Brighton and Hove Albion meeting Financial Fair Play restrictions

The Seagulls have hit strict Financial Fair Play guidelines.

Brighton and Hove Albion have addressed previous losses of almost £15 million to fall within the Football League's strict Financial Fair Play (FFP) guidelines.

Independent auditors have confirmed the Seagulls' latest set of spending was within the permitted £8 million loss established in the regulations.

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The full set of accounts will be filed with Companies House before March 31 next year. Each club, however, has to inform the Football League of their FFP compliance for the previous season by the start of December.

Those who do not fall within the rules face an array of sanctions, including transfer embargoes beginning when the window reopens in January.

Brighton have long been advocates of FFP and have been determined to cut their cloth accordingly. Paul Barber, the club's chief executive, has been vocal about the need to hit FFP restrictions on losses and has established an on-going dialogue with supporters discussing the importance of hitting FFP targets.

As a result most fans were expecting this week's announcement.

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Speaking after the club announced its FFP compliance, Mr Barber said: "While this won't come as a big surprise to our supporters, we are pleased to confirm that we have complied with the League's current FFP regulations.

'This means that the club will not face the sanction of a transfer embargo in January 2015.'

Brighton's task may have been made slightly easier by the sales of Liam Bridcutt and Ashley Barnes although Tony Bloom, the Albion chairman, recently told supporters that in terms of salaries, the current squad was the club's most-expensive ever - suggesting the Albion have not made savings by cutting back on the playing side of things.

The sales of Leo Ulloa and William Buckley came after the end of the financial year and so do no count towards this set of results.

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The proof of the FFP pudding will now be in the eating. Most Albion fans expected the club to fall within FFP rules and will be eager to hear of the punishments handed to those Championship rivals who have not met restrictions.

Earlier this year Football League clubs voted in favour of implementing changes to FFP ahead of next season. Under the old rules clubs would have had to lose under £5 million next season. That figure has now been revised to £13 million.

Brighton were among the clubs to vote in the changes - albeit reluctantly according to Mr Barber.

Importantly, though, the new set of rules not only addresses concerns of parachute payments (clubs will only get them for three years, or two if they spent a single season in the top flight) but have been bought into by both Championship and Premier League clubs, meaning there is less wiggle room for clubs looking to sidestep the rules.