Football finance expert Kieran Maguire gave his thoughts on Reading's impending points deduction on his Price of Football Podcast.

A lecturer at the University of Liverpool, he hosts the show alongside comedian Kevin Hunter-Day, discussing all things financial in the world of football.

News broke last week that the club are braced for a six-point deduction from the EFL for breaching the agreed business plan.

READ MORE: Reading FC boss braced for six-point deduction 'this week'

Giving his verdict on the news, Maguire believes that the owners need to look at the long-term plan with the Royals.

"In terms of the business plan, they will be focussing on two things. First of all, looking at expected levels of revenue- have the crowds kept up to expected attendances? Reading aren’t having a great season, it has been a bit hit and miss and they have taken a few heavy defeats recently. Then there comes to the area in which clubs do have greater emphasis and that is cost control," the expert explained.

"Ultimately, they offered contracts to players in the summer, they will have bonus schemes and overheads which they should be trying to address. That would have been submitted to the EFL and they would have been along and said ‘you said you were going to try and get wages down to so many million but it looks as if you’re way off.’ There are some things which clubs are, to a certain extent, in the lap of the gods. If you play a couple of matches at home and are bobbins then you’re not going to attract the floating fan. If that’s the reason for a points deduction then I have quite a bit of sympathy. If the club has offered contracts to players which, in retrospect, looks too generous then I have far less sympathy.

"I know the Championship is a horrible division, but Reading have been spending far too much money on wages for far too long. It was a classic case of new owners coming in and wanting to get into the Premier League- and the best way to do that is invest in talent. If it comes at the cost of jeopardising the long-term future of the club, and also increase the arms race that exists in the form of wages, sometimes you just have to look at the bigger picture."

Click here to listen to the full episode.