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This article first appeared in Forum, The Edge Malaysia Weekly on November 27, 2023 – December 3, 2023
Well, that’s one way to spice up an international break! The 10-point deduction the English Premier League (EPL) imposed on Everton has been the talk of football even though no club games were being played.
But the headlines were less about what it might mean for Liverpool’s neighbours than the prospect of the EPL being turned upside down. For that is what could happen if Manchester City and Chelsea are also found guilty of breaking the Financial Fair Play (FFP) rules and proportionate punishments are meted out.
Yes, the unthinkable is being thought and the “R” word is being whispered. And there are precedents in football for errant big boys getting the boot, albeit not in the EPL. In Italy in 2006, mighty Juventus, found guilty of match-fixing, were banished to Serie B; and in Scotland in 2012, a crooked regime at Rangers was liquidated and a Phoenix club began life in the fourth tier.
The question football is asking is whether the example made of Everton for a relatively minor profitability and sustainability offence is the EPL picking low-hanging fruit or a taste of juicier harvests to come when it tackles far more serious alleged offenders?
The cases of City, especially with 115 charges against them, and Chelsea are far more complex, go back further and are where guilty verdicts could have myriad implications — and not just in England. Before we even talk about points, there are the trophies — more than 30 between the two.
Like Olympic medals sent in the post after a drug cheat has been belatedly disqualified, would they be awarded to the runners-up? It would be no consolation for lost glory for them, either, but for some clubs, it could spark lawsuits that may never end. The three relegated from the EPL last season are already preparing to sue Everton, who narrowly escaped, for compensation.
For City’s beaten rivals, it would be much more complicated. There would be prize money to deal with and players they could have signed had they been victorious at the time. They can’t buy them now. And don’t even mention European qualification. It wouldn’t be Pandora’s box; it would be Pandora’s minefield.
It is, as yet, where the EPL and its independent commission have feared to tread. City have been in the dock before and in 2020 were banned by Uefa for two years before getting off on appeal. That it is nine months since the charges were announced betrays the level of trepidation the authorities feel.
Yes, the “nuclear” threat by City chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak “to hire the best lawyers in the world and sue for the next 10 years” has not gone away. If the EPL were to come down hard and City fight, the league — and European football — would be in a state of turmoil for the foreseeable future.
Innocent until proven guilty, the Light Blues could carry on playing, adding more titles while still under threat of losing those they have already won. It would be farcical, but something must give and the EPL’s treatment of Everton suggests they finally mean business. But they will find City and Chelsea altogether different beasts.
Indeed, such is the complexity of the City case, leading barrister Nick De Marco KC says: “Given the parties involved, I do not believe that this is going to be wrapped up in anything less than two to four years’ time.”
Everton’s offence was petty theft (an infringement of just £19.5 million (RM114 million) compared with what City are accused of. Since the Abu Dhabi takeover in 2008, the club has spent
£2.5 billion and become serial winners, culminating in a Treble of League, FA Cup and Champions League last season. Unwrapping all that is unimaginable and would have far-reaching consequences.
But with its punishment of Everton, the EPL has left itself with little room for manoeuvre. However, there may be another reason the Toffees have been sacrificed. The UK government is about to announce an independent regulator for football which could clip the EPL’s wings if the new czar is given real power.
The EPL bridles at interference and hopes it has shown it can keep its own house in order. But it is this suddenly tougher approach that has everyone on tenterhooks.
In simple terms, Everton stole a loaf of bread, Chelsea have robbed a bank while City have robbed the treasury and are riding roughshod over all attempts to rein them in. Or so it is claimed. And Everton have already been sent to the guillotine.
The announcement, which sent shock waves through football, has brought sympathy for Everton, from overflying plane protests to requests for a debate in parliament. A founder member of the Football League, the club cited a number of mitigating circumstances but to no avail.
Being unable to predict the invasion of Ukraine was one. They had agreed a lucrative deal with a Russian company for naming rights to their stunning new stadium, but it had to be suspended. Another was signing Player X for a record fee but whom they had to let go for nothing after allegations of his impropriety with a minor.
Everton’s two-thirds finished
£760 million new home has been a financial millstone to the club yet it was a boon to the UK and Ireland’s successful bid to host the European Championships in 2028. Thanks, but no thanks. Hence the motion alleging “gross unfairness” was tabled in Westminster.
In contrast, the prospect of City and Chelsea getting what is widely viewed as their comeuppance was met with undisguised glee by rivals, tempered only by doubts that punishment will actually be delivered.
Others to savour a spot of schadenfreude were clubs around the foot of the EPL table to which Everton have plunged after the ruling. Their prospects of surviving have been given an unexpected boost.
Fans of City and Chelsea, meanwhile, can only hope the worst doesn’t happen. They are the nouveau riche who were once mid-table mediocrities whose acquisition by foreign zillionaires has been the equivalent of lottery wins. And like lottery winners, they are now living way above their station. Only sanctions of a draconian nature will satisfy the rest of football that feels there’s one law for the rich and another for the rest.
Exhibit A in that argument was when the six leading clubs, including City and Chelsea, opted to join the Super League in 2021. It was nothing less than English football’s very own Capitol Building attack and would have destroyed the EPL. Yet their collective punishment was a fine of £22 million and a promise not to do it again.
This laughable slap on the wrist undermined confidence in the entire system. And until last week, the sense was that the worst that would befall City and Chelsea, who have yet to be charged, would be a slap on the other wrist.
But Simon Leaf, partner and head of sport at Mishcon de Reya, said the points deduction against Everton will have a seismic impact and called it a “landmark moment that will send shock waves through boardrooms”. Tom Murray, senior sports lawyer at the firm, said: “The Premier League are showing their teeth and look very likely to continue to take these matters very seriously.”
For the wrong reasons, football off the field promises to be every bit as riveting as it is on it.
Bob Holmes is a long-time sportswriter specialising in football
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