Middlesbrough boss Tony Pulis has been talking about the difference in finances among Championship clubs - and claims there was a £100m deficit between the Boro and Nottingham Forest squads when the two sides faced each other.
The Reds have done the double over Pulis’ side this season, beating them 2-0 at the Riverside in October and 3-0 in the return fixture last month.
Forest went into the campaign having had a busy summer in the transfer market, including bringing in Portuguese youngster Joao Carvalho in a club record 15m euro deal and striker Lewis Grabban for a fee understood to be worth around £6m.
However, a number of their summer signings were also free transfers or loan deals.
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Pulis, though, says there was a significant gap between the two teams, in terms of the finances on show.
Middlesbrough go into their final game of the season on Sunday with a top six finish up in the air, and the manager was asked about his record in charge - and whether success will depend on which division the club are playing in next term.
He said: “It all depends on which way you look at it.
“If you look at it from a financial point of view, then we’re £40m in profit from sales since I came to the football club, and we’ve cut the wage bill by a quarter or a third.
“The playing staff have been reduced by about nine, and that’s got us into a position where we’re in line with all the Financial Fair Play regulations.
“We’ve done all of that and still have a chance of getting into the play-offs.
“If you look at the other side, Derby have spent a fortune and Aston Villa have spent a fortune. Lots of other teams in the division have spent loads of money.
“We played Nottingham Forest the other week - we’d sold players for over £50m, Nottingham Forest had bought players in that squad that played us for over £56m. So there was a £100m deficit in what the two clubs had done this season. But nobody talks about that. That’s fact.”
Adama Traore was sold by Boro for a reported £18m last summer, while Ben Gibson and former Red Patrick Bamford departed for reported £15m and £10m fees respectively.
Meanwhile, the club splashed out on the likes of Aden Flint, Paddy McNair and George Saville.
