Image Credit: Everton FC
The Club now only faces a six-point deduction which moves them two places up the Premier League table to 15th place, three points behind 14th place Bournemouth, and five points clear of the relegation zone.
The biggest sporting sanction ever handed out to a team in the Premier League hit Everton back in November after they were found to have breached financial rules.
Everton reported losses of £124.5m over three years, £19.5m more than what Profitability and Sustainability Rules permit.
In a statement, the Club said: “Everton can confirm an Appeal Board has concluded that the points deduction imposed by an independent Premier League Commission in November be reduced from 10 points to six points, with immediate effect.”
Furthermore, it stated that “while the Club is still digesting the Appeal Board’s decision, we are satisfied our appeal has resulted in a reduction in the points sanction.”
The Club will now focus on tackling the allegations made that they breached further PSR rules in the season ending in July 2023.
The three-person appeal board opted to reduce the sanction because the Commission had made legal errors when handing down the penalty. Everton had been honest about how its new stadium was being funded but the Commission had penalised the Club for this. The Commission also should have taken into consideration available benchmarks for sanctions.
Everton said the Appeal Board’s conclusion that retracting the findings of the Commission that the Club failed to act in good faith was a key point.
However, the Appeal Board rejected seven out of nine of Everton’s grounds of appeal including the loss of money due to sponsorship deals that were connected to sanctioned Russian oligarch Alisher Usmanov, interest on loans that were supposedly taken out to fund the new stadium, and a £10m loss on an unnamed player who had their contract terminated after being arrested on suspicion of child abuse.
The outcome of Everton’s second charge is set to be determined before the end of the 2024 season.
The original deduction saw fans take part in anti-Premier League protests, with the Mayor of Liverpool, Steve Rotheram, and Mayor for Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham raising their concerns.
Manager, Sean Dyche, had worried about how the wait to hear Everton’s fate would psychologically affect his players, as they wondered what position they would stand in the league.
Nottingham Forest and Manchester City are the only other clubs who have been charged for financial breaches by the Premier League. Nottingham Forest’s case is set to be heard next week. Current league winners Manchester City were referred to an independent commission in February 2023 after being alleged of over 100 breaches spanning between 2009 and 2018.
