Everton: Steve Rotherham hits out at Premier League ahead of imminent points deduction decision
Steve Rotherham has once again hit out at the Premier League over its handling of the Everton points deduction fiasco.
The Toffees were docked an English top-flight record 10 points in November for breaching Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR) .
Everton have since lodged an appeal and are set to finally find out this week if they were successful or not [Daily Mail].
Writing on his personal Twitter account [21 February], the Mayor of the Liverpool City Region said: “Whatever the outcome of Everton’s appeal, this entire opaque process has left us with more questions than answers.
“From the overly harsh initial sanction, ‘small clubs’ and PL’s attempt to shift goalposts midway through, the culture of secrecy has done nothing to foster trust.
“Factor in the lack of mitigation for matters out of the club’s hands (the small matter of the Russian invasion of Ukraine), reasonable infrastructure costs (Bramley Moore) and ‘assets’ unable to appear on the pitch but on the balance sheet, and it is hard to see the fairness.
“How can any fan, club or player have any confidence in the PL sanctions process moving forward?
“This is an urgent issue given the two outstanding cases to be dealt with this season. With Everton’s appeal pending it is already clear that the veil of secrecy needs removing.”
Everton fans rightly feel wronged by Premier League points deduction
If nothing else, at least Everton will have some clarity once this appeal verdict has been made public in the coming days.
There is, of course, also the small matter of the second PSR charge and that could yet drag on until after the season concludes.
As Rotherham points out, there are a number of areas to this whole saga that Everton fans find particularly galling.
The Premier League has effectively tried to make an example out of the club, yet there are a number of flaws.
The hope is that the independent panel see that and restore either all 10 points or at least a fair share of them.
This campaign has been one like no other from the Toffees’ perspective, with events off the field arguably even more important than those on it.
And even after this week’s announcement, it will take far longer for the dust to settle and for answers to be forthcoming – if they ever are.
In other Everton news, Paul Merson was amazed by supporters’ “ballistic” response to one of their own players against Crystal Palace.
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