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Tony Cascarino makes Everton 'negligence' claim live on talkSPORT after 10-point deduction
Tony Cascarino and Natalie Sawyer were in total agreement that Everton showed “negligence” with regards to their points deduction case.
The Toffees dropped into the relegation zone on Friday (17 November) after being docked a record 10 points by the Premier League.
That was down to Everton, who intend to appeal the decision, being found guilty of breaching the competition’s financial rules.
Speaking on talkSPORT [18 November], Sawyer replied “you’re absolutely right” when Cascarino stated someone had to be the test case.
Cascarino added: “The only problem I have with all this is that, if they’ve been transparent and everything’s above board, it’s clear as day you ignored a lot.
“You must have known you can’t spend the way you have. That’d be an issue for me. You’ve gone ‘yeah, we’ve been honest and transparent, we’ve shown everything’, but you’ve also ignored it.
“That’s what they’ve done as a football club. The fans had a reason why they were so angry with the people at the top – they saw huge negligence at their club.”
Co-host Sawyer interjected with: “That’s true.”
Long time coming
Everton are indeed the “test case” when it comes to the Premier League taking action against teams guilty of breaching financial rules, and that is perhaps why this decision has been so tough to accept.
Many have rightly pointed to Manchester City and Chelsea as examples of others who have broken the regulations, although it is also worth pointing out that each case is different.
As Cascarino states, Everton supporters have long feared the worst with regards to how the club has been managed – or mismanaged in this instance – over a number of years.
It has all now finally caught up with us, and it may well lead to our long-running status as a top-flight club coming to an end.
Given the low quality at the bottom end of the division, though, there is still real belief that Everton can slowly move back up the table.
That does not right the wrongs, but staying up is ultimately all that matters right now.
In other Everton news, a football finance expert has outlined how the Toffees will go about lodging their appeal.