Cardiff City's lower-table rivals Reading have been plunged further into the Championship relegation battle after being hit by an immediate six-point deduction under the EFL's financial rules.
The Royals have dropped from 46 points to 40, leaving them just one point above Cardiff City and the drop zone as a result of the penalty. The Bluebirds, however, have one game in hand over the Royals owing to the postponed match against Rotherham United before the most recent international break.
The sanction relates to the Berkshire club's failure to meet an agreed budget following an earlier breach of the profit and sustainability limits in 2021. The initial breach carried a six-point penalty with a further six points suspended until the current campaign.
Despite the club's best efforts to comply with rigorous cost-cutting measures, they have accepted falling short and now say they face "a huge fight" to stay up.
The independent club financial review panel, overseeing a case for the first time in the EFL, determined that Reading have not generated enough money from player sales and were relying on a proposed deal that had not been completed by a March 1 deadline to satisfy their commitments.
A statement from Reading said: "Despite radical changes implemented at first-team level and right across the structure of the business to its very core - and a rigid adherence to a strict league-monitored wage structure and transfer embargo, the club accepts that it has not sufficiently satisfied certain elements of the planned budget.
"In abiding by the EFL rules, the club have not spent a penny on transfer fees since the summer of 2020 and have not paid a loan fee to any club since the summer of 2019. Our squad has been entirely rebuilt from free transfers, free loanees and academy graduates.
"We have worked closely with the EFL and the independent club financial review unit throughout the process in our aims to achieve the targets set out in the agreed business plan and every reasonable effort has been made to construct a competitive squad of players while avoiding further punishment. However, despite the substantial progress we have undeniably made and the lessons that have indeed been learned, as promised, we accept that the situation was never going to be easily or quickly fixed."
Turning attention to on-field matters and calling on supporters to back the team's now precarious position in the fight for survival, the club added: "We find ourselves with another huge fight on our hands.
"We will need our fans' support once more. We know you, our loyal supporters, will rise to the challenge again and give this group of players the impetus they need to scrap and battle until the final whistle at Huddersfield on Monday May 8."
It now appears to be a seven-horse race - QPR, Rotherham, Reading, Cardiff, Huddersfield Town, Blackpool and Wigan Athletic - with the last three to be consigned to League One football next season.
Here is the Championship table as things stand...
(*denotes points deduction)
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