By Samuel A. November 19, 2023
Everton have been deducted 10 points for breaching Premier League’s profit and sustainability rules. The club’s 10 point deduction is the largest in the history of the Premier League and it plunges Sean Dyche’s team into the relegation zone.
According to the Premier League, Everton admitted during a hearing it was in breach of the league’s profitability and sustainability rules. Details revealed to the PL board 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. After narrowly avoiding relegation to the Championship last season, Everton is now 14th in the league table, eight points above the bottom three, prior to the point deduction.
Everton were referred to an independent commission by the Premier League in March for a potential breach of profit and sustainability rules. The club said they would defend and strongly contest the charge ahead of a hearing which took place last month. Everton feels their overspend was brought about by unforeseen and unprecedented circumstances and they have justifiable mitigation. The war in Ukraine led Everton to severing financial ties with Alisher Usmanov’s holding company USM. They lost a naming rights deal for the new stadium at Bramley Moore dock worth £200m as well, which would have been activated once planning permission was granted. It is also understood Dyche was told about the independent commission’s punishment by director of football Kevin Thelwell and is said to share the club’s disappointment and surprise at the verdict.
In a statement, Everton 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 the commission 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. Everton cannot comment on this matter any further until the appeal process has concluded.”
