Woodgate voices his support in EFL battle
JONATHAN Woodgate says he’ll back Steve Gibson in the Boro chairman’s battle against financial rule breakers in the Championship.
Woodgate was quizzed on the latest developments in Boro’s fight for financial fairness after Saturday’s win over Reading.
That game came at the end of a week in which it was revealed Boro are preparing legal action against the EFL for failing to enforce its own financial rules. Boro are said to have sent a legal letter to the league and are ‘preparing to sue’.
Boro are unhappy that clubs have been able to allegedly exploit a loophole in the EFL’s rules which has allowed them to sell their own stadiums to themselves in order to be financially compliant.
Derby County are one of the accused clubs but owner Mel Morris insists the Rams have done nothing wrong.
Woodgate was quizzed on the issue by BBC Tees after Saturday’s game. He said: “I don’t want to get involved, I’ll let the chairman deal with that. I’m the manager of the football club. Whatever the chairman does I’ll back him.”
Derby chief Morris pleaded innocence on Sky Sports on Friday ahead of the game against Cardiff.
He said: “Obviously Steve has an issue and he is trying to pursue that. I’m not sure what the issue is.
“What we did was within the regulations. End of story. Absolutely (done nothing wrong).”
Morris used a separate company he controls to buy County’s Pride Park ground for £80m with a deal to lease it back. It had previously been listed as an asset on the club’s books valued at £41m.
That meant Derby were able to report a pre-tax profit of £14.6m when they were on course for a loss.
Losses over £13m per year over a three-year period constitute a breach of the EFL’s profit and sustainability rules.
National reports over the weekend claimed the EFL are planning to take action to stop clubs taking advantage of the loophole. The matter will be discussed at a meeting of Championship clubs later this month.