Everton has been found guilty of breaching the Premier League’s profit and sustainability rules. A 10-point deduction has been imposed, in a ruling that will send shockwaves through the division — although the club, the ECHO reports, intends to appeal the decision.
Any punishment from an ‘FFP’ case has to be celebrated as good news for Liverpool. Far too often, the financial regulations in the Premier League and in Europe have appeared to be all bark and no bite.
For owners like FSG, this is deeply frustrating. More than almost any other club at the top of the sport, Liverpool is committed to running sustainably, and Jürgen Klopp has been forced to compete on an uneven playing field.
Of course, that hasn’t proved much of a barrier in getting the better of Everton in recent seasons. That’s one of the most damning things for Liverpool’s oldest rival — all that money spent over the past few seasons, breaking the rules in the process, and the result has been just barely avoiding relegation.
But while that might be quite funny for Liverpool, it’s certainly not amusing for Leicester City, the side that finished 18th last season, just two points behind Everton. While Burnley is back in the Premier League now, it won’t be laughing either, having finished five points back in 2021/22 and faced the drop to the Championship.
Were Manchester City to be found guilty, there’s at least the possibility of stripping historical titles, which would go some way to righting any wrongs. But even this kind of redress is not possible in Everton’s case; titles can be awarded retrospectively, even if they may feel a little hollow, but clubs cannot be reinstated into the league.
It’s deeply ironic that this is the first season in three years where Everton looks as though it should be able to survive a 10-point deduction — with their improvement driven by Sean Dyche, manager of Burnley until the threat of relegation in 2021/22 led the board to make a (fruitless) change. Along with Sheffield United and Luton, the newly-promoted sides look historically weak, and Vincent Kompany’s team will still be bottom even after the points are taken away from the Blues.
Simply put, this does not really feel like justice. For the Manchester City case, where judgment will be delivered even more remotely from the alleged breaches, it’s hard to see a fair outcome, in the case of wrongdoings, ever being reached on the basis that it will arrive so far after the alleged misdemeanors.
