Sheffield United docked two points for next EFL season

Sheffield United have been docked two points, which will come into place the next season they take part in a league run by the English Football League.

The points deduction is in relation to a default on transfer payments and was determined by an independent disciplinary commission.

The club will also have another two-point deduction suspended until the end of that season.

Sheffield United go into their final seven matches of the season rooted to the foot of the Premier League table with just three wins and 16 points to their name from 31 matches.

The club are unlikely to fight their way out of relegation and are nine points behind 17th-placed Nottingham Forest.

The sanctions relate to the 2022-23 season when the club defaulted on a number of payments to other clubs, in a statement the EFL says “these defaults cumulatively were in excess of 550 days.”

Sheffield United have agreed to pay the EFL’s cost of £310,455, and the suspended points will be activated “if the club defaults on any payment due to another club under a transfer or compensation agreement for more than five business days from the due date for payment.”

Sheffield United are not the only club to be docked points, fellow relegation-battlers Everton have been handed an eight-point deduction so far this season.

The Toffees were originally dealt a 10-point deduction by the Premier League, which was reduced to six on appeal, but were handed a further two points recently.

The Toffees have been hit hardest by the Premier League’s profit and sustainability rules, and the club were handed the second penalty for the three-year cycle to 2022-23, after admitting a breach of £16.6m.