Phil McNulty shares ‘trauma on a loop’ Everton verdict after new charge, ‘deja vu’ for Sean Dyche
It is “deja vu” for Everton manager Sean Dyche after the club were charged with breaching the Premier League’s financial rules.
That is according to BBC Sport chief football writer Phil McNulty, with the Toffees now undergoing “trauma on a loop.”
Both Everton and Nottingham Forest have been referred to an independent commission for alleged breaches of profit and sustainability rules in their accounts for 2022-23 [BBC Sport, 15 January].
“Everton are currently in the process of appealing against the first sanction and, in an echo of that charge, made it immediately clear they will be defending their position robustly once more – but this is another unwanted distraction and a feeling of deja vu for manager Sean Dyche,” McNulty wrote for BBC Sport (15 January).
“The club’s hope is they will get the 10-point punishment, at the very least, reduced – but the latest turn of events is another twist in a season that has almost been trauma on a loop.”
Nightmare
It really is a nightmare scenario for Everton, who perhaps thought their issues with financial rule breaches were behind them after their 10-point deduction earlier in the season.
It remains to be seen what will happen with the latest verdict and indeed the prior one given how the Toffees are currently appealing it.
But one certainty is that Dyche will be hugely annoyed and frustrated at these behind-the-scenes issues, with the man in the dugout simply wanting to focus on football matters.
The Toffees bounced back from their 10-point deduction impressively, defeating the likes of Newcastle United and Chelsea to rise back up the table.
But their hard work has been undone in more recent times, with the Toffees now 17th in the league table after three defeats and a draw from their last four matches.
FA Cup action now provides a break from the Premier League, with Everton hosting Crystal Palace in a third round replay at Goodison Park on Wednesday (17 December).
In other Everton news, a BBC Sport pundit has named one Toffees star in his Premier League Team of the Season so far.