Everton have lost two battles over the Premier League’s controversial spending rules, but the club is building up a strong case should it end up in a third fight.
Whether it does or not remains to be seen – while the picture looks concerning from the outside, there is still hope the club might be able to find a way to comply with Profit and Sustainability Regulations for the first time in three years.
Should Aston Villa complete the signing of Lewis Dobbin, then the Blues’ position will certainly be much improved, while any further business between now and the end of the month would be an additional boost.
Unless there is a particularly troubling surprise in the accounts, if it ends up being a narrow breach of the three year, £105m loss limit then Everton will have some substantial mitigation. I have repeatedly written of the vicious cycle the current financial rules are in danger of trapping teams in, making sustainability – surely the goal of the regulations – harder to reach for the clubs in trouble. Everton are a case in point.
The unprecedented points deductions of last season plunged a troubled club deeper into a crisis the players worked miracles to overcome. But the result of a survival-against-the-odds was still undermined by the rules. Everton would have finished three places higher without the deductions, bringing in roughly an additional £9m in merit payments – money that would be of valuable assistance to the club’s PSR position. Two more points – and given the atrocious run Everton went on as the off-field issues gathered momentum it is easy to believe they would have picked up those points without that pressure – and the club would have secured 10th place. Had they done so, they would be around £15m better off.
