Everton’s 10-point Premier League penalty reduced on appeal
Everton’s points deduction has been reduced from 10 points to six points, the Premier League has announced, in a significant boost to their hopes of avoiding relegation.
The Goodison Park club were hit with a 10-point penalty earlier this season after breaching the league’s Profitability and Sustainability Rules (PSRs).
It plunged Sean Dyche’s side into danger at the bottom of the English top flight, but an appeal against the sanction has seen the severity reduced.
It means Everton climb two places in the table above Nottingham Forest and Brentford, moving from 21 points to 25 points and now five points clear of Luton, who currently occupy the final relegation place.
The Toffees could face a second points deduction this season following a charge over another breach of the Premier League’s PSR rules in January.
The league said in a statement in January that this was “a result of sustaining losses above the permitted thresholds for the assessment period ending season 2022-23”.
The Premier League said that it was due to “a result of sustaining losses above the permitted thresholds for the assessment period ending season 2022-23”.
Figures for the 2022-23 season are still to be disclosed, Everton suffered a loss of £260m over the course of two Covid-19-impacted seasons.
“An independent appeal board has concluded that the sanction for Everton FC’s breach of the Premier League’s Profitability and Sustainability Rules, for the period ending season 2021-22, will be an immediate six-point deduction,” a statement from the Premier League said.
“This follows the club’s appeal of an independent commission’s decision in November 2023 to impose a 10-point deduction for the club’s breach of the PSRs.
“The appeal was heard over three days earlier this month, by an appeal board comprising Sir Gary Hickinbottom (chair), Daniel Alexander KC and Katherine Apps KC.
“Everton FC appealed the sanction imposed against it on nine grounds, each of which related to the sanction rather than the fact of the breach, which the club admitted.
“Two of those nine grounds were upheld by the appeal board, which has substituted the original points deduction of 10 for six.
“This revised sanction has immediate effect and the Premier League table will be updated today to reflect this.”
The financial strain on Everton was further heightened in recent years following the departure of manager Frank Lampard, while lucrative commercial partnerships with entities connected to sanctioned oligarch Alisher Usmanov amid the conflict in Ukraine were suspended.
Everton are not alone in battling penalties related to PSR rules, with Nottingham Forest also adjudged to have broken the rules.
Forest signed 42 players following promotion back to the top flight in May 2022, with owner Evangelos Marinakis splashing out around £250m in a push to solidify their Premier League status.
