Everton points deduction: Why have they received two punishments?

Premier League side Everton have been hit with another two-point deduction for failing to comply with the league’s profit and sustainability rules (PSR). This is the second time this season that Sean Dyche’s side have received a points penalty for financial reasons.

The penalty was doled out by an independent commission after the Premier League opted to refer Everton to a third party. It is the second point deduction suffered by the Toffees this season. They fall to 16th place in the league as a result.

Earlier this season Everton received a ten-point penalty (later reduced to eight) for recording excessive financial losses in the three-year period ending in the 2021/22 season. This latest punishment refers to the period ending 2022/23. Points deductions are applied to the season in which a verdict is reached, which is why both points deductions have been levied against Everton in the current campaign.

What does Everton’s penalty mean for the Manchester City point deduction?

For Everton, the confirmation of a second points deduction in the 2023/24 campaign could spell disaster. The Toffees are one of a handful of top flight clubs who have never been relegated from the Premier League, but the combined ten-point penalty leaves them just two points ahead of the drop zone.

Fellow strugglers Nottingham Forest have also been hit with a penalty for financial rule-breaking. At the other end of the table, however, reigning champions Manchester City have so far avoided punishment.

City have 115 outstanding charges, a major allegation that threatens to derail Pep Guardiola’s sky blue dynasty. The charges relate to the period from 2009 to 2018 and span allegations of misleading regulators and providing incomplete financial information.

Supporters of Everton and Forest will feel aggrieved that City have been able to prolong their potential reckoning, questioning why they have been dealt with comparatively swiftly. It’s a position that many neutrals will sympathise with but it comes down to the respective natures of the charges.

The cases of Everton and Nottingham Forest are fairly straight-forward, the clubs’ financial documents show that they made losses that exceed league limits. City are accused of something much more serious, a decade-long, coordinated plot to disregard financial controls and evade detection. The charges suggest a calculated long-term plan, and will require longer for regulators to prove their guilt.