EFL reportedly planning to prevent stadium sale loophole after Derby County, Sheffield Wednesday and Reading sales

Earlier this week reports emerged that Middlesbrough are planning to sue the EFL after failing to enforce it’s financial rules on Derby County.

It came after Rams owner Mel Morris used a separate company to buy the club’s stadium, Pride Park, for a reported £80million with a deal to lease it back, yet the ground was only listed as an asset on Derby’s books for £41million.

As a result, Derby recorded a pre-tax profit of £14.6million this year, yet their reported losses over a three-year period would have broken the EFL’s financial rules.

Football League clubs are only allowed to record losses of £13million a season over a three-year period.

Reading and Sheffield Wednesday have also been accused of exploiting the stadium loophole.

However, according to the Daily Mail, a proposal will be discussed at a meeting of Championship clubs later this month.

The report claims ‘sale-and-lease-back arrangements would continue to be permitted but the sale would not count on the balance sheet when calculating a club’s profit and sustainability, thus making it less attractive.’

Derby owner Morris has repeatedly said the club have done nothing wrong and was recently asked about Boro chairman Steve Gibson’s complaint.

"Obviously Steve has an issue and he is trying to pursue that. I'm not sure what the issue is,” Morris told Sky Sports on Friday. "What we did was within the regulations. End of story.”