You really couldn’t make it up, the respective positions that Hull City, Manchester City and Chelsea find themselves in.
Hull City won promotion to the Premier League by beating Middlesbrough in the play-off final.
Great news all round surely? Well yes, mostly.
How about this for a conundrum.
If Hull City had stayed in the Championship they would have had no PSR issues, but because Hull City got promotion… they have got an immediate PSR crisis to sort. Please let it make sense.
Losing in the play-offs would have meant the Humberside club in no danger of exceeding the maximum losses of £39m for the past three seasons, so they would have had no risk of a potential points penalty in the Championship.
However, Hull City could be deducted six points in the Premier League next season unless they take urgent action these next two weeks, by the end of June 2026 when their financial year ends.
Like pretty much every Championship club that gets promoted, Hull City have seen their players entitled to triggered promotion bonuses that are included in their contracts.
Getting into the Premier League will typically see between £10m and £15m in bonuses to be paid in total.
These bonuses are to be accounted for in the promotion season and so this has meant Hull City will now exceed the allowed £39m Championship losses over three years.
You honestly couldn’t make it up.
It might not sound a huge figure in Premier League terms but when you already face a huge challenge to stay up, having to sell players weeks after promotion isn’t ideal. The figure is around £6m in pure profit that Hull City now have to find this month to avoid a Premier League points deduction, so one or more of their current players have to be sold.
Hull City fans will no doubt be shaking their heads in disbelief, like the rest of us, the total absence of any real punishment for Chelsea only three months ago. Chelsea had cheated their way to success in the Premier League, with tens of millions (around £47m in total) of secret payments made over a number of years, to give them an unfair advantage. Yet not a single point deducted from them in punishment, only a fine which is meaningless, with not even a first team transfer ban, just a suspended one. Chelsea allowed to negotiate that ‘punishment’ with the Premier League, rather than getting points deducted or getting relegated, which would have been fitting for such wholesale cheating.
Chelsea are allowed to simply carry on unpunished. Breaking the rules, finding endless accountancy loopholes to exploit, doing simply as they want.
Then you have Manchester City winning two trophies last season, spending money for fun, set to break the Premier League record transfer fee with Elliot Anderson. The same Manchester City charged with 115 alleged offences by the Premier League years ago and still no conclusion (or potential punishment if/when found guilty).