Gabby Agbonlahor makes ‘big’ Manchester City prediction after ‘good news’ for Everton
Gabby Agbonlahor has claimed he cannot see either Manchester City or Chelsea being handed a big points deduction in the next couple of years, despite the punishment given to Everton.
The former Aston Villa striker questioned how far back the investigations and punishments should go, claiming there must be a cut-off at some point, and suggesting they can’t retrospectively take any trophies City have won.
Agbonlahor also went on to claim that the positive from an Everton point of view is the timing of the decision, coming in the first half of the season rather than when things get tight later on.
The talkSPORT host questioned the decisions live on 22 November, as he said: “I don’t see, in the next couple of years, Manchester City or Chelsea taking a big points deduction.
“How far do you go back for Manchester City? I don’t think they’re going to go back and take anything Manchester City have won, so what do you do this season? Do you do it now?
“At least with Everton, the good news about Everton is that they’ve had a chance now to make their points up. I think by the time they get their ten points off they’re still one win away from getting out of the bottom three.
“To see them get the points deduction so quickly as well, the punishment was like straight away there you go ten points.
“At least if you’re Everton you’re like: ‘At least we’ve been deducted now, not come March when maybe it’s closer down the bottom of the table.'”
Punishments must be consistent
Suppose Manchester City and Chelsea are found guilty of financial breaches as Everton have been. In that case, their punishments must be consistent in the severity and harshness of the punishment and must match up relatively with the ten-point deduction handed to the Toffees.
Anything other than consistency should, and would, lead to claims of bias from the Premier League and their independent panel, as well as suggestions of favouritism with the bigger clubs receiving lighter punishments.
Everton are already set to appeal their decision on the grounds of it being disproportionate and overly harsh, and whether or not they have a case, the decisions made surrounding other investigations will prove their point if consistency isn’t shown.
While retrospective punishment in terms of taking trophies away from them would likely be an impossible task as Agbonlahor suggests, a large points deduction is the only feasible punishment to deliver after what has happened.
In other Everton news, a report has claimed Everton could sanction big-money sales.