George Overhill

Sat 18 November 2023 20:40, UK

Steve Rotheram has branded the 10-point Everton penalty as “excessive and grossly unfair” and has vowed to write to the Premier League to get it rescinded.

The Metro Mayor for the Liverpool City Region reacted furiously on Twitter after the record-breaking punishment was announced on 17 November, suggesting it was “wholly disproportionate” in light of the fact the club had been working in conjunction with the league prior to their referral to the commission.

Rotheram also fired back at suggestions that he was showing political bias to point out that he is a Liverpool supporter, as he termed the issua one of “fairness, not partisan rivalry”.

Rotheram wrote: “This is an excessive and grossly unfair punishment for a single charge – and makes a rod for the PL’s back in future. I’ll be supporting the club in their appeal and writing to the Premier League to ask them to rescind it. This is about fairness, not partisan rivalry.

“Portsmouth were given a 10 point deduction for twice entering administration. Given that the club were cooperating with the Premier League, this feels wholly disproportionate.”

In response to an accusation of bias he replied: “And a Liverpool fan…”.

Unjust?

Whether Rotherham’s voice will have an effect on the situation is open to question but his is one of a chorus of outrage that has emerged since the announcement on Friday.

The club have already said they will be appealing the verdict, but with the expectation that the likes of Leicester, Leeds and Burnley are now set to jump into the equation as well in pursuit of compensation there is potential for the situation to get worse as well as better.

There is no way to dress up a double-digit points deduction as a good thing but in light of Sean Dyche’s side finally hitting some good form it is perhaps an hurdle that can be navigated, whereas many millions in payments to aggrieved rivals is a different matter entirely.

However, whether the punishment can be survived and its merits are two different things, although how much scope there is to disagree with an independent panel’s findings remains to be seen.

On paper it is simple, Everton spent more than permitted and have broken the rules, and it is hard to escape the feeling that the Toffees hierarchy were somewhere between naive and cavalier with their accounting projections.

Yet it is equally hard for any Evertonians, or many neutrals, not to be shocked that this club has also dealt with various factors they had no control over and then agreed to work closely with the Premier League to find a solution only to be hit by the heaviest such punishment in top flight history.

And amid suggestions from various sources that the authorities are using Everton in their fights with Manchester City and a proposed regulator it can’t help but leave a sour taste on Merseyside.

In other Everton news, a belief has emerged that the points deduction “will come down on appeal”.