U21 European Championship

It might be it in a nutshell, but the point of any FFP rule is to prevent that.

QPR's case had nothing to do with them being promoted or not, the case and argument were clear; the club broke the rules whilst playing in the EFL. The EFL can prevent a team being promoted in that scenario anyway, again as is stipulated in FFP rules.

The reason QPR got off was QPR won the discussion and the EFL caved in and accepted that. Fernandes et al wrote off 60 or 70 million, QPR showed they had cut expenditure and, if I remember correctly, around the same time got the sweetener of nearly 10 million from Raheem Sterling joining Liverpool.Their books looked better and the EFL accepted that and cut the fine from 50 million to 8 million. Sterling paid the fine, essentially.

The reason QPR aren't spending now like then is quite clear and obvious; they aren't in the EPL and the owners aren't complete idiots with bottomless bank accounts. The reason they broke the rules was bad financial planning in that they never budgeted for relegation. They had players on absolutely crazy wages with no clauses for relegation. Again, this was all used by Fernandes at the negotiating table, it is believed he actually used the term 'not budgeting for relegation',but it shouldn't have been negotiable at all. If the rules are there, in black and white, they should be kept.

The other clubs, who may or may not have broken them, would only enhance my original point that FFP is merely paying lip service to how the game should be regulated and not actually regulating it properly.