Everton Football Club has confirmed it will appeal the shock Premier League decision to deduce the Toffees of 10 points.
The sanction comes as a result of the club breaching the profit and sustainability rules during the 2021-22 season.
Profit and sustainability rules ensure that clubs are only allowed to lose a certain amount of money – Everton’s losses exceeded that, which were allowed within the framework.
It came during a challenging period for the Toffees as investor Alisher Usmanov was sanctioned as the pandemic was ongoing. It also fell during a time when the club was investing heavily and looking to improve club infrastructure.
Everton responded with a statement that 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.”
It’s a penalty that is the largest in Premier League history, eclipsing Portsmouth’s nine point deduction when they went into administration in 2010.
The Premier League detailed: “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.”
It leaves Toffees second from bottom two with a total of four points, two points away from Luton in 17th, underlining the significant nature of the deduction and its impact on Everton’s season.
