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Arun - December 6, 2023
As you’ve probably heard by now, Everton was sanctioned hard because of breaching the financial fair play regulations of the EPL. More precisely, the Merseyside team was deducted ten points roughly two weeks ago and are now solid relegation contenders. Mind you, that’s the harshest points deduction in the history of the English Premier League.
The news didn’t just shock the folks at Goodison Park but the entire Premier League. The sanctions echoed throughout the league, with many experts predicting other teams might experience the same, if not worse sanctions.
Let’s talk about that!
As explained in the intro, Everton was deducted 10 points because of breaching profitability and sustainability regulations. Their 2021/22 end-of-the-season loss amounted to 124.5 million GBP which was higher than the maximum allowed amount of 105 million GBP.
As things stand right now, Everton has just 4 points and is the second team from the bottom, but only on goal difference. In fact, lots of safe gambling sites have adjusted their offerings to reflect the post-deduction Everton points tally. And, according to the latest rumors, they might have to redo their calculations as more teams could be in trouble for breaking the financial fair play rules.
Sean Dyche’s men have to be optimistic, though. There’s more than half a season left to play and they’re only 5 points behind the relegation zone. While the start to their 23/24 season wasn’t the greatest, they should be much more consistent than the likes of Burnley, Sheffield, and Luton.
Rumor has it that Everton’s 10 points deduction could be slightly reduced. However, the more we wait, the less likely we’re going to see and reduction to the initial ruling.
It’s no secret that the Premier League allegedly already found several breaches in City’s financial records. But, City’s breaches are nothing like Everton’s. The reports suggest Manchester City create an environment in which they had an unfair advantage over other clubs between 2009 and 2018. More precisely, the club is facing more than 100 breaches over the span of 9 seasons.
If the ruling deems this as true, City could be facing a much more severe sanction than Everton. We’re not talking about a mere points deduction here. We’re talking about a fully-fledged relegation… to the Championship, or even worse.
Obviously, Everton fans are outraged that their team got 10 points deducted and Manchester City still hasn’t been properly sanctioned after years of bypassing EPL regulations. It’s only a matter of time we see the final ruling on Manchester City and, at this point, I’m honestly afraid of what it could do to EPL’s competitive ecosystem.
The EPL financial fair play regulation are quite strict. The same goes for the profitability and sustainability regulations too. That said, it’s no wonder other teams could easily be affected too.
By other teams, I’m mostly referring to Chelsea. Why is that? Well, because of incomplete financial information – that’s why.
You see, Chelsea has several incomplete financial data related to transactions dating back to the period between 2012 and 2019. These transactions happened during the era of Chelsea’s former boss Roman Abramovich.
The new American owners came clean to the Premier League and reported these transactions. Now it’s up to the EPL to figure out what to do with that information, see if it can be traced, and sanction Chelsea accordingly.
