Everton FC deducted 10 points for breaching Premier League FFP rules
Everton has been deducted 10 points for breaching the Premier League’s Financial Fair Play rules.
The punishment, the biggest in Premier League history, takes effect immediately and will drop the Merseyside club into the Premier League’s relegation zone.
The club vigorously denied the charge.
In response, the club said it is both shocked and disappointed by the ruling of the Premier League’s Commission.
A statement said: “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.”
The Premier League had called on the Commission to impose the maximum 12 point sanction on the club for the alleged breaches.
The League launched the probe following a fifth consecutive pre-tax loss revealed in Everton’s latest accounts earlier this year.
Profit and Sustainability rules mean clubs cannot lose more than £105m over a three-year period. Everton has suffered a £313.5m loss for the previous three years.
The club says an element of that was due to COVID-19 restrictions. It said it has worked closely with the Premier League on its accounts, and denies breaching any FFP rules.
Everton was charged with one alleged breach of the rules.
Current champions, Manchester City, has a 114-charge sheet hanging over its head.
A Premier League statement said: “The Premier League issued a complaint against the club and referred the case to an independent Commission earlier this year. During the proceedings, the club admitted it was in breach of the PSRs (Profitability 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 FC’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.”
Liverpool FC legend, and boyhood Everton fan, Jamie Carragher, said the punishment was “excessive and not right” and suggested Everton was the victim of a bid by the Premier League to avoid the proposed imposition of an official football regulator by the Government.
He said on X, formerly Twitter: “The 10 point deduction for Everton is excessive & not right, considering they have been working with the PL about this for the last couple of years.
“Would it have been better to be evasive & try & drag it out like other clubs?
“No doubt relegated clubs will have put big pressure on the PL to deal with Everton, but when you consider 6 clubs tried to leave the PL & there was no sanction at all it doesn’t feel right.
“Until other clubs are sanctioned Everton will feel they are being used to show there is no need for an independent regulator, and they are right.”
Dame Caroline Dinenage, who was elected Chair of the Culture, Media and Sport Committee in May 2023, called on the Government to enact law to introduce a regulator as soon as possible following the ruling. She said on X: “Today’s announcement will be deeply disappointing for
@Everton fans & all who wants to see English football thrive.
“The status quo can’t continue the Football Governance Bill announced in #KingsSpeech must be introduced urgently & statutory independent regulator put in place ASAP.”
Steve Rotheram
Liverpool City Region Mayor, Stever Rotheram, a Liverpool fan, said on X: “This is an excessive and grossly unfair punishment for a single charge – and makes a rod for the PL’s back in future.
“I’ll be supporting the club in their appeal and writing to the Premier League to ask them to rescind it.
“This is about fairness, not partisan rivalry.”
