Everton have been deducted 10 points following a hearing into alleged breaches of Financial Fair Play (FFP) rules – representing the biggest such penalty in Premier League history.
The punishment has been imposed by an independent commission and takes place with immediate effect, plunging Everton joint-bottom of the top flight, above basement club Burnley only on goal difference. The finding said the Toffees had breached FFP regulations by £19.5m.
i understands the club plan to appeal and are “flabbergasted” at both the scale and severity of the punishment. Sources say the discrepancy was down to an “interpretation of the rules” rather than any dishonesty and they will launch an immediate appeal.
There is also a risk of legal action from Leeds, Leicester and Burnley regarding their finances in the 2021-22 season. Everton stayed up in 2022 and 2023 at the expense of those clubs.
A club statement said: “Everton Football Club is both shocked and disappointed by the ruling of the Premier League’s commission.
“The club believes that the commission has imposed a wholly disproportionate and unjust sporting sanction. The club has already communicated its intention to appeal the decision to the Premier League.
“The appeal process will now commence and the club’s case will be heard by an appeal board appointed pursuant to the Premier League’s rules in due course.
“Everton maintains that it has been open and transparent in the information it has provided to the Premier League and that it has always respected the integrity of the process.
“The club does not recognise the finding that it failed to act with the utmost good faith and it does not understand this to have been an allegation made by the Premier League during the course of proceedings. Both the harshness and severity of the sanction imposed by thecommission are neither a fair nor a reasonable reflection of the evidence submitted.
“The club will also monitor with great interest the decisions made in any other cases concerning the Premier League’s profit and sustainability rules (PSR).
“Everton cannot comment on this matter any further until the appeal process has concluded.”
A number of mitigating factors were taken into account, including the impact of Covid – which prevented Everton selling players – and the fact the club cooperated “fully and proactively” with the Premier League.
The after-effects of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine were taken into account too, as the commission said this had “a significant and unexpected impact on Everton’s investment and sponsorship income”. The club had a prior relationship with Uzbek–Russian businessman Alisher Usmanov, who was sanctioned by the UK Government.
It was also acknowledged that Everton’s finances demonstrated a positive trend, which suggested the club had addressed its profit and sustainability obligations.
However, the commission also made the damning assertion that Everton had behaved “irresponsibly”.
“The position that Everton finds itself in is of its own making,” the report said. “It is Everton’s responsibility to ensure that it complies with the PSR regime. The excess over the threshold is significant. The consequence is that Everton’s culpability is great.”
The Premier League said in a statement published on its official website: “During the proceedings, the club admitted it was in breach of the PSRs [Profit and Sustainability Rules] for the period ending season 2021-22 but the extent of the breach remained in dispute.
“Following a five-day hearing last month, the commission determined that Everton’s PSR calculation for the relevant period resulted in a loss of £124.5m, as contended by the Premier League, which exceeded the threshold of £105m permitted under the PSRs.
“The Commission concluded that a sporting sanction in the form of a 10-point deduction should be imposed. That sanction has immediate effect.”
It remains to be seen how the news will affect the imminent takeover by 777 Partners, though as i reported last month the US firm are going into the deal with their eyes wide open and knew a points deduction was a possibility.
Everton legend Neville Southall has urged the club to accept their fate regardless and hopes the verdict will “galvanise the players, the manager and the fans into one”.
“They must appeal because that’s what everyone does,” he told BBC Radio 5 Live.
“They must appeal because that’s what everyone does. It will go on until after Christmas, which will just push it further down the road. If I was them now I would go ‘fair enough, let’s take it now and let’s finish with it’. They’re playing well, they’re doing OK, so there’s no reason why they can’t.
“The Premier League isn’t a great league from the bottom half down so they’ve got half a chance of winning that half of the league. It sounds harsh and it sounds horrendous, but if you broke the rules you broke the rules and you’ve got to suck it up and say ‘fair enough’.
“You can look at the argument about other clubs, but at the end of the day you look after your own business and if you’ve done it you’ve done it.”
