Premier League changed rules during Everton case, says Andy Burnham
The Premier League should ‘null and void’ the decision to dock Everton 10 points amid an ‘an abuse of process’, former Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport Andy Burnham has said.
Burnham, the Mayor of Greater Manchester, has written to Premier League chair Alison Brittain, detailing a series of flaws which he argues undermine the unprecedented penalty imposed on Everton.
He has also urged Everton to abandon their appeal on the basis they will not be successful given the current guidelines.
Burnham says the most serious breach of process was the Premier League adopting a profit and sustainability sanctions policy as recently as August 10, when the case against Everton was already advancing.
“The first thing I want to start by saying is that I am not saying Everton Football Club does not have a case to answer, clearly it does have a case to answer,” said Burnham.
“But in some ways that is not the question. The question is, in this situation, has there been a fair process and having taken my time this week to study the judgment and speaking to a lot of people, I have concluded that there has not been a fair process. There has been a highly flawed process and I would go as far to say there has been an abuse of process.
“I have been a government minister and been very familiar with the world of regulations and regulatory practice and you cannot, in an ongoing case, create new policy in the middle of a case and then introduce it towards the end of it. It is what people would call regulatory malpractice. It is simply not possible to do that.”
In his letter to the Premier League chair, Burnham honed in on the shift of Premier League policy regarding punishment guidelines as recently as last summer.
“The fact the Premier League sought to introduce a new sanctions policy in the middle of this process amounts, in my view, to an abuse of process,” writes Burnham.
“I would argue that it should have had one in place before it commenced these proceedings and established this commission. Paragraph 89 [of the commission’s ruling] clearly registers the commission’s concern that it was set up on one basis by the Premier League and that there was an attempt to change it in the middle of the case.
“It could be argued that the Premier League handing a new penalty regime to the commission in this way is akin to the Government handing new sentencing guidelines to a judge in the middle of a particular trial.
“Any right-minded person would see that as an inappropriate attempt to influence due process. From my experience of regulation, introducing new rules in the late stages of a process would be regarded as regulatory malpractice.”
“The consensus is the Premier League pursued this as part of a political strategy’
Burnham also believes the threat of an independent regulator means the Premier League enforced a new sanctioning policy on the hoof.
“The overriding consensus is the Premier League pursued this presumptive action against Everton as part of a political strategy to fend off an independent statutory regulator,” Burnham wrote, his letter also dispatched to the current secretary for Culture, Media and Sport.
The Labour politician says he is intervening first and foremost as an Everton season ticket holder, but added his concerns are expressed on behalf of ‘anyone who cares about the integrity of the Premier League’, claiming that many top-flight clubs were in the dark about the change in sanctioning guidelines.
“What we have ended up with is the harsh penalty the Premier League clearly wanted,” writes Burnham.
“The only fair course of action that I can see from this is for the panel’s ruling to be declared null and void.”
Burnham, who attended Everton’s home game with Manchester United on Sunday, insisted his main complaint is about due process, and not that Everton were in breach of the rules.
Suggesting Everton’s appeal is futile, Burnham added: “I don’t want to see Everton go into an appeals process, because I don’t think it would be fair. We would be continuing with a demonstrably unfair process, so that’s the only way I see this can be fairly resolved, and I do think it is better for everybody that a quick decision is made now – we need the Premier League to address the point I have put to them, and to say clearly whether they are sticking with the process or whether they are abandoning it.
“There is no policy basis for that penalty and therefore how can an appeal be anything other than an arbitrary process given that there is no policy basis? On what basis can anyone ask for a reduction?
“I’m pretty certain in saying that none of the Premier League clubs have seen these rules. If that is the case and Everton are tried by a set of rules that no other club will be tried by again, how on earth does that enhance the integrity of the Premier League. How does that enhance the image of the Premier League around the world? It does the opposite. It damages what is a very, very successful league.
“I can’t see why it is in anyone’s interest to let this situation proceed. If there is going to be a new policy, as I understand it, it has to be approved by the 20 clubs, then goes in the handbook of the Premier League. That has not happened in this case.”
