Evertonians are like elephants. They have long memories. Clive Thomas. Alan Hansen's handball. Heysel. Mark Clattenburg. Graham Poll. Pierluigi Collina. And an incident that neatly encapsulated the infuriating meddling with and inconsistent application of the laws of the game: the Niasse Precedent, where the cult anti-hero was one of only two players to ever be punished under the ludicrously short-lived policy of retrospectively banning players for "seeking to deceive the match officials", aka diving (which he didn't actually do!) in a game against Crystal Palace in 2017.
Niasse was the first to be hit with a two-match suspension in this way; Manuel Lanzini of West Ham was the second, before the directive just melted away without any explanation, acknowledgement or public discussion and the likes of Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane made great hay of the ensuing leniency.
If it feels like history is about to repeat but writ much larger with the points deductions being handed out to Everton and Nottingham Forest just before the current framework around handling the breach of Premier League Profitability and Sustainability Rules is tossed out the window in August on the basis of it not being fit for purpose, it's because it looks very much like it will.
Leicester City may well start next season with a negative points tally for their alleged PSR breach but unless the unexpected happens and Chelsea, Manchester City, or both, are finally hauled before an independent commission and made to answer for the transgressions their respective leaders have committed down the years, then the Blues will have set another unwanted first and remain in very select company for being punished in this way.
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Much has been written on these pages about the twists and turns of the Premier League's campaign to bring Everton to justice for their financial crimes (for the avoidance of doubt, the Farhad Moshiri regime has been guilty of colossal mis-management of the Club's finances and they did breach the threshold) by meting out sporting penalties that have been layered on top of a quasi-transfer embargo for the past three years that has left the Toffees among the lowest-placed teams in terms of net spend over the past five years.
To these eyes, the loud and proud accusation of "Corrupt!" levelled at the Premier League by righteously indignant and incandescent Evertonians never sat easily for someone who always tries to see things from the other perspective (in this case, a regulatory body finally imposing the rules the 20 member clubs at the time agreed to in 2013).
But, when added to the almost "show trial" feel of the original "Independent" Commission, the revelations made in the reports from the successive independent and appeal panels of the conduct and wishes of Richard Masters and company increasingly paint a picture of, at best, grievous incompetence and inconsistency or, at worst, a flat-out witch hunt.
Having failed to establish any kind of transparent sanctions framework on which the various Commissions could base their recommendations until the last minute (that proposal was, of course, thrown out by the panel that heard Everton's appeal of the original 10-point deduction in January), the League put forth their recommendation that the club be hit with the maximum penalty of 12 points.
For the second Commission, that convened last month and returned its verdict yesterday, the Premier League pushed for a further five-point sanction. For those keeping score, that is SEVENTEEN points that the entity that runs top-flight football in this country wanted to impose on a founding member club by refusing to entertain any of its heads of mitigation and seeking to punish it twice in the same season, a first for the top tier of the English game.
Without any further context, you could be forgiven for thinking that Masters and his cohorts were hell-bent on relegating Everton to make the clearest and mosgt glaring example of them in an attempt to ward off the threat of an independent regulator prising control of the league away from them. (Curiously, Forest have been spared the worst of the Premier League's wrath and only been levied 50% of the punishment meted out to Everton despite breaching the upper threshold of allowable losses by almost double.)
It was hugely telling that, in point 256 of their report, the second Commission that heard the charges for Everton's 2022-23 PSR breach observed:
"In our view, many if not most of the criticisms levelled against the Club in this respect by the PL are unwarranted, overstated, or both. In our view, the Club has indeed cooperated with the PL in the presentation of these proceedings according to the Standard Directions (to which the Club consented from the outset) albeit in a manner that protected (quite properly) the interests of the Club."
Taken with the way in which the Appeal Board slapped down both the Premier League's desire for a 12-point penalty and the first Commission's decision to impose 10 (entirely without precedent and obviously more than the sanction for going into Administration), as well as determining that the first Commission had acted illegally in two clear ways, this is a welcome and necessary rebuke of the PL.
And yet, yesterday's decision, which recommended the levy of a two-point deduction on top of the reduced six following the appeal, is not the clean slate that Evertonians were hoping they would get after the Club's second appeal is heard in the coming weeks.
Because, later this year, the same Commission that sat last month will reconvene to hear the Premier League dispute of Everton's insistence that PS6.5m of capitalised loan interest doesn't count as a loss for the purposes of PSR. If the Club loses, they could face yet another points deduction which would take effect next season... and that's before you even get to the possibility that the Blues might be found in breach of PSR for the 2023-24 financial year in eight months' time.
It's an exhausting quagmire that will keep sucking Everton back down at a time of enormous financial hardship and uncertainty over its future and ever lengthening what looks to be an impossibly long road back to ever achieving what the new ground at Bramley-Moore Dock was designed to help attain and that is the Club competing at the right end of the Premier League table and for silverware.
