Credit: Imago

James Barker

Tue 14 April 2026 18:09, UK Updated Tue 14 April 2026 18:38, UK

West Bromwich Albion‘s independent hearing into their alleged breach of the EFL’s profit and sustainability rules has reportedly already happened.

It was reported on Monday that West Brom had been charged for exceeding the £39million loss limit over the course of the previous three seasons up to 2024-25.

Should Albion be found guilty, then they could be looking at a points deduction penalty, which as per the EFL’s own guidelines, would have to be imposed this season.

That could throw James Morrison‘s team right back into the relegation zone, which would be a crushing blow given how hard they’ve worked to pull themselves away from there over the past few weeks.

West Brom have said that it’s their understanding that they’ve complied with the PSR rules, but now a fresh twist in this saga that question’s Albion’s financial management has emerged.

What has been said on West Brom’s hearing into PSR charge?

West Brom’s PSR charge is getting messy, and now that appears to have only been increased further in a fresh update on Tuesday.

As per Alan Nixon via his Patreon, West Brom’s PSR situation is becoming highly problematic for both the Club and the EFL.

However, Nixon claims that two of his “top” and “normally well-informed” Championship sources have told him that the independent hearing into Albion’s case has already taken place.

The report states that the EFL have been asked to comment on these claims, to which they’ve so far refused to do so, but it’s Nixon’s understanding that the problem is “so hot” that methods to work out the situation are being discussed.

As Nixon’s report goes onto state, the big drama here is that West Brom should have been given the heads up of their charge and given the right to appeal before the independent panel mulled over their decision.

Quoted in the report, one of the insiders said: “This process has been going on for weeks. I believe the hearing has already taken place.”

Another one of his sources said: “This is such a difficult one for the EFL because of the timing.”

West Brom could benefit if EFL have made a mistake

Judging from Nixon’s report, it sounds as though the independent commission into West Brom’s alleged PSR breach may have seen them jump the gun.

As Nixon suggests, Albion appear to have been fairly blindsided by this whole thing, and now haven’t had the chance to appeal this charge before the independent commission has already taken place.

Therefore, if there has been an error in terms of the timing of all of this, then surely West Brom can argue that the case against them has been carried out in an unfair way.

Whether that would mean they can get the whole case dropped is another matter, but Nixon’s report certainly makes it sound as though the EFL and the independent commission haven’t covered themselves in glory here.