Premier League is now full of asterisks and teams might not even know if they’ve survived relegation.. it’s all f*xed up

THE last time Leicester were promoted to the Premier League, they provided English football with its most wondrous miracle.

An improbable relegation jailbreak was followed by a fantastical 5,000-1 Jamie Vardy party, dilly-ding-dilly-dong title-winning campaign, and the entire sporting world marvelled at it.

Nottingham Forest will appeal their four-point deductionPA

Except for the Premier League’s elite clubs, who decided this could never happen again.

If the Foxes win promotion from the Championship this season — and they are level on points with leaders Leeds with a game in hand — they are likely to start next season with a points deduction. And possibly a punishment substantial enough to make survival a 5,000-1 shot.

In the era of football’s asterisk invasion, nothing surprises us any longer, as the world’s richest and ‘most competitive’ football league ties itself in knots through Profitability and Sustainability Rules designed to reduce competition.

Everton were deducted ten points, reduced to six on appeal, but are currently immersed in a three-day hearing which might end with them losing more points.

Nottingham Forest are four points down but that figure could be greater or lesser after their appeal.

Luton boss Rob Edwards — whose team are significantly affected by all of this hokey-cokeying — says he works off a different league table, without points deductions, to determine where his side are in the relegation battle.

But in fact, you would need five or six potential league tables to try to work out all potential scenarios.

Edwards is working under the very real possibility of Luton staying up on the final day of the season, only to be relegated a few days later if either Everton or Forest finish below them but stage a successful appeal.

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Asterisks on league tables aren’t a new thing.

Luton were once relegated from the Football League after a 30-point deduction and have since written a fairytale, second only to Leicester’s title success, by climbing all the way to the top flight.

Only to be faced with a sea of asterisks.

I know we all like to parrot the phrase ‘The game’s gone’, but it has to a large extent — or, at least, it’s been superseded by legalities and profit-and-loss accounts.

Hotshot strikers are no longer as important as hotshot lawyers; creative midfielders give way to creative accountants; watertight defences sit by and hope defence barristers can make watertight cases against further points deductions.

Try to explain all this to a primary-school kid — from the next generation of football fans — who’s falling in love with the game and working out how the league system works.

You could try to keep it relatively simple by mentioning £105million of permitted losses over three years.

But there are so many caveats to that basic PSR rule that you’d need a degree in advanced economics to understand it all.

And even then you’d probably end up arguing the toss with another economics boffin about some of the intricacies.

For example, if Forest had sold Brennan Johnson for less money at an earlier date than they did, they would have been less profitable and sustainable but might have complied with PSR. Likewise, Leicester with James Maddison.

Then there are the 115 historic Premier League charges against Manchester City, and Chelsea facing similar uncertainties.

Which is before you even consider the rules of multi-club ownership which might preclude Manchester United from entering European competition next season.

But somehow the idea of a punishment against Leicester — the miracle merchants who were still disrupting the ‘Big Six’ elite just a couple of years ago — crystallises the issue.

Leicester’s promotion rivals, understandably, are wondering why they won’t have points deducted this season given that, if they have broken rules, they must now be gaining a sporting advantage in the Championship.

Instead, Leicester look set to be punished in the Premier League — in which they weren’t good enough to avoid relegation last season, despite apparently over-spending.

It’s just another layer to add to an extraordinary mess.

When Leicester won the league in 2016, they did not just represent Leicester, they gave hope to every non-elite club who were able to dream about ‘doing a Leicester’.

But miracles can never be unlikely enough for the self-entitled elite who signed up for a breakaway Super League, so that they would never have to play the likes of Leicester or Luton again.

If the only alternative is a Wild-West spend-what-you-like free-for-all then, frankly, it has to be better than all this.

Instead, as you look forward to the end of the international break, to the climax of a league season in which promotion, relegation, the title and European places are all on the line, everything is as clear as mud.

Miracles outlawed, ambition quashed, competition crushed.
And a simple game over- complicated beyond comprehension.

Brazen Tartan Army was revolting

WHEN England visited Hampden Park back in September, things were getting weird, bordering on unbearable.

Scotland were top of their Euros qualifying group with five straight wins and heading towards Germany in genuine hope of reaching a tournament knockout stage for the first time.

Thankfully, including the Jude Bellingham-inspired 3-1 victory in Glasgow, the Scots haven’t won in six matches and were thumped 4-0 by Holland the other night.

Normal service has resumed and we can look forward to a summer of excitement without the Tartan Army getting any ideas above their station.

Issue is silly

AS a sports columnist, you’re always hoping to have a strong gut feeling on the burning issue of the hour.

Occasionally, you might have to think a little harder before deciding which side of a particular argument to come down on.

But when the issue is as silly as the current row over the badge/logo on the back of the England shirt, I’m sorry, I can’t even be bothered to pretend to have an opinion.

Racism reality

LAZY and ignorant people question the continued need for anti-racism campaigns in football.

Then former Norwich sporting director Stuart Webber opens his trap and names five black footballers — including Raheem Sterling — and claims they might have ‘ended up in jail’ had they not made it as professionals.

Sterling spoke bravely against this sort of damaging nonsense a few years ago.

Many people in football seemed to change their attitudes as a result.

Sadly, it wasn’t enough.

Anti-racism campaigning needs to get louder still.

Ukraine eye Euros spot

UEFA probably shouldn’t have expanded the European Championship from 16 teams to 24 — as a 16-team event represents perfect symmetry without third-placed ‘lucky losers’ in the knockout phase.

But if Ukraine overcome Iceland in their play-off on Tuesday night and qualify for the finals in Germany, we can forgive all that.

Double standards

THE next time Premier League clubs start preaching about saving the planet, make sure to ask them how Tottenham and Newcastle travelling around the world to Australia for a meaningless post- season friendly fits in with their net-zero, carbon-neutral sermonising guff.

Fixture furore

I’VE read that some clubs still competing in cups are moaning about fixture congestion.

They are annoyed that they’re having to play league fixtures against rivals who will be fresher because they have been knocked out of cups.

A stunning development over a scenario which has surely never happened before in 130-odd years of competitive football.