The cynics - those who saw the mild slap on the wrist that the PL gave the Shameless Six (who, apparently, have each yet to pay the PS3m "goodwill" fine they agreed to in the spring of 2021) - will say, "that's the point" and there are times, like now, when it's hard to argue with them. England's top flight has never felt so imbalanced, corrupted and futile for "the other 14".
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Posted 09/04/2024 at 07:33:46
Great article Lyndon, Clive Thomas, Alan Robinson and Mark Clattenberg were all cheating bastards who all wanted them bastards to beat us and they had the power to make sure it happened! We were robbed of a 1977 FA Cup Final and Winners of The 1984 Milk Cup Final. Talking of this season the derby game again we were cheated by the ref who refused to send off their player. The pens denied to us at Fulham, Bournemouth. The disallowed goals at home to Fulham and away at Spurs. Heysel in 1985 that of course never gets a mention because the media are shit scared of those bastards, if we had caused it we would have been banned for 10 years! That lot got 1 extra year than all the other English clubs!! Why no point deductions for them?? 39 points maybe??
Posted 09/04/2024 at 07:53:49
Lyndon I appreciate you try to be Mr. Nice Guy but at the end of the day it appears even you have seen the "light"From day one I, and many others, have used the word "corrupt" I believe that is still the case. Mitigations that were put forward in the initial commission and rejected, were accepted in the second.Deductions on the day of the initial commission were not given until appeal. They were in our second and in the Forest commission.
The PL have admitted this process is not fit for purpose yet they still apply it - but not to others, and without doubt next season the big transgressors will still evade punishment while we will still be in the crosshairs of the PL
This witch hunt against us has to be called for what it is, "corrupt"
Posted 09/04/2024 at 07:54:49
Interesting comments and support from our former player Andros Townsend. Link
I think most of the football world know this is wrong. By all means punish, but make it consistent and apply to all. That isn't happening. It feels like we are being made scapegoats when there are worse offenders out there.
Get them properly regulated and held accountable. Their commissions seem about as independent as a former eastern European state in the Cold War.
Self-appointed and influenced.
We absolutely should fight this, but first and foremost, just win games.
Posted 09/04/2024 at 08:29:26
Excellent piece, Lyndon. But you omitted the further point about the speed and timing of the various processes.
The average junior magistrate could have looked at the evidence - Everton's accounts, the totally arbitrary limits - and decided in around five minutes flat that the club was "guilty" and imposed a penalty of some type.
But no. The process was dragged out for no perceivable reason, leaks were made constantly during this time. The same thing was done with the appeal.
The effect, of course, was the demoralisation of the club, players and, naturally, fans. Much of sport is about the spirit and morale of the players, if you think the game is rigged you don't, generally play as well. And it is interesting that even after the interminable appeal, second charge, no decision on 777, we immediately have a press briefed about yet another charge for some utterly trivial matter about permissibility of interest charges.
Frankly, I want the fate of the EPL to be the same as that of the Tory party in the next election. Utter, final, irreversibly destruction.
Salt the very foundations of this corrupt game.
PS if the penalty for PS3 million over spend is 1 point, what is the going rate for a murdered Italian?
Posted 09/04/2024 at 08:46:02
Lyndon, in all of this you have to ask, what the hell are the other 14 clubs doing to put an end to this blatant misuse of power. One should remember that the shareholders of the PL, the clubs and FA, are sitting idly by, have the no say over the actions of the executive? Or are they just thankful no-one is looking at them (yet)? Why are not the club actively seeking to stop this executive from doing what they want in their name?
Whose interests are being served in going after Everton, Forest and probably Leicester when a host of others, Newcastle, Villa, City, Chelsea et al, are bordering on possible sanctions.. did the clubs actually intend to give the Executive Carte Blanche in determining sanctions and the non existent independent commission?
The executive refused a parliamentary commission access to minutes for very good reason, they knew what it was doing meant they could be justifiably be accused of a witch hunt, or the whole process seen as scapegoating to prevent a regulator being appointed.
Someone somewhere has access to these minutes, a whistle-blower is required to blow the lid off this disgraceful episode and ensure a passing resemblance to transparency is forced upon them.
Frankly, the way I feel about it I wouldn't be mortified if we were relegated, because change has to happen and this whole sorry saga needs to see the light of day and shown for what it is, incompetence, self interest and corruption.
Posted 09/04/2024 at 08:49:49
A well scribed article with knowledge and from the heart, and as you say Lyndon, when we get to August and the rules are re-written in favour of the asset rich clubs, who have broken the rules, but will go unpunished because the Premier League will not tarnish their names, as the knock on effect would be to return trophies, banish them to lower leagues on massive points deductions, and also tarnish the Premier League's reputation. That will not happen! Everton's appeal on the latest points deduction should raise concerns along the lines that you have written, and Everton should start to refuse to co-operate, until such times that Man City and Chelsea are dealt with, in order to judge the benchmark of Everton's punishment. Then and only then, should we accept any punishment.
Everton Plc is a business and Premier League decisions are affecting our trading, our partnerships, with sponsorship and our very existence and because of this Everton should be heading to the courts, even using Laissez-Faire, and not to interfere with Everton's business.
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