Luton chief keeping his 'strong thoughts' on Sheffield Wednesday's points deduction being halved to himself

Hatters boss Nathan Jones preferred to remain tight-lipped as to exactly what he thought about Championship rivals Sheffield Wednesday seeing their points deduction halved yesterday.

The Owls had started the campaign on minus 12 points having been hit with the penalty for breaching spending rules.

Wednesday were said to have included the sale of their Hillsborough stadium in their 2017-18 accounts despite the ground being sold a year later to owner Dejphon Chansiri for £60m.

By including it in the accounts for the 2017-18 financial year, they posted a £2.5m pre-tax profit, as without doing so, they would have reported a pre-tax loss of £35.4m, following on from deficits of £9.8m and £20.8m in the previous two seasons.

Under the EFL's profitability and sustainability rules - Championship clubs are only allowed to lose £39m over a three-year period, meaning the Owls would have been well, well over the amount permitted.

The original 12-point deduction came nine days after the extended 2019-20 regular season finished, but an independent panel opted to cut the penalty to six points, as Garry Monk's side moved up to five points, climbing off the bottom in the process.

They did return there following Wycombe's last-gasp win at Birmingham City last night, while Town's victory over Rotherham ensured the Hatters are 11 points better off in ninth.

When asked for his opinion on the ruling, Jones said: “I’ve got real good thoughts on that, not that I’d actually say something in the press.

“All we can say is the league weren’t happy with the 12 that they got, so to halve it to six, it will be interesting to see what the league say.

“Why are there rules in place? If people break the rules and they are seen to break the rules - as otherwise it won’t mean anything.

“Clubs like us that do things right, we can’t go out and spend above what we think otherwise people don’t get paid.

“So for someone to do that, and whatever they’ve done, I have real strong thoughts on that, but it’s very difficult for me to say anything.

“It will be interesting to see what happens as I would imagine there will be outrage from some clubs, but hopefully what we’ve got to make sure it doesn't affect us in any way, shape or form.

“We can’t affect what Sheffield Wednesday do, but in a game where we look for fair play, we look to adhere to the rules and now they've brought a salary cap in, it will be interesting to see what happens in the coming days.”