Everton stripped of 10 points in the Premier League, deepening the team’s crisis

Everton, a founding member of England’s Premier League that has fallen into financial crisis, faced even more pain on Friday after being handed a 10-point penalty for violating the league’s financial rules. The punishment sent Everton to the bottom of the league table and left them facing the threat of relegation from England’s top division at the end of the season.

The announcement of a points penalty came as no surprise as the Premier League was under pressure to act. by rival teams angry at Everton’s rule violations. But the decision will deepen the crisis that has engulfed Everton, one of English soccer’s oldest teams, at a time when its future has been shrouded in a cloud of hundreds of millions of dollars in debt.

An independent league commission that heard the case against Everton for breaching the league’s sustainability and profit rules announced the punishment. He said the penalty, the largest in Premier League history, should be applied immediately, a result that sank the Blues to 19th place from their relatively safer position of 14th and with the same points total, 4, than last place Burnley.

At the end of each season, the bottom three teams in the Premier League table are relegated from the division to the second division championship.

Everton said it was “shocked and disappointed” by the magnitude of the penalty and immediately announced its intention to appeal.

“The club believes that the Commission has imposed a totally disproportionate and unfair sporting sanction,” Everton said in a declaration on their website. “The club has already communicated its intention to appeal the decision to the Premier League.”

The team’s perilous financial situation has required regular injections of cash from external sources to allow the club to continue operating. The most recent loan came from 777 Partners, an American group that agreed to acquire the historic club in September. That deal has yet to be approved by the Premier League and the Financial Conduct Authority, a regulator, amid questions about 777 Partners’ own finances.

The Premier League referred Everton to an independent commission in March after Everton posted financial losses for the fifth consecutive year. Under league regulations, teams cannot lose more than 105 million pounds, or $130 million, over a three-year period. Everton acknowledged violating those rules from the fiscal year to 2022.

The panel, according to a 41-page written rulingagreed with the Premier League’s assessment that Everton had exceeded the allowable amount of losses by £19.5 million (nearly $25 million).

The magnitude of the penalty imposed on Everton raises the possibility of a much larger penalty that could await the league’s dominant team, Manchester City. The club has been accused of 115 rule violations related to its financial disclosures. That case, now in its fifth year, has not yet reached a conclusion; is being heard by a panel similar to the one that decided the Everton case.

While the loss of points seriously increases Everton’s chances of suffering a costly demotion to the second tier for the first time in their history, the low point totals so far earned by some of their relegation rivals may still allow them to escape. Even with their 10-point penalty, Everton are only 2 points behind Luton Town, and the team is in 17th place, the last position that offers security and a place in the league for next season.

A spokesperson for 777 Partners said the company had no comment on the punishment or any effect it would have on its proposed acquisition, because that process is ongoing. Their proposed agreement contains contingencies for point deductions and even a possible demotion.

Part of the reason Everton’s punishment was so severe, the panel said, was related to a claim, confirmed by the panel, that the team had not interacted with the league in good faith, a claim the team continues. rejecting

“Both the harshness and severity of the sanction imposed by the Commission are not a fair or reasonable reflection of the evidence presented,” Everton said.