Leeds United are reportedly threatening to sue fellow relegation rivals Everton after they were charged with FFP breaches by the Premier League.
Everton were accused of breaching the league’s FFP (financial fair play) regulations last season, with the club being referred to an independent commission back in March.
However, whilst the allegations are yet to be fully proven, a number of English top-flight teams are now not only pushing for the investigation to be sped up but are considering launching lawsuits against the Merseyside club — Leeds being one of them.
While it looks as though the sides in question have failed in trying to fast-track a punishment before the end of the season, the Mail Sport claim they have learned Leeds and co. “believe they are entitled to compensation if the club are found guilty of breaching spending rules” and manage to avoid relegation.
As detailed by journalist Matt Hughes, the teams debating action against the Toffees include Leeds, Leicester and Nottingham Forest — all of which are currently facing the drop — as well as newly relegated Southampton and recently promoted Burnley.
Hughes reports that although all five of the clubs have formally registered their grievance, the supposed £300 million lawsuit would ultimately be brought by the two clubs who ended being relegated along with Southampton should Everton survive.
Furthermore, this £100m-per-club claim (each essentially covering the loss of income when playing in the Championship) could be followed by a separate complaint made by Burnley who were relegated from the Premier League last year.
In fact, Leeds and Burnley threatened legal action against Everton in 2022 amid suspicions that their three-year rolling losses of £372m financial regulations, but the case ultimately never materialised mainly due to Covid allowances.
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Although it seems unlikely a decision will be handed down before the end of the season, even if Leeds do go down it looks like they might have the incoming funds to recover and return to the top-flight in no time.
With Leeds hiring Sam Allardyce as their new manager with just two games left to lift themselves out of the relegation zone, they’ll be hoping he can pull off a similar kind of heroics as he has done at other clubs, having never taken a club down in his career.
We also recently asked the fans around Elland Road whether they think Big Sam is the man to keep the Whites up. Here’s what they had to say:
@thehootleeds Leeds Leeds Leeds 💛💙 #leedsunited #leeds #leedsunitededits #leedsunitedfans #foryou #premierleague #footballedits ♬ original sound – Thehootleeds
Featured Image — Wikimedia Commons/Leeds United/Everton
