Technically it's a mess and this that try to play to rules are punished not with headline making news, but by other means. What's the point in trying to be sustainable when financial breaches are met with such limp wristed penalties
People seem to be distracted by the sanctions, points deductions, etc ... ... that's not the real issue. Everton have a poor squad, are in yet another relegation battle and their finances are absolute chaos. Their dodgy owner is begging for money from dodgy investors and they may not be able to move into their as yet unfinished stadium. Even if they survive this season they'll have another relegation fight next season ... ... but they still have to go to Chelsea, Luton and Arsenal. That's bad enough but they have Forest and Liverpool at home which are terrible games for them. I'll enjoy watching them squirm, whatever happens.
You see these token deductions and the punishment doesn't fit the crime. Until the pl, efl or fa put meaningful punishments in place its a gamble worth taking
This is my issue with it all. Gamblers will love these odds. And some owners are happy to gamble the crown jewels. In my opinion sport is about winning. You have to have expectations and targets. We have fallen well short this season but when you look at what some of those above us have done and continue to do, we as fans arent being treated fairly. When I look at the squads Leicester and Leeds have beem able to maintain and build then our approach cant compete. Therefore we cant win. Unless the powers act more rigorously it wont change. I dont believe they have any real interest in changing either tbh. They talk about the pyramid and sporting integrity but actions do not follow. Watching Chelsea owners come in and spend a billion should have had folk running for the fire hoses, but they just watched on with bemusement. I doubt Man City will ever see the inside of a hearing. These clubs are immune in my opinion, because they bring in vast sums of money to brand premier league. Sad to say but I dont expect to see football correct itself anytime soon. I thought covid would have caused a reset but it hasnt. The top table are immune to scrutiny. You either spend your way to success or you are always an also ran. I would love to see an alternative but it doesnt look realistic to me.
Edit ffp and psr rules are not meant to help competition, fifa even admitted psr rules are not for the competition
The whole process of investigating FFP needs a complete overhaul and the need for a proper independent regulator is critical now. Unfortunately it’s the government coming up with the rules around regulation so it will be farcical. I’ve never known anything so inconsistent, certainly with Everton. Dock points, appeal, get some reduced, face more deductions, appeal, probably get them reduced again. Yet all the while it’s all cloak and dagger stuff with Man City. Until the process is fully transparent and exactly the same rules apply to all clubs it will be a complete mess.
Clubs at the top of the PL with endless finance aren’t taking big risks ... ... those like Everton and Forest certainly are. If they're relegated specifically because they've been docked even just one point it clearly wasn't worth the risk. Not only that, they've spent multi-millions that they simply don't have.
I’ve just been looking at the remaining PL fixtures. There’s a good chance Everton go down. Monster of a fixture against Nottingham Forest at home a week on Sunday!
The whole situation with football is not as simple as it may seem on the face of it. Man City spent approximately 2 billion over a 5-7 year period on the club players and developing the city group, what they have done is build an asset which at this time in footballing terms is almost self sustaining. On the flip side you have teams like Man Utd who are still over 800 million in debt (which is leveraged against the club) out spending City in the transfer market but still calling City cheats. Barcelona who 2 years ago nearly went bust because of overspending and were signing players and agreeing terms that they could not pay because of financial constraints (they bought players that they could not register until money was brought into the club) they then sold 10 years of TV rights to generate funds. Real Madrid have just sold a scrap of ****ty land to Madrid council for an exorbitant amount again to help keep them funded but again no investigations. Barcelona have even admitted paying Referees exorbitant amounts above and beyond what they should and again this has been hushed over. Not sure Man City are the huge cheats they are sometimes labelled however I do think it is a little nit suspect how the initial finances got into the club to allow them to build but at least they did not leverage loans against the clubs assets as some have done. Everton have IMO under current rules broken them rules and the punishments should be standard as it is now they were given a 10 point deduction after an extensive inquiry which took months only for that to be changed days later to a six point deduction, then a second charge given a 2 point deduction in total 8 points and if we are to believe some reports a 3 charge is still pending which will probably get another 2 point deduction so it looks like 1 charge 10 points to 3 charges 10 points that just makes a mockery of the system and rules and sets a precedent for the authorities to pretty much do what they like with any team in the Prem. As for the independent regulator I can not think of any authority or institution that has been improved or made better by appointing a regulator. British rail or transport as it is now. Power companies, water companies all of these have regulators who are handsomely paid for little to no improvement but we think it may be the answer in football ??? Rant for today OWA KTF
I was reading today that 777, Everton's new saviours, are looking to raise "hundreds of millions" in order to fund the proposed takeover because they presently do not have the money to do so. Meanwhile Everton plc continues to run at a substantial loss and have needed to continuously borrow money just to keep the lights on. 777 are an investment manager who's sole aim is to build up a portfolio of investments that people will pour their cash in to in the expectation of a return on their investments. How can the money pit that is Everton plc, a business with zero expectation of turning any sort of profit in the foreseeable future possibly fit this structure. At best it is speculation based on blind luck. Fit and Proper it most certainly is not and as a financial adviser I certainly would not be investing any of my clients money. Regardless as to what happens this season, I can only see this ending badly if it continues down this road.
