Liverpool Metro Mayor, Steve Rotherham, has written to the Chief Executive of the Premier League to express his deep opposition to the unprecedented points deduction handed to Everton last week while a Labour MP has called for the sanction to be suspended until an independent regulator can be brought in.
The club were found guilty of breaking the league’s Profitability and Sustainability rules by an independent commission and docked 10 points, a penalty that went into immediate effect and dropped the Blues into the relegation zone.
The decision has rocked the club, sparked outrage among supporters and drawn concern among some pundits and rival fans, with many feeling, like Rotherham, that the severity of the punishment did not fit the crime.
In his letter to Richard Masters, revealed today by, among others, The Athletic, Rotherham laid out his concerns and disappointment that one of the founders of both the Football and Premier Leagues hasn’t been treated with more respect:
“I am writing to express my deep concern and opposition to today’s decision by the Premier League Panel to deduct 10 points from Everton Football Club. The sanction imposed is not only an unprecedented but a wholly disproportionate one too.
“While I understand, and indeed support, the importance of maintaining discipline and upholding the integrity of the sport, it is crucial to ensure that any punitive measures are proportionate and just. I do not believe that this punishment fits the crime.
The decision to deduct 10 points from Everton is excessive considering the club’s willingness and proactivity in collaborating with the Premier League to ensure all dealings were FFP compliant when it was clear they were close to breaching the rules.
There are a number of mitigating factors in Everton’s transgression in relation to debt ceilings that are in effect geo-political and therefore outside of their control. As many people have pointed out, the punishment imposed appears severe for the charge in question and sets a new precedent.
When compared with sanctions handed to other clubs for financial infringements it surpasses previous penalties. In 2010, when Portsmouth entered administration, a case of serious mismanagement, they were hit with only a 9-point penalty. For falling into administration a second time in three years, in 2012, they faced a 10-point deduction. The implication that Everton’s actions are somehow are more egregious is frankly, ludicrous.
I completely support the club’s appeal and would urge you to take a more balanced approach and consider alternative forms of punishment that do not unfairly penalise the club’s players and supporters. As a founding member of both the Football League and Premier League, Everton are an important part of the fabric of English football. They deserve to be treated fairly, justly and with respect.
I look forward to your response.
Meanwhile, Ian Byrne, the Labour MP for Liverpool West Derby, tabled a motion in the House of Commons today urging the Government to immediately establish an independent regulator and requesting “the suspension of all proceedings and sanctions made by the commission until the regulator makes its own determinations”.
Byrne criticised the independent commission’s “cavalier approach to points deductions”, branded the 10-point penalty as “grossly unjust” and argued that the Premier League “can no longer fairly govern top-flight football without independent scrutiny and legislation”.