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Three members of a consortium who failed in a bid to buy Birmingham City have admitted breaching EFL rules over the owners and directors test.

Paul Richardson, Maxi Lopez and Matthew Southall accepted they took control of the Championship club without going through the proper sign-off procedure.

Southall also accepted a misconduct charge over signing a false declaration of his role as a 'relevant person'.

Their bid to buy Blues was made in July 2022 before pulling out in December.

"Matthew Southall, Paul Richardson, and Maxi Lopez have all admitted to breaching EFL Regulations in respect of the Owners and Directors' Test (OADT) following their unapproved involvement with Birmingham City Football Club in 2022" a statement from the English Football League said.

Businessman Richardson, together with former Barcelona striker Lopez, opened talks last summer with Blues' Chinese owners - Trillion Trophy Asia - over buying a 21% stake in the club.

More than three months later, the deal remained under review with the EFL with Richardson saying he was "providing operational funds" before emphasising they were "adhering" to procedure and "as far as we're aware, we haven't made any breaches, either us or the seller".

At the start of December, Richardson's team withdrew their offer after failing to "renegotiate the terms of their original agreement with Blues' current owners".

As a consequence of the ruling, Richardson and Lopez have been banned from acting as a 'relevant person' in any similar takeover bid for two months and one month, respectively. The sanctions are suspended until the end of the 2023-24 season.

Former Charlton chief executive Southall, who was set to be brought in as the new CEO at Birmingham, is subject to the same sanction but for six months, suspended for three until the end of next season.

All three have also been made liable for the £45,000 cost of the investigation.

The news comes on the same day Blues announced they are in exclusive negotiations with another prospective buyer.