Everton feel ‘vindicated’ after ten-point Premier League penalty is reduced to six
Everton have had their penalty for breaching Premier League financial rules reduced to six points following an appeal.
The Toffees were hit with a ten-point deduction last November after an independent commission found they had exceeded permitted losses under the league’s profitability and sustainability rules (PSR) by £19.5 million over an assessment period ending with the 2021-22 season. An independent appeal board has now cut that by four points, which moves the club on to 25 points in the table and up to 15th place.
The club face a second PSR complaint for breaching rules over the assessment period running to the end of last season. The complaint was laid on January 15 and under standard directions for PSR cases agreed by top-flight clubs last summer, the commission hearing in that case must conclude no later than 12 weeks after that complaint, which would be April 8.
The appeal board’s summary said Everton relied on nine grounds of appeal against the initial ten-point sanction, seven of which related to how the original commission dealt with various mitigating and aggravating factors. Those seven were dismissed but the appeal board did conclude on the other two grounds that the original commission made legal errors.
The appeal board found the original commission was wrong in finding Everton had been “less than frank” in relation to what they told the Premier League about debt linked to their new stadium, and finding that in being so the club had breached a league rule requiring an obligation to act in utmost good faith. While Everton’s representations regarding the stadium were found to be materially wrong, it was not the Premier League’s case that that was anything other than an innocent mistake. The appeal board also found it was wrong of the commission not to take into account available benchmarks for sanction, such as EFL guidelines.
Everton released a statement, saying that the club were “satisfied” and felt “vindicated” following news of the revised sanction.