Everton: Leeds United, Leicester and Southampton claim predictions after appeal verdict
The appeal verdict which reduced the Everton points deduction doesn’t help the club in potential claims for compensation from rival clubs, according to Stefan Borson.
The former Manchester City financial advisor reacted via Twitter on 26 February after the judgment brought the Toffees’ sanction down to six points, to note that the decision confirmed a number of the arguments that others would likely use in claims against the club.
All of Leeds United, Leicester City, Nottingham Forest, Southampton and Burnley had previously indicated to the original independent commission that they were considering claims, and despite the matter going quiet since Borson suspects they may well have pursued the matter behind the scenes.
He wrote: “One matter not mentioned at all in the Appeal is the consequential claims under the PL rules for compensation. The Appeal decision does not really help Everton – it confirms sporting advantage, substantial breach, limited mitigation, some aggravation etc all useful for causation arguments of the affected clubs.
“The IC [independent commission] deals with it. No reason AB [appeals board] would say anything, my point was don’t forget it. Potentially very significant process under way now.
“I don’t believe it is true no clubs gave notice to the IC. That would make no sense. I suspect they all gave notice in fact.
“The IC didn’t make it dependent on Appeal. And any claims will be confidential, hence we don’t know. But it is very unlikely each team that had gone to the IC previously, decided not to pursue.”
Three relegated clubs plus Burnley and Nottingham Forest could have made claim against Everton after appeal decision
The fact that only two of the nine grounds for appeal that Laurence Rabinowitz argued on the club’s behalf were upheld means it wasn’t a total victory, even though the super silk did some vital work.
It would appear to leave the door open for other clubs’ claims to go ahead in theory, although quite how any panel could adequately determine to what extent any of them were affected by Everton is another matter.
Given the commission has now been found to have failed to properly work out the sanction on the club in itself there wouldn’t likely be much confidence in another board realistically deciding compensation claims in a watertight way.
Any threat of a large cost landing on top of the Toffees is clearly the last thing they need given the threat of administration, with prospective new owners 777 Partners currently propping the club up with £150million-plus in working capital loans.
The most recent indication before Christmas was that the likes of Leeds United and company were more minded to negotiate a settlement directly specifically in order to avoid forcing Everton into such circumstances.
But if Borson’s prediction proves accurate that the former relegation rivals have moved ahead with action against the Toffees then it could still be an uncomfortable situation, even if Forest’s own profit and sustainability charge would surely change their position.
In other Everton news, a “wow” reaction has been sparked after the latest ballooning cost of the stadium project was revealed in the hearing documents.
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