Points deduction plunges Reading closer to relegation zone

Reading have been plunged into the Sky Bet Championship relegation battle after being hit by an immediate six-point deduction under the EFL's financial rules.

The Royals have dropped from 46 points to 40, leaving them just one above the drop zone as a result of the penalty.

The sanction relates to the club’s failure to meet an agreed budget following an earlier breach of the profit and sustainability limits in 2021. The initial breach carried a six-point penalty with a further six points suspended until the current campaign.

Despite the club’s best efforts to comply with rigorous cost-cutting measures, they have accepted falling short and now face "a huge fight" to stay up.

The independent club financial review panel, overseeing a case for the first time in the EFL, determined that Reading have not generated enough money from player sales and were relying on a proposed deal that had not been completed by a 1 March deadline to satisfy their commitments.

A statement from Reading said: "Despite radical changes implemented at first-team level and 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 that it has not sufficiently satisfied certain elements of the planned budget.

"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.

"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