Everton’s 10-point deduction has been reduced to six following an appeal, the Premier League has announced.
It comes after the club were found to have breached the league’s profitability and sustainability rules (PSR) last November.
An independent commission found they had exceeded permitted losses under the league’s PSR by £19.5m over an assessment period ending with the 2021-22 season.
Clubs can sustain losses of up to £105m in three years or potentially face penalties, the rules state. But Everton reported losses of £124.5m for the relevant period.
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.
Seven of those nine grounds related to how the original commission dealt with various mitigating and aggravating factors – but all of those were dismissed.
The remaining two were upheld as the board agreed the commission made legal errors.
This has changed the original points deduction of 10 to six.
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It moves Everton on to 25 points in the table – and up two places to 15th. They were previously just one spot, and one point, above the relegation zone.
The club faces a second PSR complaint for breaching rules over the assessment period running to the end of last season.
The complaint was laid on 15 January and is expected to conclude by 8 April.
In a lengthy statement issued immediately after the Premier League confirmed the revision, the club said it was “satisfied our appeal has resulted in a reduction in the points sanction”.
The statement added that the club is “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.”
“That decision, along with reducing the points deduction, was an incredibly important point of principle for the club on appeal,” it continued. “The club, therefore, feels vindicated in pursuing its appeal.”
Everton are not the only Premier League club to have faced a PSR complaint in recent months.
One was also laid against Nottingham Forest on 15 January. Their case will be dealt with by a separate independent commission.
Source Agencies
