Everton are cooked. During a run of good form, the Prem decided to finally enforce their spending regulations. Not even the magic of Sean Dyche can save them with the punishment dealt to them.
No one in the highest levels of football truly cares about financial rules. Clubs across Europe flaunt breaking these rules, knowing that no one will punish them.
Out of all the teams that could have been punished, no one expected Everton. It’s true that Everton has had weird finances for years now, but not to the level of other sides. A club that’s biggest transfer this summer was Beto isn’t the type to face the wrath of the Prem.
Pointing out the hypocrisy of the English league punishing Everton rather than clubs like Chelsea or City is easy. Rather it shows the inequality amongst clubs in the biggest league on Earth. City has the power that Everton doesn’t and can fight the Prem.
Football is an insane sport where nothing really makes sense. Everton will almost surely go down, due to this weird application of a penalty.
Out of nowhere, the Premier League handed out a death sentence to the toffees. A 10 point deduction due to excessive financial losses suffered by Everton.
To be fair, Everton’s spending since 2017 haven’t made sense on any level. Despite spending more than 30 million on players like Alex Iwobi and Yerry Mina, the club flirts with relegation yearly. No die hard fan could argue that this is sustainable.
The spending has left the club treating every window as a way to right the ship. No matter that manager, the market will fix it. What’s so funny is that the Dyche appointment goes against this completely.
In a purely ironic way, Everton has found stability by trusting Dyche and giving him the right players. No more egregious transfers, only smart ones.
This makes the punishment feel so cruel, especially after rectifying their ways. At its most basic level, this is what the Premier League financial rules aim to regulate. Spending that is deemed too risky for long term stability.
Everton’s violations were deemed to be the most severe case that the league had seen, thus deserving of the penalty. Fans will disagree with the deduction, but the Prem is sending a message. Time will tell if the league is serious, but for now it has to be seen warily.
It’s definitely unfair for Everton fans to watch their club sink because of financial issues. Perhaps this is also a sign of the Prem taking on financial “criminals”.
No one at the upper echelons of the sport actually cares about clubs overspending, as long as they don’t threaten the financial stability of others. Unfortunately for Everton, they were an easy club to use as an example.
City is currently engaged in a legal war with the English football structure over allegations. In their response to the deduction, Everton clearly put the onus on the structure to be consistent. If City is found guilty, then it would be consistent for them to have points deducted.
Now, it must be made clear that City are not Everton, if that needed any clarification. A club that is backed to the tilt by a state fresh off a treble win has more power than any other club. Pep’s boys may very well be the only side that could rival peak Barça in every facet.
Again, this situation is a better example of the structural inequality in football. The sport is nothing more than a reflection of the world it lives in.
Clubs like City and PSG who have dominion over their leagues can do whatever they want because their status allows it. The capital they bring in makes them critical to their league and affords them special privileges. Juggernauts can break these rules because their spending is not a threat to the financial stability of those invested in the league.
Teams like Everton just don’t have the importance or sway that the behemoths have. If clubs like Everton, desperate to stay up, begin spending like the big boys, it’ll destabilize the bottom half. Any sort of financial instability then threatens the bottom line of the top sides.
European football is ruthless capitalism in every manner. Those clubs that have the reins of control can be afforded breaking of the rules, but teams that may threaten stability are dealt with.
Earlier this season, Everton unveiled their new stadium seatings as a way to give fans hope of a brighter future. In a single instant, all those golden dreams have turned to sand slipping through fans’ hands. In a fair world, all clubs would face the same scrutiny, but nothing is truly fair about the world the Prem exists in.
Featured image: Everton
