Evertons dumbest criminals

[Obi Wan]

Swiss Ramble just posted a report about Everton - excellent reading... Closing thoughts (there is so much more to unpack - they realistically were very leniently dealt with regards what they were eventually allowed to claim).

It’s the club’s fault
The Commission’s conclusion is pretty damning for the club’s hierarchy.

It concluded, “Everton’s PSR difficulties are not attributable to the costs of the stadium development. The cause of the club’s difficulties was the fact that it overspent (largely on its purchase of new players and its inability to sell other players), and because it finished lower in the league than it had projected.”

If that wasn’t enough, it then really put the boot in, “The position that Everton finds itself in is of its own making – it is Everton’s responsibility to ensure that it complies with the PSR regime. The excess over the threshold is significant. The consequence is that Everton’s culpability is great. The failure to comply with the PSR regime was the result of Everton irresponsibly taking a chance that things would turn out positively.”

So near, yet so far
The frustration is that, even after making so many mistakes, Everton were agonisingly close to pulling it off, as they were less than £20m above the PSR target, even by the Premier League’s own calculations.

They just needed one thing to go right in order to have avoided a breach:

• If they had finished in their projected sixth place in the league (yes, I know), they would have earned an additional £21m in TV money.
  
  
• If they had sold one more player, say Anthony Gordon, a year earlier.
  
  
• If they hadn’t spent so much paying off managers.
  
  
• If they had secured a naming rights deal with USM.
  
  
• Etc, etc.

Conclusion
All that being said, the fact remains that Everton did breach the PSR rules, as the club belatedly admitted. This takes some doing, given the size of the allowed loss and the allowable deductions, especially as the Premier League was quite generous to Everton here.

The club’s leadership has to shoulder the blame, as Everton’s struggles with FFP have been abundantly clear for quite a while.

Whether the fans should then effectively be punished for the ineptitude of the club’s board is another story. Notwithstanding all of this detailed analysis, from that perspective, the 10-point penalty does “feel” disproportionate.

So their conclusion is that Everton did breach and it was the owners' fault. And yet 10 points 'feels' disproportionate?

Well anything less than that punishment simply tells everybody else to just screw FFP because it really doesn't matter. So they had to hit them hard, otherwise the financial rules are pointless.

 

[Welshie]

Er

Are people suggesting that if you break FFP rules the points deduction should be LESS THAN 10 POINTS?! 10 points is nothing tbh, I was expecting more and think Everton got off easy.

In some countries you're automatically relegated.

More evidence for me that Brits are soft as ****e. What the **** lol, people crying the blues because people are punished for breaking rules.

 

[FadgewackeR]

So their conclusion is that Everton did breach and it was the owners' fault. And yet 10 points 'feels' disproportionate?

Well anything less than that punishment simply tells everybody else to just screw FFP because it really doesn't matter. So they had to hit them hard, otherwise the financial rules are pointless.

Disproportionate to previous sanctions (Portsmouth 9 points for admin, then a further 120 pts for going into it again not long after) for example.
10pts is in line with "unpublished" guidelines that the PL had mooted, but never solidified and released.

As I say, a LOT more to unpack than the summary can cover.

 

[FadgewackeR]

Er

Are people suggesting that if you break FFP rules the points deduction should be LESS THAN 10 POINTS?! 10 points is nothing tbh, I was expecting more and think Everton got off easy.

In some countries you're automatically relegated.

More evidence for me that Brits are soft as ****e. What the **** lol, people crying the blues because people are punished for breaking rules.

I agree, I think 10pts is about right personally.

What needs to happen though, and quickly, is the PL / commission appointed need to publish a set of guidelines that refer to this and apply to future cases. Amazed it wasn't in place in all honesty, but hey ho...

 

[FadgewackeR]

@Welshie

Sanctions
The EFL has clear guidelines on sanctions, so that the starting position for a club in breach is a 12 points deduction that is reduced to reflect the size of the breach and other mitigating factors.

In contrast, the Premier League does not have a similar document, though chief executive Richard Masters told the Commission that they do have unpublished guidelines, where the starting position for a breach is 6 points plus 1 point for every £5m above the £105m PSR limit.

The Commission said that it has the power “to make any such order as it thinks fit”, though eagle-eyed observers would note that the £19.5m breach (according to the Premier League) would produce the 10 points penalty actually given, if the unofficial guidelines were applied.

Everton said that a financial penalty would be sufficient punishment, and if it absolutely had to be a sporting sanction, then a transfer ban would serve the purpose.

However, the Commission strongly disagreed, saying that Everton had enjoyed a sporting advantage for each of the seasons on which the PSR calculation was based, “We have no doubt that the circumstances of this case are such that only a sporting sanction in the form of a points deduction would be appropriate.”

