Everton fans have hit out at the Premier League over what they see as “inconsistency” in the sanctions issued for breaches of the league’s financial rules.
The club were docked two points by an independent commission on Monday for an overspend under the league’s profitability and sustainability rules (PSR) in the period ending with the 2022-23 season.
Everton will appeal against the sanction, having already had a 10-point penalty imposed last November for a PSR breach covering the period up to the 2021-22 season cut to six on appeal.
Nottingham Forest were given a four-point sanction for breaching PSR last month which is also the subject of an appeal.
A statement from the Everton Fan Advisory Board (FAB) highlighted the four different outcomes from the commission hearings to date, arguing that they leave supporters “with more questions than answers”.
“The only consistency throughout has been the inconsistency,” the statement added.
“From the outset, it has been made clear that Everton Football Club has a case to answer, however the only certainty we have is the PL’s failure to provide transparent, fair and effective regulation of its own rules.”
The Premier League does not have a sanctioning framework for PSR breaches. Clubs – understood to include Everton – opted against bringing one in when the matter was discussed at a meeting in 2020.
Top-flight clubs are now working on new financial rules to ultimately replace PSR, which could be approved as early as the league’s annual general meeting in June.
The FAB statement also criticised the league over what it perceived as “inaction” over the proposed takeover of the club by American investment firm 777 Partners.
That, combined with the perceived inconsistency on sanctioning, meant the league had “brought a palpable level of sporting interference to Everton’s doorstep”, the FAB said.
The FAB also criticised the commission’s ruling that the FAB and its impact statement had no standing in the case.
“The PL Independent Commission’s decision to refuse to consider the views and impact on supporters could not be further from the Premier League’s rhetoric about the importance and value of fan input,” the FAB statement continued.
“It raises real concern that the PL continues to erode the trust and good faith of football’s biggest asset – supporters.”
The commission said in its written reasons that it would not be appropriate to give standing to the impact statement, adding: “As a matter of principle, it would be wrong for the views of Everton FAB to impact the appropriate sanction, particularly in circumstances where the supporters of other clubs would undoubtedly have other views they would ask us to consider.”
The FAB statement again called for football’s independent regulator, which is set for its second reading in Parliament after the Easter recess, to have the requisite power to oversee such matters.
However, the Government has repeatedly stressed it will continue to be the responsibility of the Premier League to set the rules for its competition even after the regulator passes into law.
Under the PSR standard directions, Everton’s appeal hearing must conclude no later than May 24 – which would be after the last round of fixtures on May 19.
The outcome of the appeal against the two-point deduction must be announced before the June 1 ‘backstop date’, meaning the league table could be further updated some time after the last ball has been kicked.
The commission which imposed the two-point penalty on Monday will also have to rule on a dispute between the club and the league over the status of certain costs which the club say are associated with the building of their new stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock, though this element sits outside the standard directions and does not therefore need to be resolved before June 1.
The Premier League has been approached for comment.
Barcelona must 'work hard' to achieve Champions League glory, says Flick
Hansi Flick tempered expectations of Barcelona's chances of silverware in his first season in charge ahead of facing Red Star Belgrade in the Champions League.
Flick has led Barca to 13 wins from 15 games in all competitions, scoring 50 goals in those games while conceding just 14 times.
Some standout matches have seen Barca thrash Clasico rivals Real Madrid 4-0 while also brushing aside Bayern Munich 4-1 in the Champions League in their last match in the competition.
While Flick understood the fans' excitement after those results, he urged his side to keep their feet on the ground with a long season still in front of them.
"We have to work hard. There are many teams who dream of the same thing, of winning (the Champions League)," Flick said.
"For the moment, we're going to focus on working hard and grinding out, so then we'll see what happens. We have to focus on our goal which is to keep improving.
"A team's form fluctuates a lot over a long season. The important thing is to focus on winning the next match. Sure, after the match against Bayern everything changed.
"But we are just starting. The important thing is how we finish the season. We could say that our goal is to be in the top eight."
Flick, however, insisted he was not surprised by his side's impressive start to the campaign despite enduring a trophyless season last term.
Barca are nine points clear at the top of LaLiga and 11th in the Champions League table ahead of facing Red Star, who are without a win from their three games so far.
"Before we came here we analysed the whole team, every player. We realised that there was very good quality overall," Flick said.
"Another thing to point out is that we wanted to improve how we defend and did small changes in the way we play. The players liked it and they are happy working on it.
"The players play a big role, they are helping us a lot.
"The start was already good on the pre-season in North American and the players are very happy, although there are still many things to improve."
And Barca will be confident of keeping their fine form going against a side that has lost 81% of their matches in the Champions League (P21 W2 D2 L17).
This is the first European meeting between the two sides since October 1996 in the Cup Winners’ Cup, a 1-1 draw with Giovanni cancelling out a Zoran Jovicic's opener for the Serbians.
PSV 4-0 Girona: Dutch side get first win of Champions League
PSV Eindhoven won their first match in the Champions League this season as they thrashed Girona 4-0 at the Philips Stadion on Tuesday.
Ryan Flamingo got the scoring under way after 16 minutes as he turned Malik Tillman's long throw home, despite replays showing that it should have been disallowed as Tillman's foot was over the byline before releasing the ball.
Tillman got himself on the scoresheet 17 minutes later with a fine finish after he arribed into the box unopposed.
Things went from bad to worth for Girona after half-time, with Arnau Martinez receiving a red card 10 minutes into the second half for a second bookable offence.
From then, it was all one-way traffic and PSV might feel aggrieved not to have won by a bigger margin given their glut of second-half chances.
Ismael Saibari was next to put the ball in the back of the net, although his effort was ruled out for a foul in the build-up following a VAR review.
Johan Bakayoko did get PSV's third with seven minutes to go, before a Ladislav Krejci own goal wrapped up the rout in the 88th minute. The result leaves Girona 26th in the table on three points, while PSV are 19th with five points.
Odegaard returns to full Arsenal training ahead of Inter tie
Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard has returned to full training after spending two months out of action with an ankle injury.
Odegaard has missed 12 matches for the Gunners in all competitions after damaging his ankle ligaments against Austria while on international duty with Norway in September.
The 25-year-old midfielder trained with Arsenal ahead of their trip to the San Siro to face Inter in the Champions League on Wednesday.
Mikel Arteta's side have, however, struggled in Odegaard's absence recently, failing to win any of their last three games in the Premier League.
In the seven games that Odegaard has missed in the top-flight, Arsenal's win percentage dropped from 66.7% to 42.9% after going unbeaten in their first three games.
The Gunners have also averaged 1.6 points per game without Odegaard, compared to 2.3 points won with the Norwegian in their ranks.
SportsMax is the Caribbean sports channel of choice, committed to providing sporting content of the highest quality to the Caribbean, delivered by a team of highly innovative, passionate and qualified professionals.
(876) 619-7629
digitalmedia@sportsmax.tv
