| Hull City 15:54 - Jul 6 with 2385 views | MattFinish |
I’ve just returned from the States with the Orange Army and I’ve just seen the Hull City breach of Financial Fair Play (FFP) rules debacle.
This is absolute B.S. We got points deductions and the biggest financial hit in the history of football for spying on a training session and Hull City get away with financial cheating and not for the first time.
We will have gained little or no advantage from the three spying attempts, whereas Hull’s bending of financial rules has seen them promoted to the PL and a £200m jackpot.
If Hull had been found guilty of a breach they would have faced a 6 point deduction and monetary fine, which would have been minimal judging by PSR breach fines just dished out to Aston Villa, Chelsea, Newcastle and Nottingham Forest
Villa have been fined £19.4m, of which £12.9m is suspended pending their continued compliance over a three-year period that began with an initial fine in July last year. Chelsea have been fined £2.6m, of which £1.7m is suspended. Forest must pay £2.2m, and Newcastle £2.6m. Slightly out of proportion to our £200m loss.
But let’s concentrate on Hull. They went into the season knowing what their financial overspend was and that promotion to the PL would push them over the PSR limits due to player promotion bonuses. So by financially cheating they gained promotion which occurred before the 30 June deadline then just sold players to wipe out the deficit. What did it matter? They’d already got promoted and if they didn’t get promoted, they’d still be within the limits. It was a win-win and they won £200m.
But looking at the figures something does not add up. Under the FA PSR Rules the amount of money a club can lose over the three years is £105 million, or £39 million if the club has spent any of the previous three seasons outside of the Premier League.
So, Hull could make a £39m loss over a 3 year period. Hull overspent by £19m in 2023-24, and around £10m in 2024-25 which, before you count things like infrastructure, academy and community, suggests an overspend in 2025-26 somewhere in the region of £17m making a total of £46m, which by my reckoning makes an overspend of £7m.
They sold Ivor Pandur to Rangers for £6m and Aidon Shehu to Panathinaikos for £2.5m. But they have bought Jack Buckland for Rangers from £3m which by my reckoning makes them still £1.5m over the limit.
But this is not Hull’s only breach of Financial Fair Play rules.
In the 2009/10 season Geovanni left Hull City resulting in a long-running legal wrangle between City and HMRC. The issue surrounded the payment of £440,800 to Joniere Limited, an offshore company based in the British Virgin Islands, between December 2008 and July 2010. Hull maintained that the sum was justifiably paid to cover an image rights agreement for Geovanni, but HMRC successfully countered that by claiming the outlay was “earnings for the purposes of PAYE and national insurance” and that the Tigers were therefore “liable to account for tax on that sum.”
In 2015 Hull breached UEFA FFP. Following their Europa League campaign, Hull City was investigated by UEFA and subsequently fined £145,000 in February 2015 for breaking European Financial Fair Play break-even rules.
In September 2017 Hull City breached Premier League ticketing rules by not offering concessionary prices to children and senior citizens in certain parts of the KCOM Stadium.
In July 2025 the EFL hit Hull with a punitive three-window transfer fee restriction under Regulation 52.6. This was triggered because the club accumulated over 30 days of late payments to other clubs—specifically including an outstanding £1 million loan fee to Aston Villa for player Louie Barry. The penalty initially blocked Hull City from paying any incoming transfer or loan fees until January 2027.
So, this is a club that continually and deliberately breach football FFP and PSR rules but have received less of a punishment than we have for 3 failed attempts to gain an advantage through spying on training sessions.
It’s time the ruling bodies sorted their sh!t out
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| Hull City on 16:05 - Jul 6 with 2328 views | arfurdent |
Basically Saints got punished because Gibson had mates and influence over the EFL |  |
| So Long and Thanks for all the Fish |
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| Hull City on 16:17 - Jul 6 with 2276 views | dirk_doone |
| Hull City on 16:05 - Jul 6 by arfurdent |
Basically Saints got punished because Gibson had mates and influence over the EFL |
Yes, the EFL's rule is a weird one anyway, which doesn't seem to apply anywhere else in football. I notice that in the World Cup, teams' final training sessions have to be open to the public. In fact, it would be an offence not to let people watch.
