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Anyone know the rules on how all this plays out going forward?
Are we still under a partial embargo when the Summer transfer portal opens?
If they paid the remaining Sala fee in full would the transfer embargo be rescinded?
With what was being reported no, it has nothing to do with what we pay but the fact we paid the last one more than a certain number of days after the FA put us under embargo. How true and accurate that is I have no idea, but it seems like we are buggered.
It makes the situation all the more odd.
If we were still in two minds of paying you'd think they'd set that deadline as the very last day to consider paying. To let the deadline lapse and then pay it seems very odd but then this is CCFC under Tan.
Maybe it was the fact we could not get our loan players back that forced their hand.
From the point of view that it would ease our relegation worries, I really don't understand why they decided to pay the first installment. Clearly all it's allowed us to do is mop up a cheap loan, get McG back and sign an unattached player. I wonder if whoever decided to pay the first installment knew what the implications were. Nothing would surprise me with Cardiff.
(As an aside, I'm not arguing for not paying the transfer fee. Morally, we owe it.)
None of it makes sense.
I've typed it on here time and again that there rarely seems any rhyme or reason to what we have done.
In an ideal world we pay the Sala money before the interest started accruing and then go after the parties we feel were responsible for reimbursement.
The way we've done it has left us with a hefty legal bill, interest on the original amount and under embargo.
The way we have gone about the situation has resulted in the maximum amount payable and the severest penalties.
I don't know why we paid it when we did or what the thinking was behind it. I just can't read what our club is going to do from one crisis to the next.
It's hard to come up with any other explanation that we lurch from crisis to crisis making snap decisions without a full understanding of the circumstances or any hint of a long term plan. Whether that's due to the lack of competency at any level, the whims of an eccentric billionaire miles away in a different time zone who doesn't stay in touch with the day to day running of the club or a combination of both seems up for interpretation.
From this and another dozen similar threads it is clear that none of us know the status of the EFL secondary embargo (on paying transfer fees), how long it will last and whether it can or will be cleared by catching up on the remaining Sala fee payments to Nantes.
Nor do we know if FIFA will impose a new embargo if the 2nd or 3rd tranches are not paid by whatever deadline is now in force. Are the remaining payments due now, or as deferred annual instalments after the first payment, or after the dates of the FIFA or CAS rulings? With interest of course.
This is crucial to understanding the situation Cardiff are in now and will be in over the next year or more.
The questions are obvious.
It would be good if the club (preferably), the EFL, or a competent sports journalist (or WOL) would provide the answers.
But silence, misinformation and confusion seems to be what's on offer!
Unless I have missed something- whatever we do in the short term will not improve the position we are in.
My understanding is that we (Cardiff City) needed to pay the first instalment of the Sala fee to Nantes within thirty days of the EFL embargo being imposed, the failure to do that means that restrictions are still in place. The "full transfer" embargoes imposed by FIFA and EFL have been overturned after the first part of the Sala transfer fee was paid BUT we still cannot pay a fee for players until 2024 and are restricted to free transfers and loanees only. The punishment for late payment?
Is this not the case?
Regulation 51.6.2 confirms it is until the end of next season so no money can be paid in the summer or next winter - Microsoft Word - Regulations Season 2021-22 Final (updated August 2021) (efl.com)
Thanks PontBlue - my synopsis and understanding was correct.
We are in a tight spot and no mistake.