Everton: BBC Sport pundit rages at Premier League amid latest announcement
Everton hero Michael Ball has admitted his fury at the Premier League after they scrapped FA Cup replays to aid the top clubs in the division.
The FA and Premier League announced replays will be scrapped in the FA Cup from the first round onwards next season to help player welfare, but the decision has been met with a huge backlash from EFL clubs after they weren’t consulted.
But Ball, a BBC pundit writing in his column for the Liverpool Echo (20 April), believes this is further proof of the Premier League showing favouritism to the top sides just as they have done during Everton’s disciplinary hearings that have seen eight points deducted from their tally, so far.
“If the Premier League views the protection of the integrity of its competition so seriously, then it is a shame it did not pursue the six clubs that attempted to undermine the league by seeking to join the European Super League – a project that was exposed three years ago this week – with the same vigour it is currently chasing Everton,” he wrote.
“Their punishment amounted to a payment of several millions of pounds each for their role in a competition that would have been ruinous to the competitive spirit of English football – an impact far more severe than that caused by Everton’s misdemeanours.
“The scrapping of FA Cup replays is the latest blow to the heritage and beauty of the game in this country. It may help those clubs in European competition avoid the threat of the extra game here and there – this January, the fixture schedule even for Everton, a team not enjoying illustrious midweek nights abroad, was unenviable.
“But those games are only replaced with more elsewhere for the clubs at the very top. The difference – those are more lucrative.”
Everton hard done by the Premier League
There is not an Everton fan in the land who believes that the Premier League have treated them fairly this season, and it seems quite clear that they’re being made an example of.
Currently, they are desperate to prove they don’t need an independent regulator and are trying to do everything they can to show that they are in control.
But they are already changing the rules after one season of implementing point deductions to just Everton and Nottingham Forest, despite huge charges looming over Chelsea and Manchester City.
This Premier League agreement with the FA only benefits the teams at the top end of the table and takes away the experiences of fans lower down the pyramid.
If you needed more evidence that the Premier League don’t care about anything other than money and keeping the cartel of clubs at the top happy, then now you have it.
In other Everton news, 777 Partners want to sell Standard Liege to fund Goodison Park takeover.
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