Everton appeal verdict: Jamie Carragher reacts live on Sky Sports after points deduction reduced
Jamie Carragher believes the Everton points deduction being reduced to six is “about right” after the appeal verdict became public.
The Sky Sports pundit spoke live on the broadcaster’s coverage of West Ham vs Brentford on 26 February after the ruling came out, to suggest that the original 10-point punishment was too big and had it been at this level to start with there would have been no appeal.
He claimed that Toffees supporters would not have been filled with “frustration” if the appeal verdict had been reached in the first place, based on the level of the spending breach.
Carragher said (6.53pm): “I think that’s almost a punishment where most people, forget just Everton fans, people around the country would go, ‘Okay that’s fair’.
“Everton have accepted their guilt when it first started but I think when that original punishment came in at 10 points everyone was a bit taken aback by that and it felt big considering the breach and how much it was over, about £20million.
“I actually think if it’d been six points at the start there wouldn’t have been all this appeal and all this frustration from Everton fans. Six to me feels about right.”
Everton appeal verdict is right claims Jamie Carragher
There certainly would have been less of a reaction if the original ruling hadn’t dropped a Premier League record punishment on the club like a ton of bricks, but the fact that mitigations have been roundly ignored would still have left many unsatisfied.
In the circumstances of how subsequent events have gone this outcome is more manageable in terms of the relegation battle, but depends on the outcome of the second hearing that is still to come.
Whether the club’s treatment is “fair” is very much a matter of opinion, and those outside are likely to have a harsher view than the Toffees fanbase.
Sean Dyche and his players at least get the benefit of moving up to 15th for now, but could still be dumped back into the bottom three by the next hearing.
Farhad Moshiri’s running of the club has long been unpopular with many Evertonians and the fact that this has become an issue at all is far from a glowing indictment on his time in charge, so what is still a hefty sanction is anything but comfortable even if it is an improvement on double figures.
In other Everton news, Richard Masters has been accused of “arrogance” and “discrimination” against the club with what he is doing.
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