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Steve Gibson has dramatically raised the stakes in his battle to enforce Championship financial fair play rules by threatening to sue Derby County.

Middlesbrough stunned the Rams by outlining their grounds for a mooted legal challenge as a long simmering dispute threatens to boil over.

Boro were reported by the Daily Telegraph to have issued their threat on Friday, just days before the play-off final at Wembley.

Ironically Derby - who pipped Boro to sixth spot by a single point - are due to take on Aston Villa on Monday, another club Gibson believes have breached the rules.

The winners at Wembley will trigger a massive £180m windfall while the losers could face harsh sanctions.

The size of the prize has encouraged sides to take risks and be cavalier with the rules, say critics.

Middlesbrough chairman Gibson has fought a long battle to force the Football League to enforce their own rules.

(Image: Peter Reimann / Teesside Live)

He believes that a string of clubs have flouted the regulations to overspend on transfer fees and wages and gain a vital competitive advantage.

Gibson made ‘a robust intervention’ at a fiery meeting of Championship clubs in March when he accused the Rams, Villa and Sheffield Wednesday of flouting the rules and EFL chiefs of allowing the division to become a financial Wild West.

He wants detailed club accounts to be available for independent forensic scrutiny and offenders to be hit with far tougher penalties and points deductions in the season of the offence.

He also wants a co-ordinated strategy with the Premier League so clubs found guilty don’t escape into cash-lined protection able to agree a financial settlement and easily write out a painless cheque several years later.

A vote on the proposals wasn’t carried by the required majority but the dogged Boro chairman has vowed to not let the issue drop.

Gibson is understood to believe that if EFL chiefs lack the political will to take action then he must force their hand.

He has been marshalling the support of other clubs within the division who also believe they have been left at a disadvantage by rivals who have used creative accounting and moved their financial furniture to squeeze under the spending ceiling.

And Derby have become a particular target after a controversial sale and lease-back of their ground pushed them into the black despite an overspend on wages.

(Image: PA)

Gibson is alleging that Derby owner Morris has broken the English Football League’s profitability and sustainability rules.

The Boro chairman is said to be furious about the deal done by Morris to buy the stadium from himself via one of his other companies to turn overall losses into profit.

Derby reported a pre-tax profit of £14.6m after Morris paid £80m for the Pride Park stadium when it was previously listed as an asset worth £41m on the club’s books.

The Rams are adamant they have been fully compliant, and the timing of Boro’s shock move has shocked them ahead of the play-offs.

Morris says he twice invited Boro officials to look at Derby’s accounts in the March meeting at Nottingham Forest’s City Ground.

He said: “Middlesbrough were offered by us in writing to come with their advisors to go through our submissions for profitability and sustainability they declined.”

(Image: Derby Telegraph / SWNS.com)

But Gibson’s position has support within the Championship and the Derby deal has annoyed clubs who have worked hard to stay within the FFP limits.

Leeds owner Andrea Radrizzani has argued County should face sanctions over the stadium ownership switch.

“The rules should be revised if clubs are allowed to sell their stadiums to sister companies,” said Radrizzani in the Daily Mail.

“We should revisit the rules. We were judged as a cheating club when we sent a scout to watch Derby training, so they should take a similar view on what I would say is greater cheating by these clubs.”