Uncertainty over the best way to take care of breaches of financial regulations is “making a mockery of the Premier League”, says Luton Town midfielder Andros Townsend.
They announce that they are going to appeal against this decision, but the process will not be accomplished before the end of the season.
This could leave clubs uncertain about their top-flight status after May 19.
PSR rules allow clubs to lose £105m over three years, and Everton was found to have exceeded this amount by £16.6m over the three-year period ending 2022-23.
The points deduction dropped Everton one place to sixteenth in the Premier League, two points above the relegation zone.
The Toffees had it too Deduction of 10 points reduced to 6 on appeal in February for a three-year period until 2021-22 Nottingham Forest had 4 points deducted for PSR violations in March and are awaiting the end result of the appeal.
Luton are only inside the relegation zone – separated from Seventeenth-placed Forest by goal difference – and Townsend says his club continues to have a look at the league as if no points have been deducted because of the uncertainty surrounding hearings and appeals processes.
“We don’t know what will happen with the cancellations,” the former Everton player told BBC Radio 5 Live nightclub on Monday.
“We probably celebrated when Everton took 10 points off them and then they got four back and we were back in the relegation zone. So we remove the deductions to avoid confusion and we will see the season at the end of the game.”
Townsend said he was not in favor of teams deducting points and that the way they were awarded “made no sense.”
He added: “I think it’s a mockery of the Premier League. When you announce an indictment, you have to be sure that points will be deducted.”
Technically, the 2023-24 season stays ‘lively’ until the annual general meeting in June, when relegated clubs will hand over their certificates, with May 24 chosen as the ‘cut-off date’ for completing the appeals process.
Townsend said he didn’t think clubs expected penalties for breaking the rules to be “so severe.”
“Everton would know they would not breach their £105m debt limit because they spent £30m in the summer,” he said.
“They spent this amount knowing they would not meet the £105 million target. I think the clubs just thought it would be a punishment and a slap on the wrist and went along with it.”
The Premier League asked for a five-point deduction for Everton, but the independent commission found that the undeniable fact that Everton had already been penalized this season “for losses in years overlapping with those at issue in these proceedings” merited a two-point reduction in the penalty .
Another point was returned for loss of income after the suspension of the sponsorship contract with the Russian company USM and the earlier admission of guilt.
“We know what we have to do to stay in the Premier League.”
Despite uncertainty over when the appeals process might end, Everton fan and host of The Blue Room podcast Peter MacFarlane believes this latest deduction will provide them – if not their relegation rivals – with clarity.
“There should be some relief because it looks like this is coming to an end,” he told BBC Radio 5 Live.
“I feel like we’ve been in the dark since November – we didn’t really know where we were in the league after deducting points.
“Even though we had more points taken away, it’s disappointing and how unfair we can feel about it, but at least we know what we have to do to stay in the Premier League.”
Everton faces games against relegated Nottingham Forest, Sheffield United and Luton, in addition to the Merseyside derby scheduled for April 24 and an away match against Arsenal on the final day of the season.
“It was hard to keep morale high – or, to be honest, any morale at all. We just have to go out now, win and stay in the Premier League,” MacFarlane said.
“It was difficult to score points at home given the atmosphere around the stadium, but Evertonians have to unite and I know that’s what we do best when our backs are against the wall.”
“No consequences” – evaluation
Football finance expert Kieran Maguire on BBC Radio 5 Live
The points reduction from five to two is correct as Everton have already been penalized for breaking the rules in 2021 and 2022 regarding first deduction.
I don’t think the club is treated harshly there and I don’t think the opposing clubs are treated harshly.
A separate issue is why the Premier League waited so long to accuse Everton of the first series of offenses. Why didn’t this happen last season (2022-23)? But that opens another can of worms.
It’s terrifying to think that we can get to the end of the season and still not know who will be relegated.
The Premier League wanted to deduct 10 points from Everton in the first round, eight points from Forest and five points from Everton in the second round, and when you look at it, there is no consistency.
Why were Everton deducted more points than Forest?
Everton have had six points deducted for the three-year period to 2021-22 for losses of £19.5m in excess of the permitted £105m threshold, while Nottingham Forest have had four points deducted for exceeding the permitted £61m threshold by £34.5m in the three years : period until 2022–23.
The Toffees argued at the hearing that this was unfair and that Forest had exceeded the threshold significantly more – 56.6% in one reporting period – compared to a combined total of 34% (£36.1m) in two reporting periods.
The commission says Forest’s original penalty was six points, but two points were awarded for “early acceptance and exceptional cooperation” in the process, which the Premier League says Everton failed to do.
The Commission also added that the decision taken in the Everton case was “substantially consistent” with the decision made in the Forest case, concluding that Everton’s penalty was “justifiably higher” because it had exceeded the threshold in two consecutive financial years.
With this in mind, the committee said it “doesn’t consider” Everton’s deduction of second points to be “excessive, unfair to Everton or disproportionate” in comparison with Forest’s decision.
Meanwhile, the Toffees said in a statement that the club was “very concerned” about the “inconsistency” of penalties, with 4 different points deducted by 4 different committees this season.
Credit : www.bbc.co.uk
