debut on November 5, winning six, losing five and drawing 10.
They are currently in 17th – nine points above the relegation zone with seven games of the campaign remaining.
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However, Ilicali is reportedly doubtful that Rosenior is the right man to take the club forward.
Target Campelos, 47, guided Chaves back to the Portuguese top flight last season – and are now sitting comfortably in mid-table.
Campelos has caught the eye following several impressive results, including away wins over Sporting Lisbon and Braga.
Ilicali is already renowned for knee-jerk managerial sackings at Hull, getting rid of Georgian coach Shota Arveladze just EIGHT hours before their clash with Luton back in September.
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Arveladze – who was hired on January 2022 shortly after Ilicali’s purchase of the club – was binned after just 10 league games this season, winning three of them.
Ilicali is also looking to invest in another club to act as a feeder for Hull, with top flight Irish side Shelbourne FC – managed by ex-Chelsea star Damien Duff – being monitored.
Owner Acun Ilicali is mulling a change in managerCredit: PA More

HUDDERSFIELD’S incoming owner Kevin M Nagle wants a new director of football for a revamp.American tycoon Nagle, 68, is due to take control before the end of the season and the Terriers are already after a transfer supremo.
Huddersfield Manager Neil Warnock is under pressure and could be replaced under the new ownership and director of football
Leigh Bromby is in the role but ex-Stoke technical director Mark Cartwright is tipped to replace him.
Cartwright would need to be persuaded to return from Florida where he is the United Soccer League’s sporting director.
The new recruit would also pick the next first-team boss — but that will depend on which division the Championship strugglers are in.
Huddersfield currently sit in 22nd place in the league and will need to fight hard to stay up.
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Cartwright spent seven years with Stoke City between 2012 and 2019.
During his time with the club The Potters achieved three top half finishes inside the Premier League.
Cartwright left his role in November 2019 once the Staffordshire club had spent a season adrift in the Championship.
He was part of the team responsible for the signings of Barcelona’s Bojan and former Bayern Munich midfielder Xherdan Shaqiri.
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Nagle, the man in charge of any appointment, is also the owner of USL Championship side Sacramento Republic.
The Terrier’s face Watford away in their next league game after an impressive 4-2 victory over Middlesborough last time out. More

ROB EDWARDS walks across a pitch in Dunstable and is met by a boy wearing a Luton kit sobbing.The child has played for a Hatters youth team that has been knocked out of the nationwide Utilita Kids Cup by Watford.
Luton boss Rob Edwards is trying to steer the Hatters to promotion
A young Hatter is sobbing in front of Rob Edwards after losing to Watford
It illustrates how deep the bitter rivalry runs between the clubs and is doubly upsetting because these players have had their dreams of playing in a Wembley final dashed this year.
Luton boss Edwards knows a thing or two about being left disappointed by Watford — having incredibly been sacked by the club after just TEN Championship games earlier this season.
He sits the Under-11s team down into a circle before crouching down to speak to them.
He said: “They were devastated. I’d have felt the same at their age. All of us want to win and they were so desperate to but lost 1-0 to Watford in the quarter-finals. There were one or two of them in tears.
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“But I said, ‘I like that. You’re all desperate to win.’ I then asked, ‘Did you give everything and try your hardest?’ They had. That’s all you can do. You can never guarantee a win.
“I say the same to my lads — and the one thing you can guarantee from my team is we’ll give it our best.
“These young boys did that too and they’ll look back and be better for it. They’re not used to losing so it’s a new experience.”
Everything has been a new experience for Edwards, 40, in a whirlwind management career that is only into its second season.
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Rob Edwards consoles the young Hatters after their defeat to Watford
He led Forest Green Rovers to the League Two title and promotion last year before his ridiculously brief time at Vicarage Road.
Luton, though, turned to him after Nathan Jones quit for Southampton and today he welcomes the club that axed him to Kenilworth Road with the Hatters in far better shape than the Hornets.
