Everton have been docked 10 points after being found guilty of breaching Premier League financial fair play rules, the biggest points deduction in the competition’s history.
The penalty drops the club to second bottom, two points from safety. Everton, who had denied wrongdoing, believe a sporting punishment for an accountancy matter is disproportionate and inappropriate and have told the league they intend to appeal. The club said it was “shocked and disappointed”.
Leeds, Leicester and Burnley have previously written to Everton’s prospective new owners, 777 Partners, warning they intended to sue for damages in the event of a guilty verdict. All three clubs were relegated in the past two seasons when Everton narrowly survived.
Everton’s case was referred to an independent commission after an audit of Premier League clubs’ financial records for the 2021-22 season. Last year Burnley and Leeds wrote to the Premier League to question whether Everton had broken the rules.
Under Premier League rules, clubs are allowed to lose a maximum of £105 million (€120 million) over three years – and clubs who break its profitability and sustainability rules (PSRs) can be fined or deducted points.
An Everton statement said: “The club believes that the commission has imposed a wholly disproportionate and unjust sporting sanction ... 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.”
The Premier League said in a statement: “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.
“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.”
