Some commentators, ex-footballers, and even some Evertonians are saying a 10-point deduction is okay… Everton will be okay. There are three or four worse teams in the Premier League who are not going to gain much more than 30 points.
They have to be joking.
I heard Roy Keane ask “Why don’t they just take the medicine?” I find this insulting. As if he would have been okay with something equivalent when at Manchester United.
Do they really think Luton Town, Sheffield Utd and Burnley are just going to lie down and settle for relegation, are not going to try and boost their teams’ chances in the January window, and haven’t received a massive boost and incentive, by Everton receiving a 10-point deduction, and won’t be doing everything they can to stay up?
Do some Evertonians think that the referees and VARs will be spot-on with their decisions from now on? If they do, they are fools.
I will say right now that I am worried about Sunday’s game. I am worried about us scoring and supporters running on the pitch, what action will the Premier League take? And I’m even more worried about what will happen if a bad decision is given against us and supporters run on the pitch, or a missile is thrown, what action will be taken then?
Some people are also going over the top about our form. There has been a slight improvement, mainly away from home, that is all… and the picture can soon change. If Man Utd beat us on Sunday, where does that leave us?
So I am not getting carried away with the ‘Dogs of War’ narrative or anything else – we have a hard but just battle with the Premier League ahead of us.
The true reality is that our position is now perilous. The Premier League have deliberately put us in a position that could easily get out of control, and that includes financially too.
This is why for other clubs – West Ham Utd, Leicester City, Spurs, Chelsea, Man City etc – the punishment has always been a fine or nothing at all. The Premier League know a 10-point deduction can be a fatal blow for numerous reasons.
This independent commission was just like VAR. If it had been Liverpool, it would have been a fine.
It was a £19.5M discretion with mitigating circumstances that could have been allowed but the commission chose otherwise. Were they under orders from the Premier League: find them guilty with a big points deduction?
Public opinion hasn’t gone the way they had hoped so they have now asked their media pals to say 5 or 6 points would be fair, hoping public opinion will go with that.
I have listened to all the arguments, read the commission’s judgment, read Paul The Esk’s summary, and Lyndon’s inciteful opinion on the commission’s independence and fairness and, I don’t see where the hell anyone could come up with a points deduction, not when you compare Everton’s crime with other clubs’ crimes, notably the ‘Breakaway 6’.
Like most Evertonians probably I guess Everton ended up in this mess because Bill Kenwright was chairman.
I can imagine Bill sitting in a London Hotel lobby a couple or so years ago having a drink and chat with a Premier League official he mistook for a friend and, when asked the question, the official said, “Don’t worry, Bill, so long as you hand in all your books and are transparent and work with us, you will be fine.” The trap was set and he fell straight into it.
How naive can you be to trust the Premier League and not keep as much as you can from them? And the people who might know what happened have left and are saying nothing.
When it came to a signing like Amadou Onana, I would bet my house that there was a phone call on deadline day and a Premier League official said, “Not a problem; you can sign him.” How on earth can you be conducting transfer business on deadline day when in the position we were in??? It beggars belief.
And when the independent commission was appointed, the Premier League would have said, “Sorry, Bill, there’s nothing we can do now, it’s out of our hands.”
The Premier League wanted a decision last season when a small points deduction would have seen us doomed; it didn’t happen. So the Premier League, in their frustration at seeing Everton remain in the Premier League, demanded a 12-point deduction for this season that even the not-so-independent commission baulked at.
Everyone at Everton need to drop the idea that, if the points deduction is reduced, it will be acceptable, because it isn’t. What Everton need more than anything else now is a really good lawyer and we must be ready to take the Premier League to court. No points deduction and a fine is the only fair outcome.
The punishment must fit the crime. The Breakaway 6, the West Ham Tevez incident were more serious and only fines were imposed and Leicester made the same mistake and only received a fine.
And I honestly believe that no other club will receive a points deduction, the Premier League are after Everton, that is it.
We are in the middle of a fight for our lives and we must drop the ‘being nice’ approach, it hasn’t and it doesn’t get us anywhere. It is time to fight hard and, if we have any shit on the Premier League, we need to use it.
We can start with the Breakaway 6. A small fine for teams going behind the back of the Premier League forming a new competition knowing it might have ruined the Premier League.
“We must not punish the fans” – yeah, very sincere, wasn’t it?
And the silence from Liverpool Football Club is deafening. Everton stood shoulder to shoulder with Liverpool over Heysel and when the Hillsborough tragedy happened. Evertonians to this day will not buy The Sun or have anything to do with the Murdoch media. I went to Anfield to pay my respects to the fans who died almost immediately and have also been back to the memorial they built.
But here we are in Everton’s darkest moment and Liverpool are silent. I find it disgusting. All they are concerned about is using the moment to go after Man City. No mention of the punishment City should receive for being a Breaway 6 club though… With friends like Liverpool, you don’t need enemies.
Never has the philosophy ‘divide and conquer’ been so apt.
The irony: The Toffee TV lads won’t go on TalkSport to speak up for Everton because they are still supporting Liverpool with the Murdoch media boycott.
We need to ask why have the Premier League been so hard on us? What is their motivation when clearly they are not keen to go after anyone else?
Why for the last two to three seasons have refereeing and VAR decisions been so blatantly against us? We thought it might be because Everton spoke out about the ‘Breakaway 6’. This might have gone some way but are we naive to think it is the only reason?
Who are the media darlings? Who have the biggest influence on screen and at the Premier League? What club knew the new Everton ground would affect them financially more than any other club? I am just asking the question…
Profitability and Sustainability Rules, in my opinion, were brought in to hamper the lesser clubs’ spending; it needs to be scrapped. It is ridiculous and unfair. We can see with the Everton situation that, instead of ensuring clubs don’t get into financial trouble, it can result in a club entering financial trouble.
No matter what the result of the appeal is, the club needs to look into what legal action they should take. The independent commission was clearly not independent.
Connections with Leeds, Burnley, West Ham and a directive of a 12-point deduction given by the Premier League makes the notion of independence look comical. Covid mitigation, Ukraine mitigation and Everton going easy on Sigurdsson all being thrown out makes their findings look dodgy.
Everton FC has been around for 145 years. They founded the Football League with a small number of other clubs. They helped form the Premier League. They have played a major role in the success of the Premier League and football in general.
Everton never complained when one of their greatest moments was taken away from them through no fault of their own. The FA and the Premier League have never addressed the fact that Everton were not allowed to play in Europe for at least 4 successive seasons.
Everton make their first-ever transgression because of incompetence that never affected anyone else and receive a record 10-point deduction while six clubs conspire to form a new competition behind the Premier League’s back and get away with a fine. You couldn’t make it up!
After years and years of hoping, we finally get some money and we are told “You’ve spent too much, you are in big trouble” – even though we have spent far less than a host of other clubs. It is bizarre.
It would be just, if Everton could be the club that starts the clean-up of a once-great game. But right now, Everton are in this perilous situation and we need the best lawyers we can get to help us.
There are many holes in the commission’s judgement that need pointing out, and maybe things Everton originally didn’t bring to the table now will be. Everton must do the right things from now on starting with nothing but the best outcome from their appeal.
Beating Man Utd would be a great shot in the arm! So COYB…
We Shall Not Be Moved!