Everton will have their points deduction reduced from 10 points after their appeal is heard by a new independent panel.
That is the opinion of finance expert Kieran Maguire, who exclusively told Football Insider that the punishment handed to the Toffees was at the ‘upper end of the scale’.
Following a hearing in front of an independent panel, Everton were ruled to have breached financial and sustainability rules and handed a 10-point deduction.
Under Premier League rules, clubs are allowed to record an overall loss of £105million over a three-year period, but Everton topped that figure by an additional £19.5million.
The points deduction dropped Sean Dyche’s side joint-bottom of the Premier League table with four points.
However, the Merseyside club are set to appeal the decision after stating that the outcome of their case was ‘wholly disproportionate and unjust’.
Maguire is confident that Everton will be returned a fraction of their points after their appeal is heard.
“Everton’s punishment is broadly in line with the suggested tariff of the Premier League, although the commission didn’t take that into consideration,” Maguire told Football Insider’s Sean Fisher.
“It’s certainly at the upper end of the scale.
“Given that this is very much a test case, I think there is certainly justification for saying it should have been a smaller points deduction with a further deduction suspended.
“The commission then could have made it very clear that future indiscretions from a financial point of view would have been treated more severely and to give guidance to clubs.
“I think one of the frustrations from Everton’s point of view is that the breach was only £20million over three years.
“Now that is a lot of money to the average person in the street, but to a business which is turning over £200million a year – you could argue that it’s less so.
“There’s a lot of things to be learned from it.
“We know the Premier League were pushing for 12 points and I think they were trying to use that as a benchmark going forwards.
“But I think Everton will not end up with 10 points once the appeal has been heard.“
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