Everton has lost 10 points as a result of the Premier League’s decision to find the team in violation of the Financial Fair Play (FFP) regulations. But the Toffees will challenge the ruling right away.
“Everton Football Club is both shocked and disappointed by the Premier League’s Commission ruling,” the team stated in a statement. The Club feels that a completely unfair and disproportionate sports consequence has been applied by the Commission.
“The Club has already informed the Premier League of its plan to appeal the ruling. The Club’s case will now be heard by an Appeal Board that has been formed in accordance with Premier League regulations, and the appeal process will officially begin.
“Everton insists that it has always respected the process’ integrity and has been open and upfront in the information it has given the Premier League. The Club does not acknowledge the conclusion that it did not operate in good faith, and it is not know that the Premier League has made this claim at any point during the proceedings.
“Neither the harshness nor the severity of the sanction imposed by the Commission fairly or reasonably reflect the evidence that was provided. The Club will also be closely watching any further rulings pertaining to the Premier League’s Profit and Sustainability Rules.”
Everton is now ahead of Burnley on goal differential, sitting joint-20th in the Premier League standings. Following the publication of some unsettling revelations earlier this week, Chelsea is now facing an anxious wait.
Even more doubts over their performance under former owner Roman Abramovich were raised by reports earlier this week. After the Guardian and several other foreign media outlets, notably the Bureau of Investigative Journalism (TBIJ) and Germany’s Paper Trail Media, together conducted an investigation, documents pertaining to several payments made over a ten-year period totaling tens of millions of pounds were discovered.
The monies in question are purportedly “routed through offshore vehicles” that are owned by Abramovich. Chelsea is allegedly the beneficiary of these transactions, and it has been questioned if the appropriate regulatory organisations were informed of the accounts.
Those who benefitted from the payments appeared to include the agent of Chelsea great Eden Hazard, who retired just last month, an associate of the title-winning manager Antonio Conte and Chelsea FC officials. Last month, the Blues’ acquisition of both Willian and Samuel Eto’o also came into question after it was revealed that a company owned by Abramovich also made payments that appear to have benefited fellow Russian billionaire Suleiman Kerimov, the owner of Anzhi Makhachkala whom the pair played for.
Then it was disclosed that the Abramovich-owned Leiston Holdings had paid two Kerimov-affiliated businesses for “services in [..] relating to football, including scouting and other football-related advice” two months previous to the purchases. Experts now think that the Blues could lose points as a consequence of the transactions, according to the Guardian.
Chelsea will now watch to see if this all has any positive effects. Despite different circumstances, the Blues will be anxious to avoid the same outcome as Everton.