Everton are still appealing the charges brought from the first time they have been accused of breaching the Profit & Sustainability Rules that the Premier League appear to be legislating on the fly, and now will be hit with more charges per an announcement released today.
The club has released a statement saying that the league has referred them once again to the (not so) independent commission for breaches in rules that cover the period ending in 2022/23, when it still contains the years for which they have been charged with. The Premier League uses a rolling three-year window to govern the spending rules, with the two COVID years being combined into one period, which then invokes the double jeopardy situation where Everton are once again being charged with overspending as it still contains the years when the Toffees saw their sponsorship gains mitigated with USM Holdings blacklisted and resulting in bigger losses attributed to the new stadium construction.
Here is the club’s full statement –
Everton Football Club acknowledges the Premier League’s decision to refer a breach of Profit & Sustainability rules (PSR) for the assessment period ending with the 2022/23 season to an independent Premier League commission.
This relates to a period which covers seasons 2019/20, 2020/21, 2021/22 and 2022/23. It therefore includes financial periods (2019/20, 2020/21 and 2021/22) for which the Club has already received a 10-point sanction.
The Club is currently appealing that sanction. The Premier League does not have guidelines which prevent a Club being sanctioned for alleged breaches in financial periods which have already been subject to punishment, unlike other governing bodies, including the EFL. As a result – and because of the Premier League’s new commitment to deal with such matters “in-season” – the Club is in a position where it has had no option but to submit a PSR calculation which remains subject to change, pending the outcome of the appeal.
The Club must now defend another Premier League complaint which includes the very same financial periods for which it has already been sanctioned, before that appeal has even been heard. The Club takes the view that this results from a clear deficiency in the Premier League’s rules.
Everton can assure its fans that it will continue to defend its position during the ongoing appeal and, should it be required to do so, at any future commission – and that the impact on supporters will be reflected as part of that process.
The club has laid out their stance very clearly, that they are being forced to defend their spending during a period where the accounting is not very clear since the initial appeal has yet to be heard and therefore the final loss numbers are subject to change again.
Everton are not alone in the crosshairs of this latest salvo from the Premier League with Nottingham Forest also mentioned for similar charges.
The haphazard manner in which the Premier League has conducted itself continues to bring the game into disrepute in what is supposedly the biggest and best league in the world where headscratching refereeing decisions continue to be made with alarming regularity.
More to come on this one.
