To be sure, the above headline was purposefully designed for maximum impact (and to make a point). However, it lacks some validity, as I will explain.
Leicester spent a lot of money on wages (by Championship standards) during their promotion season. When bonuses for promotion were deducted, their wage bill was just under £27 million (in comparison, Derby’s last reported wages were £13.5 million).
When Leicester was promoted in 2013/14, the Championship FFP rules required clubs to keep losses under £8 million (with a few exceptions, such as bonus for winning promotion and youth/community spending). Any club that was promoted after exceeding the £8 million loss limit would be fined (according to the fixed tariff which increases with the amount of overspending). The situation is complicated, but everyone expected Leicester to face a ‘Fair Play Tax’ (or fine) of around £8 million. To everyone’s surprise, they announced that they had kept their losses within the maximum allowed and would not have to pay any fines! So, how did they pull it off?
The clue is in the club accounts and particularly in an £11m increase in ‘Sponsorship, executive suites, advertising, and other income’ which grew from £5.2m to. £16.1m: