Another Championship side join Sheffield United, Burnley under transfer embargo after rule breach

Huddersfield Town have become the fourth Championship club to be placed under a transfer embargo by the English Football League, joining Sheffield United in being sanctioned.

The EFL confirmed the Terriers had been penalised for breaching finance rules on its website, after being late in submitting their accounts.

Town, who have declined to comment, are the second Championship club in the past few days to be put under a transfer embargo for late submission of their accounts after leaders Burnley. United and Reading were already under embargos from earlier in the season.

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It has been reported that the Terriers, second-bottom in the table after winning only one of their last 12 league matches, are the subject of takeover interest from two Dutch groups - one said to be involving AZ Alkmaar owner Rene Neelissen - and an American consortium.

Veteran manager Neil Warnock, formerly of the Blades, returned for a second spell in charge of the Yorkshire club last month following the sacking of Mark Fotheringham.

Warnock won his first match back in the Terriers’ dugout, 2-1 at home against Birmingham, but they have taken only one point from their following four games.

Burnley, who are 17 points clear of third-placed Middlesbrough and all-but assured of an instant return to the Premier League, claimed in a statement over the weekend that the situation should be quickly resolved.

Burnley blamed the late submission of their accounts because of a change in auditor for the sanction imposed by the EFL.

United were also placed under an embargo in January, which wasn’t cleared in time for them to sign any players during the transfer window.

A Burnley statement read: “We would like to share with our supporters the disappointing news that the EFL are placing the club under an immediate transfer embargo.

“We believe transparency in these matters is paramount and we want to explain why this has happened. In our continued efforts to improve and move forward Burnley Football Club we made the decision to change our auditors in November and the transition has taken longer than we anticipated.

“We can confirm that we have provided draft accounts and financial information to the EFL’s Club Financial Reporting Unit and we continue to have regular dialogue with the unit to ensure we remain as open and as transparent and answer any questions the League may have.

“We believe the EFL will have no issue with the detail of our accounts other than their late submission and fully understand and support their position and efforts to sanction any club who fails to comply with any of their regulations.

“Both the club and our new auditors are confident this can be resolved swiftly and we hope our submission will be made next month, at which point the embargo will be lifted. We once again wish to assure supporters this will have no detriment to the ongoing success and development of the club as we move forward.”