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Everton FC, the grand old team, moved closer to a first relegation since 1951 on Monday. Approximately. The whole issue may not actually be resolved until after the season ends, or it may carry over into the next season. But put all that aside and the picture is crystal clear. If you look cross-eyed. From a certain angle.
The Premier League's profitability and sustainability rules (PSR) have, rightly or wrongly, become a joke. Rules that had previously never led to a sporting sanction being imposed on a club have resulted in two points this season. Everton have in fact been punished twice, although their first penalty was reduced on appeal and their second, a two-point deduction for exceeding £16 million, could also be reduced. Nottingham Forest are also appealing against their own four-point sanction.
Related: Everton could face further punishment after being hit with a two-point deduction
For any fan of either club, or of any other team at risk of relegation, or of a team that could play against either of these clubs, or for the fans of those clubs hoping to be promoted from the Championship (including the leader, Leicester, itself) the subject of PSR charges), this is a non-ideal situation. What's the point of gnawing your nails if the outcome on the field can be called into question by the ruling of an independent commission? And why is it that some clubs face immediate sanctions, while others can wait a season (Leicester won't be punished until next term) and some can postpone doomsday seemingly indefinitely through enthusiastic involvement in the legal profession?
It's a rum conundrum that doesn't fit well with "the most watched match in the world." It has bitter supporters without whom, let us not forget, the game is nothing. It has led to baseless claims of corruption and rumors of asterisks hanging over the record books. Furthermore, it has widened the divide between the clubs that make up the league, and between the clubs and the league itself. This new focus on compliance with spending rules has cast a shadow on the competition.
The story continues
And yet it was the clubs that voted for it. Last summer it was they who agreed to treat alleged PSR violations with more urgency. A brand new appendix has been added to the Premier League Handbook with the very specific times and dates by which each process must be undertaken and completed, with all complaints resolved and penalties imposed within the current season. It was a move that signaled that the Premier League was taking financial irregularities seriously, just as the government threatened to introduce an independent regulator of the game. Relief.
But just as the Premier League likes to talk about the 'unintended consequences' of regulatory regulation, there have been unintended consequences of a tougher crackdown on cost control. One of these, the lack of an agreed sanction rate, contributed to Everton being initially awarded a chilling 10 points, only for the penalty to be reduced to six on appeal. This created an impression of chaos and Andy Burnham, the Everton-supporting mayor of Greater Manchester, went so far as to claim the Premier League had committed an 'abuse of process' by recommending a punishment to the independent commission (something the Prime Minister said). League insists this was expected as there was no tariff).
Lately there has also been concern about the timings so meticulously recorded in the appendix. A second set of charges against Everton, for breaches during a partially different period, was only heard after the first set of charges had been resolved. This meant that the results were only published this week, just over a month before the end of the season. The appendix states that any appeal must be completed "at the latest and if possible some time before May 24", leaving the possibility that the ruling will not come until a few days after the end of the season. Written reasons explaining the latest sanction also revealed a third, 'split' trial, which will tackle a further £6.5m of expenditure and will almost certainly not be heard until the next term.
Would these problems have been avoided if the Premier League and its clubs had taken more time to develop a stricter enforcement regime? Maybe not, but the feeling of things falling apart after being arranged in a hurry is hard to resist. It's a situation made darkly comic by the fact that Premier League clubs have since decided they want to create a whole new system of PSR rules after all. Coincidentally, this change of heart has left the Premier League unable to respond to the British government's request to make a better offer of financial redistribution to the EFL.
There is one last unintended consequence, one that should have been anticipated. For a competition that creates so much joy among so many people, the Premier League should be more careful about creating cynicism among those who follow the competition. As with the video assistant referee system, itself the subject of a botched implementation that left fans waiting for minutes for a crucial goal to be overturned due to an impenetrable foul, PSR is now an abbreviation known to many and often used as a Swear word. It has become a synonym for a game that people think is rigged.
This is not a good place to be and the identity of those responsible is clear. It is the clubs that voted for these rules, but more importantly, it is the clubs that broke them and made their creation necessary in the first place due to a fundamental inability, or unwillingness, to manage football teams in a sustainable way. run. Estimates of combined losses among the 17 clubs that have made financial information available for the 2022-23 season (some have not) are in excess of £600m. That is exactly the core of the problem. These massive and persistent losses determine much of the decision-making in football. They will likely cause a number of unintended consequences.
