Birmingham City's Championship Future in Doubt as Blues Face 12-Point Deduction

Birmingham City's Championship future has been plunged into doubt as the Blues face a potential 12-point deduction for "serious breaches" of Financial Fair Play rules.

Garry Monk's side currently find themselves in 13th place, 14 points clear of the relegation zone and just seven points adrift of sixth place.

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Birmingham have been cruising towards Championship safety, comfortably set for a mid-table finish while even keeping one eye on the promotion play-off positions as the season nears its conclusion.

However, after narrowly avoiding relegation last season, the Blues could now face the prospect of another battle for Championship survival.

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According to the Daily Mail, the English Football League expect Birmingham to receive a 12-point deduction as well as a transfer ban when the final decision on the club's FFP infringements is made by a disciplinary panel on Wednesday.

The proposed punishment would place Birmingham just two points clear of the relegation zone and is set to be the harshest punishment administered since Leeds faced a 15-point deduction in 2007.

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The financial chaos around St Andrews has seen Birmingham report losses of £37.5m for 2018, while the club's wage-to-turnover ratio stands at £202 spent for every £100 brought in.

Birmingham have already incurred the EFL's wrath once in the last 12 months after controversially disregarding a transfer embargo to sign full-back Kristian Pederson in June 2018.

The EFL responded by stating that they were "extremely disappointed" by the Pederson incident and only agreed to register the Danish Under-21 international two days before the start of the season.

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The likely points deduction caps off a traumatic week for the club after they were charged by the FA for their supporters' violent attack on Jack Grealish in the defeat to Aston Villa earlier this month.

Even if Monk's side are able to stave off relegation this season, the disarray around St Andrews is only growing as debt begins to pile up from years of liberal spending, particularly during the reigns of Gianfranco Zola and Harry Redknapp.