The Premier League did not have time to respond to Burnham before he published his letter on social media. However, the competition is understood to reject some of his key points, with key competition figures maintaining that it is customary in cases such as these for both sides to submit views on a potential sanction prior to verdict. The top tier is also understood to deny any suggestion the panel was not independent. The panel rejected some arguments made by both Everton and the Premier League before coming to its conclusions and subsequent 10-point deduction.
The league also insists the initial charge was unrelated to efforts to ward off the incoming regulator. One figure added that it had been a clear breach of Premier League rules and the club admitted guilt.
A good year for a 10-point deduction? No chance, United defeat shows Everton face grim relegation battle
First the penalty of 10 points. Now the punishment inflicted by Ten Hag.
Everton’s raging inferno was extinguished by Manchester United, all the fighting talk of a club galvanised by its sense of persecution stymied with the scissor-kick of Alejandro Garnacho.
Sean Dyche’s side may have been experiencing the first stage of trauma since receiving their Premier League punishment, the past few days dedicated to mobilisation exercises and choreographing home comforts, having been dragged into the bottom three.
By full-time in the 3-0 defeat, confidence of eventual safety had surrendered to the grim reality, the earsplitting pyrotechnics which preceded kick-off in stark contrast to the final 30 minutes played amid the fans’ silent anguish.
Everton went into this weekend believing they might be out of the relegation zone by Sunday night.
‘If Everton get out of this, it will be their greatest escape’
Instead, they trail Luton Town by five points with a daunting festive period ahead, making next week’s trip to Nottingham Forest critical to ensure they are not cast adrift.
Few of those hoisting banners of protest on the Gwladys Street will sway from the popular narrative that if Everton go down it will be the consequence of the flawed ruling of the Premier League’s independent commission. More analytical observers will consider the fact Dyche’s side has taken only four points from 21 at Goodison Park this season.
Keeping the home fires burning has been a recurring issue, especially when remembering Luton are one of the sides to have won here. Here was more evidence of it being too presumptuous that their recovery is a formality.
Forget all those noises about Burnley, Sheffield United, Luton and Bournemouth being hopeless, or of those optimistic predictions of Dyche’s side can comfortably preserve Premier League status with the lowest points tally ever.
Regardless of how weak some of those near the bottom are, if Everton get out of this it will be the greatest of all their recent escapes.
The circumstances ensure history must record it as such, as no other side has been given such a points deduction before and – other than Everton – no club has had so few points registered at this stage of the season and avoided relegation. Keeping Everton up will be Dyche’s greatest managerial achievement since he managed to do so last season. Anyone believing it will be straightforward must have reconsidered as United recovered from their erratic first half to ease to three points.
A good year to have a 10-point deduction? Not when your hands are tied in the January transfer market, you are reliant on the fitness of the only top-quality centre-forward in the squad, and the legacy of the overspending which caused so much distress means the squad remains as short of depth as it is.
The sympathy for Dyche, the players and coaching staff since they were punished for the sins of their hierarchy has been fully deserved. The executives who caused this mess remain in the shadows, but the harshness of the punishment should not whitewash their culpability and accountability.
It was not meant to go this way
The opening chapter in the planned revival was not meant to go this way; the first fixture since the 10-point deduction was supposed to be the evening when the fire and brimstone from spectators and players floored a bruised opponent and dispatched a defiant message to the Premier League’s rulemakers.
Instead, Dyche saw the same problems which preceded the recent encouraging spell, his side creating several chances but finding creative means by which to fail to take them.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Abdoulaye Doucoure and Idrissa Gueye were all culpable as Everton succeeded where few others have in this season and made Andre Onana look reasonably solid.
The slim consolation for the manager is he and his players never lost the Gwladys Street. After a brief pause at full-time, those who remained proudly sang about sticking with their team. With memories of the demonstrations against the board at the height of previous survival quests still fresh, Dyche knows his rallying cries have not lost their lustre after a dispiriting defeat.
His challenge is to ensure the fortress he walked into before kick-off on Sunday stops being breached so regularly, thus ensuring the belief which was soaring through the squad after six wins in the previous nine games is not reversed by a league table which has never looked so demoralising for Everton.