Bielsa was awarded the FIFA Fair Play award at the end of his 'spygate' season, which shows just how seriously viewing other teams' training sessions is normally regarded, when Gibson isn't involved. [Post edited 6 Jul 16:25]
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| Hull City on 20:20 - Jul 6 with 2053 views | SAINTBobby |
Good analysis. This why our punishment was DISPROPORTIONATE. |  | | |
| Hull City on 20:39 - Jul 6 with 2030 views | FredTheLeg |
Hull didn't actually breach the rules did they? The financial rules are based on full accounting periods and I thought they managed to raise the relevant funds before the end of the most recent one. | | | |
| Hull City on 22:15 - Jul 6 with 1950 views | MattFinish |
| Hull City on 20:39 - Jul 6 by FredTheLeg |
Hull didn't actually breach the rules did they? The financial rules are based on full accounting periods and I thought they managed to raise the relevant funds before the end of the most recent one. |
Not when you add in the Buckland fee
Regardless of this it’s ridiculous that the deadline is 5.5 weeks after the end of the season. A club can break the financial constraints to try and get promoted then have 5 weeks to adjust their finances accordingly
We’re at fault. We should have forgotten about spying on training sessions and overspent instead and got a 25 goal a season centre forward. We’d probably have got automatic promotion and could then take a 6 point deduction and minimal financial hit which we could have paid out of our £200m windfall
Hull don’t give a sh!t. They know they’re likely to get relegated but whatever happens they are guaranteed three years parachute payments
It’s a joke | | | |
| Hull City on 12:17 - Jul 7 with 1723 views | Ifonly |
| Hull City on 22:15 - Jul 6 by MattFinish |
Not when you add in the Buckland fee
Regardless of this it’s ridiculous that the deadline is 5.5 weeks after the end of the season. A club can break the financial constraints to try and get promoted then have 5 weeks to adjust their finances accordingly
We’re at fault. We should have forgotten about spying on training sessions and overspent instead and got a 25 goal a season centre forward. We’d probably have got automatic promotion and could then take a 6 point deduction and minimal financial hit which we could have paid out of our £200m windfall
Hull don’t give a sh!t. They know they’re likely to get relegated but whatever happens they are guaranteed three years parachute payments
It’s a joke |
"We’re at fault."
You're right about that. Hull, by all accounts, have followed all the rules and so will not be punished. Saints didn't follow them and we all know what happened then. Personally I don't blame Hull for being better run than Saints and working out how to play within the rules. We should learn from them. Good luck to them in the PL next year, they'll need it. | | | |
| Hull City on 13:14 - Jul 7 with 1657 views | PatfromPoole |
The thing I find a bit staggering is that Hull had 3 consecutive transfer window embargos, and very nearly went down under Selles the previous season.
How the hell did they get promoted?
The current manager must be a genius. |  |
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| Hull City on 13:55 - Jul 7 with 1628 views | SonicBoom |
The reason there is less outrage is that people can grasp the concept of spying. It's very simple, a man behind a tree trying to gain an advantage.
Most people can't grasp the concept of financial mis-management. It's too complex and they immediately switch off. |  | | |
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| Hull City on 18:19 - Jul 7 with 1520 views | Ifonly |
| Hull City on 13:55 - Jul 7 by SonicBoom |
The reason there is less outrage is that people can grasp the concept of spying. It's very simple, a man behind a tree trying to gain an advantage.
Most people can't grasp the concept of financial mis-management. It's too complex and they immediately switch off. |
Maybe the reason there is less outrage is because they didn't break any rules, so there is nothing to complain about. | | | |
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