I think the vast majority of football supporters have a tendency to believe in conspiracy theories where their team and the “authorities” (FA, EPL, EFL, UEFA) are concerned. I have to say, though, that very few have the sort of tangible evidence that we can point to, as Newcastle United
The Premier League changed the rules specifically to try and prevent the Newcastle United owners from spending the sort of money necessary to compete with the so called ‘Big Six’ clubs.
I therefore often tend to regard most other fans’ complaints as frivolous or even downright ridiculous.
Occasionally, though, something resonates when I come across a fan’s tale of woe.
Which brings me to this…I came across two incidents concerning tonight’s opponents, West Bromwich Albion, yesterday.
The first was mentioned by someone on The Mag comments section on Tuesday, then the second came to light as I looked into it.
I’ll deal with them in the order in which they occurred, though – second followed by first! If you’re still with me at this point, I commend your powers of comprehension.
The first of the two incidents to happen was a two points deduction last season. EFL rules had allowed a £39 million loss to be suffered by clubs in a rolling three year period up to and including the 2024/25 season. The Baggies were charged with exceeding that limit and subsequently docked the points.
The point of contention for West Brom was their donations in support of their charity partner, the Albion Foundation, and how that has been dealt with. West Brom were under the impression that charitable donations in the form of community development expenditure were not included as losses.
In 2023-24, the CFRU accepted the club was entitled to include in-kind donations to its official charity partner, The Albion Foundation, in its P&S calculation.
However, as the club later explained, “Earlier this year, the CFRU informed the club that it had changed its approach and imposed a retrospective adjustment to the club’s P&S calculation. Without the CFRU changing its approach to the community development expenditure, the club would not have breached the P&S rules.”
As a result of the readjustment, West Bromwich Albion exceeded the three-year loss allowance by less than £2 million – this was the smallest breach ever recorded across the Premier League or EFL Championship.
Apart from the apparent injustice in this retrospective action, what alarmed fans was that West Brom had just made themselves safe from relegation but the two point deduction threw them back into the mix. Fortunately, results over the following weekend reaffirmed their survival and, in the end, the club decided to complain but not to appeal.
The second incident occurred recently when West Brom played against Norwich City on August 16. A close game was decided by a controversial goal by the Baggies’ Norwegian forward, Aune Heggebo. A cross into the Norwich box was deflected by their keeper on to Heggebo’s arm and into the net.
Despite rigorous protests from the Norwich bench and players, the goal stood and the Baggies won the game.
However, four days later Aune Heggebo was banned for two matches.
The Norway forward was charged with a breach of FA Rule E3.1. This rule states that “a participant must act in the best interests of the game and not engage in any conduct that is improper or brings the game into disrepute.”
The FA alleged Heggebo did “successfully deceive a match official by handling the ball in a direct successful attempt to score a goal”, an independent regulatory commission upholding the charge
The Baggies had appealed against the charge on the basis that it was accidental, claiming after analysis that the ball’s deflection off the Norwich goalkeeper, Vladan Kovacevic, “materially affected the ball’s trajectory and left him [Heggebo] with less than 0.1 of a second to react.”
Now, I have to say that I haven’t been able to find any video of the incident to make up my own mind. Was it a “Hand of God” deception or was it more akin to those ridiculous handballs given against less prestigious teams than PSG in the Champions League? If anyone happened to watch that match, I would be interested to read your take on it in the comments below.
On the face of it, if West Brim’s analysis is anywhere near accurate, it sounds like injustice number two meted out by the FA.
Whatever the truth of the matter, this is another unwanted record for the Baggies. Not only are they the club with the lowest ever three year loss (leading to a points deduction) but their player becomes the first ever to be punished under Rule E3.1 for scoring a handball goal.
I think that if I was a West Brom fan I would be thinking along the lines of one of those old secret agents (maybe James Bond?) who declared, “Once is an accident, twice is coincidence, three times is the work of the enemy.”
Let’s hope, for the sake of an old and respected club, that it remains a coincidence and that their third misfortune simply comes in the form of a defeat at St James’ Park tonight.