This week, Leicester City agreed to pay the Football League £3.1m to settle a Financial Fair Play dispute, but Arsenal fans think the punishment wasn’t enough.
In 2013/14, the year Leicester gained promotion to the Premier League, they exceeded their permitted £8m loss by £12.8m.
The EFL statement on the matter said they don’t believe the club made a deliberate attempt to infringe the rules. As a result, instead of a transfer ban, the Football League only gave them a fine.
Arsenal fans clearly aren’t feeling quite so lenient though. Leicester famously won the league just a couple of seasons after their successful promotion, and Arsene Wenger’s side finished runners-up.
Some supporters cheekily suggested that perhaps the title should be handed down, considering the financial illegitimacy of the promotion:
Should be paying Arsenal a Premier League title. https://t.co/I6rNMB1NtV
— GOAT Gable (@AdiAyeni) February 21, 2018
Strip the titles https://t.co/kqAH7GVCwU
— lee (@leethomson82) February 21, 2018
If Leicester City breached rules during their promotion campaigns, they shouldn’t have been in the Premier League, which means that 2nd placed Arsenal won the league in 2016.
Wenger’s only gone and done it again hasn’t he?!? https://t.co/4Zojzpo5WI
— S (@wood10_) February 21, 2018
Unfortunately, even if the EFL were planning to strip Leicester’s title away from them, that doesn’t necessarily mean Arsenal would pick it up instead.
In the Serie A, Juventus led a match fixing scandal back in 2004/05. They won the league that year, but were later stripped of their title. Rather than awarding the championship to the second-placed team, no one picked up the trophy.
Similarly in Ligue 1, Marseille’s 1992/93 title was stripped for the same reason, but Paris Saint-Germain didn’t pick it up instead, despite finishing second.
Although the Premier League has never had a similar situation, I think it’s safe to assume they’d deal with it in the same way.
I’m afraid it might be time to give up that dream of the 2015/16 league title at this point, even if it is our only chance of a trophy this season.