His team sit comfortably fourth and even have second-placed Sheffield United within their sights.
Meanwhile stuttering Watford are five points adrift of the play-offs and on to their THIRD manager in Chris Wilder after sacking Edwards’ successor Slaven Bilic.
Asked to sum up his brief time at Vicarage Road, Edwards said: “It was a great opportunity for me and my assistant Richie Kyle. 
“There’s always a risk with any job you take but I wouldn’t change anything. We believed in ourselves and were frustrated with how it panned out.
“When Watford decided to part company with us, we were a point behind the play-offs. We’d only lost twice but, frustratingly, drew five of them.
“At that moment in time, we were trying to change the culture. It was a team that had become used to losing in the Premier League and we were picking up the pieces. 
Rob Edwards was trying to change a losing culture at Watford
Rob Edwards was liked by Watford fans but was sacked after just two defeats
“I felt it was all starting to come together but the club decided they wanted to go in another direction. That’s history now. 
“However I’m proud of what we did — but now even prouder to be at a brilliant club in Luton Town.”
Edwards did have to consider the ramifications of taking the Hatters job as a recent Watford boss and discussed it with the club at length during the interview process.
But his mind was firmly fixed on making the move after meeting the Luton owners.
He said: “What I saw was a group of honest people at a well-run club. I also saw a team of hard-working players who were used to winning and being at the right end of the table. They’re also more talented than people give them credit for.
“When we took over, we were 10th or 11th and had our first game against Middlesbrough. We were right in the mix so it was a team who were competing for something.
“It’s not something that happens often when you think about a manager coming in during the season. So it was a case of us just continuing the good work.”
Luton boss Rob Edwards caught up with our man Justin Allen on a freezing cold day in nearby Dunstable to chat about his whirlwind management career
Luton boss Rob Edwards has continued the good work from the Nathan Jones era
In his 18 league games in charge, he has won 11, drawn four and lost three.
Edwards has won promotion to the Premier League before. 
He was in a Blackpool team as a centre-half that won the 2010 play-off final against Cardiff under Ian Holloway.
And Edwards admits going up this season would be almost as big an achievement when you consider the size of the clubs.
He said: “It certainly will be in terms of how people perceive the clubs from outside.
“The difference would be: Blackpool were favourites to go down the year we went up — whereas, because of the great work of Nathan and the group last season in reaching the play-offs, expectations are higher.”
Ironically, the manager that left a lasting impression on Edwards was Watford legend Graham Taylor, who gave him his Premier League debut for Aston Villa against Middlesbrough when he was aged 20.
He said: “Graham was an incredible human being and manager. I know how strong his links are with Watford but I’ll be forever thankful to him for giving me that opportunity.
Rob Edwards and Luton star Jordan Clark with the Luton U11s team
“The things I took from him were his honesty. He could be quite brutal in his honesty but 20-plus years ago things were different in terms of how you would communicate and deal with people.
“But he was brave and wanted to play young players. He did that throughout his career so is someone I’ve a heck of a lot of respect and admiration for.
“There were a lot of coaches at Villa who got us to the point of reaching the first team such as Kevin MacDonald, Tony McAndrew and Gordon Cowans — but Graham was the man brave enough to put me in.
“I picked up a bad injury and wasn’t able to get back in at Villa. But had I not had that chance from Graham, I’d not be here managing Luton today!”
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Meanwhile, Watford made Wembley to face Sheffield United ahead of the Championship play-off final. How Edwards and the Hatters would love to be there.
*ROB EDWARDS was speaking at the Utilita Kids Cup tournament, which in partnership with the EFL, sees 12,000 under-11 boys and under-13 girls competing across the country in six-a-side games to play in a Wembley final.The girls’ showpiece, between AFC Wimbledon and Carlisle, will be held tomorrow ahead of the Papa John’s Trophy final while the boys are due to battle it out ahead of the EFL play-off finals for each relevant division. More