Premier League club Everton has been docked 10 points as a result of a breach of the league’s profitability and sustainability rules back in 2021-22.
With the penalty, Everton suddenly drops into relegation territory after an independent commission determined they circumvented league financial requirements.
“During the proceedings, the club admitted it was in breach of the PSRs for the period ending season 2021-22 but the extent of the breach remained in dispute,” the league said in a statement.
“The Commission determined that Everton FC’s PSR Calculation for the relevant period resulted in a loss of £124.5 million ($154.7m), as contended by the Premier League, which exceeded the threshold of £105m permitted under the PSRs.”
Over the past 5 years, the Merseyside club has lost a staggering £430m, with their most recent figures showing yet another consecutive year in the red. Nevertheless, Everton has announced they plan to appeal the decision in due time.
“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 said in a statement.
“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.”
Everton aren’t the only club to come under the microscope for alleged financial misappropriations as Manchester City is currently under review by an independent commission as well. Since being purchased by the City Football Group, ManCity is alleged to have committed more than 100 breaches of finance rules under the PSR guidelines from the Premier League.
If the club were to be found guilty of a significant number of the allegations, they could be in line for an historic punishment given what was just doled out for Everton.
Photo: Graham Hogg. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.