It further explained, “A financial penalty for a club that enjoys the support of a wealthy owner is not a sufficient penalty.”

To make the message crystal clear, it concluded, “This was a serious breach that requires a significant penalty.”

 

[Obi Wan]

Just for Trev's benefit, before he logs on, is there a brief summary that summarises all of these summaries into one succint summary, of about 10 words?

 

[Welshie]

Just for Trev's benefit, before he logs on, is there a brief summary that summarises all of these summaries into one succint summary, of about 10 words?

u spend too much = bad, less points bcos u did bad bad.

 

[FadgewackeR]

The hill all the unwashed and gullible are dying on about being done over by rule change to interest on stadium development is total knackers by the way.

Club lied about the investment, essentially saying the loan wouldn't be used for the stadium, spent a load of money before they had planning permission from the council (which would have allowed them to discount some spend).

Stadium Expenditure
Everton also had significant expenditure of £39m on the new stadium (£27m in the monitoring period). As this was incurred before planning permission was granted by Liverpool City Council in February 2021, it had to be booked to the profit and loss account as an expense, rather than being capitalised.

Initially, the Premier League did not allow Everton to exclude these expenses from the PSR calculation, but in August 2021 they reached an agreement with the club which meant that it could in fact deduct £17m (£7m in 2018/19 plus the £10m averaged value of £20m in 2019/20).

The Premier League advanced four separate factors that they said had aggravated Everton’s default - one of which was the stadium interest.

Misleading the Premier League about stadium interest
Although the Premier League was careful not to accuse Everton of dishonest behaviour, the Commission concluded that Everton were “less than frank” and that information supplied by the club was “materially inaccurate”.

Given that Everton’s loan application to Metro Bank explicitly said “We do not intend to use any of the funds for the new stadium project”, this was not overly surprising.

As a result, the Commission sided with the Premier League here and agreed that this was indeed an aggravating factor.

 

[Magnet]

Just for Trev's benefit, before he logs on, is there a brief summary that summarises all of these summaries into one succint summary, of about 10 words?

S

 

[Fox Mulder]

Plus their claim the report stated they didn't 'try' to gain a sporting advantage... they read that and are peddling the notion the report simply said they 'didn't' gain a sporting advantage.

It's always mental gymnastics when fanbases are concerned.

 

[FadgewackeR]

Plus their claim the report stated they didn't 'try' to gain a sporting advantage... they read that and are peddling the notion the report simply said they 'didn't' gain a sporting advantage.

It's always mental gymnastics when fanbases are concerned.

It clearly says that they did gain one

 

[Fox Mulder]

It clearly says that they did gain one

Then it's worse mental gymnastics than I was aware of, but doesn't surprise me. The ability for fans to seek out what they want to believe and ignore and make excuses for the things they don't is unsurpassed much like the religious.

 

[FadgewackeR]

Then it's worse mental gymnastics than I was aware of, but doesn't surprise me. The ability for fans to seek out what they want to believe and ignore and make excuses for the things they don't is unsurpassed much like the religious.

From above:

Everton said that a financial penalty would be sufficient punishment, and if it absolutely had to be a sporting sanction, then a transfer ban would serve the purpose.

However, the Commission strongly disagreed, saying that Everton had enjoyed a sporting advantage for each of the seasons on which the PSR calculation was based, “We have no doubt that the circumstances of this case are such that only a sporting sanction in the form of a points deduction would be appropriate.”

It further explained, “A financial penalty for a club that enjoys the support of a wealthy owner is not a sufficient penalty.”

 

[FadgewackeR]

One of the funniest things about it all is that they've had more funding from their owner than another club since Moshiri arrived, by some margin, and still ****ed it.

Twitter is going to be even more fun tonight than it has been during the international break.

You must log in or register to see images

 

[FadgewackeR]

By the way, the report I'm referring to is available below. Might need to sign up for a 30 day trial to be able to access stuff. The monthly sub is worth it as an ongoing thing for me at least.

https://swissramble.substack.com/

 

[Obi Wan]

By the way, the report I'm referring to is available below. Might need to sign up for a 30 day trial to be able to access stuff. The monthly sub is worth it as an ongoing thing for me at least.

https://swissramble.substack.com/

I get free updates from FadgeFacts.

 

[GodAlmighty]

I get free updates from FadgeFacts.

Libby nearly got a free tip from fadgefucks.com

 

[Obi Wan]

Libby nearly got a free tip from fadgefucks.com

 

[Rim & Black for 2]

Sean Dyche says Everton feel "aggrieved" at their "disproportionate" 10-point deduction for breaching financial rules.

More tears from old gravel mouth, but sadly Everton will still have enough in the tank to keep their heads above water by the end of the season.

 

[Magnet]

Libby nearly got a free tip from fadgefucks.com