Chelsea, City face ‘relegation’ after Everton FFP ruling as finance expert predicts severe punishment
According to a finance expert, Chelsea and Manchester City could face “relegation” over financial fair play breaches after Everton were punished.
It was confirmed on Friday that Everton have been deducted 10 points by an independent commission over alleged breaches of the Premier League’s financial rules.
Teams in the Premier League are allowed to lose a maximum of £105m over a three-year spell but Everton’s figures showed that they lost £124.5m up until the end of the 2021/22 campaign.
Everton’s punishment feels severe and it will no doubt make Chelsea and Man City nervous as they are being monitored over their own alleged breaches.
Earlier this year, Man City were charged over 115 separate breaches of the Premier League’s regulations, while Chelsea are under scrutiny after being accused of breaking rules while former owner Roman Abramovich was still in charge.
Now finance expert Stefan Borson – a lawyer who has advised Man City – has indicated that the two Premier League clubs could potentially face relegation.
“Without seeing the judgement/award -10 points for Everton feels harsh for a straightforward FFP [Financial Fair Play] breach to me,” Borson tweeted.
“But reinforces that sanctions against City [if proven] and now Chelsea [if charged and admitted on the off-books payments] will be potentially relegation inducing.”
Stan Collymore thinks the Premier League have made an “example” of Everton ahead of their legal fight with Man City.
“My take on it is painfully simple. The Premier League are looking to shore up their defence against Manchester City. They know that City are going to be lawyered up to the hilt following 115 charges brought against them, so the Premier League need to make sure they come armed with an example and unfortunately for Everton, they’re it,” Collymore told Caught Offside.
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“The fact the Premier League have gone straight in with a 10-point deduction probably tells you that they feel they have a very strong case against Manchester City. What they’ve basically done today with Everton is set the punishment’s baseline at a 10-point deduction.
“In my opinion, to be deducted 10 points for a £20 million deficit is fairly harsh to one of English football’s founding fathers and I’m sure other clubs will sympathise with them.
“From my perspective, it’s really simple though. I have absolutely no problem with Everton being docked points. I think 10 is a bit harsh, as I said above, but I wouldn’t have a problem with any team being docked points if they’d broken financial rules – and that includes Aston Villa, by the way.
“But if the Premier League are going in hard, then they need to go in hard on any club that breaks the rules. Points deduction is one thing, but at what point do we start considering voiding silverware? There has to be an incentive there for clubs not to break the rules.”