Simon Jordan: Daily Mail report is ‘wrong’, Everton will not face FFP sanctions
Everton will not face sustainability sanctions from the Premier League once Covid and stadium adjustments are factored in according to Simon Jordan.
A report in the Daily Mail yesterday (Wednesday 9 March) claimed the club were facing a points deduction after posting a losses of over £260million between 2017 and 2020, £155million over the league limit, but ex-Crystal Palace owner Jordan says “that’s wrong”.
After yesterday expressing doubt that points would be taken off this season, he claims he did his “homework” and found that £68million of Covid-related adjustments last year, an expected similar amount this year, and £40-50million in allowable stadium expenses will bring them below the threshold for punishment.
Speaking on talkSPORT this morning (Thursday 10 March, 11.50am) Jordan said: “I made some judgments [yesterday] that began to look a little bit flawed… so I looked at some of the things going on behind the scenes that have yet to find the public domain.
“Everton aren’t likely to be sanctioned because there are much more allowable accountancy adjustments than people have implicitly understood.
“The article in the Mail that said they’d lost £260million was slightly misrepresented, because it didn’t factor in that there’s allowable adjustments for significant Covid impacts.
“The most important thing for us to do is give accurate information. I sat here saying there’s a distinct possibility they’ll get sanctioned, and it’s appropriate that you go and do your homework… I looked deeper.
“Factor all that in, they’re not gonna get sanctioned.”
Huge relief
This is a major relief if Jordan is right but it doesn’t mean everything is rosy at Goodison.
It doesn’t cover up the fact that, as the pundit says, “the blind are leading the blind” with Farhad Moshiri as owner, but it does remove some of the immediate peril.
It should at least allow fans to worry about what is happening on the pitch for now, where Frank Lampard’s side are just a point above the relegation zone and played awfully in a 5-0 defeat at Spurs on Monday.
With the Russian invasion of Ukraine leading to Alisher Usmanov’s sponsorship money being suspended, yesterday’s report appeared to suggest a huge disaster was brewing.
The relegation threat is very real, and Moshiri is still at risk of making poor decisions, but the apparent threat of major sanctions compounding the situation may have been wide of the mark.
As a former Premier League owner we have to assume that Jordan knows what he is talking about having looked deeper into the details.
The situation at the club is bad, but thankfully not quite as bad as it seemed 24 hour ago.
In other Everton news, one struggling player has been surpassed as the “worst” performer this week according to Gabby Agbonlahor.
Be sure to follow Goodison News on Facebook for 24/7 updates on Everton plus more exclusive interviews with Kevin Campbell.