Everton and Nottingham Forest: ‘Horrified’ finance expert appeals claim leaves Jim White in shock
Jim White was left shocked by the prospect of both Everton and Nottingham Forest gaining fractional points back at their appeals.
The talkSPORT host reacted live on his 16 April show after finance expert Stefan Borson raised the possibility of the two clubs’ points deduction penalties being reduced in a way which would leave observers “horrified” from a sporting perspective.
He pointed to the fact that the Toffees receiving a one-point deduction at their most recent commission for a combination of two reasons – early admission and loss of USM sponsorship – indicating that issues have been weighted as worth less than a whole point.
Borson said (2m 10s): “The dilemma that both of the clubs have got is whether to petition the appeal board for fractional points, and of course from a footballing perspective we’d all be horrified by them getting a half-point back or 0.2 back.
“But it seems to be there are probably not strong arguments for a whole point back.”
An aghast White asked: “You’re talking half a point? ‘Oh we went down by half a point’.”
“It’s a natural consequence. Or ‘we stayed up by half a point’,” Borson replied.
“Are you serious?” asked White again, before Simon Jordan queried whether provisions have been made for that possibility on appeal.
Borson said: “Well they talk about fractional points in the independent commission so far. They’ve shied away from them, but likewise if you look at the Everton decision it does give one point [reduction] for two matters that are not related. So if you think back they get one point for early admission and USM mitigation. We don’t know how that is split.”
Could Everton land partial point award?
On the face of it any clubs being left with fractions of points in the Premier League table would be farcical, and no-doubt would spark outrage from rivals.
But it could equally be argued that the current campaign has already been rendered a nonsense with asterisks against the Toffees and Forest, Everton seeing their total altered for non-footballing reasons three times and counting already, and upset from other clubs predicated anyway.
Sean Dyche or Nuno Espirito Santo would clearly not choose this route if all things were equal but if a fractional point is the difference between Premier League survival and relegation to the Championship they probably won’t be complaining.
The top flight is already in uncharted territory in terms of this being the first season where profit and sustainability rules have impacted points totals.
And since the whole system as it current stands has already been deemed unfit for purpose with new rules on the way in it perhaps wouldn’t be as great a surprise as it initially seems if another far-from-perfect element developed before the campaign was over in the form of split points.
In other Everton news, 777 Partners have shown the “biggest red flag” yet in their takeover attempt.
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