Daniel Feliciano

Thu 23 November 2023 20:10, UK

Jamie Carragher has labelled the Everton owners as “ridiculous” for their part in the breach in profit and sustainability rules that led to a 10-point deduction.

The club were given the strongest penalty in Premier League history last week for a £20m breach, with the wider football world furious at the harshness of the punishment.

But while appearing on The Overlap (23 November) Carragher said the owner and people running the club have no right to be angry because it’s their fault for not following the rules despite working alongside the Premier League in the process.

“I just think Everton, unfortunately for them, they’re in the wrong place at the wrong time,” he said.

“The Premier League now, there’s so much going on with other clubs that the Premier League now are like, ‘we’re making a stand and we’ve got to stop people breaking rules and getting away with things.’

“It’s not the Premier League, it’s the independent commission, but the Premier League recommended, there was talk of 12 points and it ended up being 10. Everton are £20m over here, how does that equate to 10 points? When you think of someone like a Portsmouth who went into administration and only lost nine. That’s the frustration from Everton.

“I think the frustration of Everton supporters is it’s not a question of if they’re guilty or not, everyone knows that Everton are admitting that they’re guilty. It’s the fact that 10 points just seems so strong for this. So I understand Everton supporters’ frustrations, maybe Sean Dyche and the players.

“But I’ve said, I’ve always felt Everton are one of the worst run clubs in the Premier League or certainly in this country. When you look at the books and you can make an argument that they’re only £20m over and in this day and age, when you think of transfer fees, agent fees, the money, it doesn’t seem a lot.

“But on the flip side of that, how have Everton, whoever is at the top of the club and running it, looked at it and working with the Premier League, the Premier League have said to them ‘you’re getting very close, you’ve got to be careful with players that you’re buying’, why did they just not buy one player who cost them £15-20m? Because it’s cost them 10 points.

“It’s just ridiculous from the actual owners. So the actual owners of Everton and the people at the top of the club, they can’t be angry. For me, you’ve been working with the Premier League and they’re telling you how close you’re getting and then you still overstep it.

“So what is the thinking there? Did they think the Premier League would bottle it and not give them a sanction?”

Ridiculous

Everton have got every right to be angry about the situation and the points penalty, but the people running the club are the ones at fault for it to begin with.

It was them who were looking at how much money we have available to spend, how much we needed to make with sales and how far away we were from breaching the rules and yet they didn’t pay attention.

Obviously there were mitigations in place that we accounted for that the Premier League and independent commission didn’t agree with, but the people in charge at Everton should have known that was a possibility and planned for that.

Instead they’re complaining and while the punishment is harsh and over the top, the fact we have admitted guilt means it’s going to be difficult to see things change.

We need to be together and united to fight against the deduction to stay in the division, but the quicker these owners get out of this club the better for everyone involved.

In other Everton news, Gary Neville has blasted the penalty as an “Absolute Disgrace” and questioned the integrity of the Premier League.