The Premier League has announced today (Monday) that Everton’s 10-point deduction for breaching profitability and sustainability rules has been reduced to six points following an appeal.
Everton was handed the 10-point deduction in November, with the sanction reportedly caused by interest payments for its new £500m (€585m/$634m) stadium. The penalty marked the heaviest points deduction in Premier League history, and Everton immediately launched an appeal against what it felt was a “wholly disproportionate” sanction.
The sanction referred to the three-year period ending 2021-22. An independent commission imposed the 10-point deduction after finding that Everton’s profitability and sustainability rules calculation for the period resulted in a loss of £124.5m, which exceeded the threshold of £105m permitted.
However, the deduction has been reduced to six points today after an independent appeal board assessed Everton’s appeal. Everton appealed the sanction on nine grounds, each of which related to the sanction rather than the fact of the breach, which the club admitted.
Two of those nine grounds were upheld by the appeal board, which has substituted the 10-point deduction to six. As a result, Everton has moved from 17th in the Premier League to 15th.
In a statement, Everton said that it is satisfied that the appeal has resulted in a reduction of the points sanction. The club said that it was particularly pleased with the appeal board’s decision to overturn the original commission’s finding that the club failed to act in “utmost good faith”.
Everton said that this decision, along with reducing the points deduction, was an “incredibly important” point of principle when appealing, with the club feeling “vindicated” in pursuing its appeal.
Everton is also cooperating with the Premier League in respect of the ongoing proceedings brought for the accounting period ending in June 2023. Last month, Everton and Nottingham Forest acknowledged the league’s decision to refer both clubs over a breach of its profitability and sustainability rules for this period.
Both clubs are alleged to have sustained losses above the permitted thresholds for the assessment period ending with the 2022-23 season. Everton said that the latest referral included financial periods for which the original 10-point sanction was given.
The latest case could not be heard until Everton’s appeal against the 10-point deduction was assessed, and it remains a possibility that the club could be handed a further deduction.
Everton’s new stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock is due to be finished by the end of 2024, but the club will not move in until the start of the 2025-26 season.
Last week, Everton announced that the final concrete terracing panel had been installed, completing the structural work within the bowl of the stadium. The installation marked the end of an 18-month process since the first concrete terrace was positioned in August 2022.
All 1,988 double-stepped units have now been installed on schedule, with all four stands of the stadium intact.
