Man City next after Everton? You are kidding yourselves! Also, Southgate, Arsenal FFP and more…

The Mailbox doubts that Manchester City will be next after Everton were docked points for breaching financial rules. Plus, Gareth Southgate, Arsenal FFP, Emery v Arteta debate and more…

Get your views in to theeditor@football365.com…

In defence of Southgate?
As I have often stated, I am not a fan of Southgate, for so many reasons.  Last night encapsulated a lot of those, boring, slow, negative football.  Player selections based on “bessie mate” criteria and poor in game management.

One of the (very few), clutching at straws, bright spots was the performance of Cole Palmer and F365 say this in their player ratings.  Let’s get this straight, he wasn’t in the original squad!  He was drafted in when an opening appeared and following the press clamour after his excellent display v Man City, Southgate again bowed to media pressure, his introduction was made ahead of players able to perform that role and who Southgate deemed to be suitable to be in the original squad, how must they be feeling this morning?  Post match Southgate praised the performance of Phil Foden, who despite being a member of the team who have dominated domestic football for years, is only selected due to injury to Saka.

A full house at Wembley deserved a much better performance than players “subconsciously” performing below a level expected.  This and starting poorly, “It was a game when we didn’t start well and if you don’t start well it’s hard to pick the game up”, surely this is part of Southgate’s role, to ensure that the players are “up for it”, to impress upon them the importance of a fast start and a duty to the paying piblic.  Going 1-0 up after 8 minutes, however fortuitously, IS a good start.

However, in his defence and it hurts me to say so, a game with no pressure should be an opportunity for players to express themselves and very few of them took this, whether that be partly due to a can’t be arsed attitude, a lack of desire or “it doesn’t matter if I’m shit, Gareth will still pick me for the next game” mentality (I’m looking at you Marcus, Kieran, Hendo) then they should take responsibility for this so  I may be forced to give Southgate a pass.  He should still have recognised this though and perhaps allowed Gallagher a full 90 minutes and probably introduced Bowen or Watkins rather than Saka, after all he did suggest that the players knew they didn’t have to reach high levels and would always win the game.

On another note, the co-commentary of Dion Dublin reached new heights.  He revealed the remarkable training method of two touch football, something probably every school teacher or amateur “coach” has used for the last 432 years, moments later England scored their second goal and he was excited to show the replay and count the touches of each player involved.  His counting fell down however when he only counted two touches by Kyle Walker when it was actually three and the most significant part of the move (ok putting the ball in the net is).  He then described Rice’s disallowed goal an “an easy finish” only to seconds later say “it’s not an easy finish”!  Can’t wait for his contribution to the next game.
Howard (Captain Chaos has just scored against the World Champions, megaflop) Jones

Is it really a whole new situation?
People really don’t pay any attention to clubs outside the Premier League, do they? The absolute disbelief at Everton being docked 10 points has a lot of fans of Championship and lower league clubs scratching their heads.

Penalties for PL clubs under FFP rules may be a new one but I’ve seen several explainers in the press about how unfair it is to penalise a club for poor leadership and ownership when it hasn’t been driven by an attempt to cheat or deceive. Well… yeah. But I can tell you Coventry City received absolutely no benefit from going into administration and then not coming out of it properly and having to play 35 miles from the city.  And yet the club still received 10 point deductions in consecutive seasons. Where was the outrage then? Or for Sheffield Wednesday, Bury, Bournemouth, Luton, Rotherham  Portsmouth, Leeds, Middlesborough, Birmingham City, Wigan, Reading, Derby, Bolton etc etc etc…

It may not be entirely the same circumstances but the arguments are the same. It somewhat blows my mind that people don’t see that.

SMH. PUSB.
Holster

One of my best mates is an Everton fan, and I said to him when it became apparent they’d violated sustainability rules that they’d be made an example of and receive a sizeable punishment. My reasoning is that they want to absolutely throw the book City, so Everton had to be dealt with firmly first.

The thing is, governing bodies really don’t like having what are effectively their subordinates thumbing their nose at them. That’s what City have done and done repeatedly; it’s what they received the fine from CAS for. Have the authorities got it in for them? If they didn’t before, they absolutely have now.

The process is going to take a long time; in part due to the number of charges but also, I suspect, for the authorities to make sure that every ‘i’ is dotted and every ‘t’ crossed. They know full well they’ll throw the best lawyers money can buy at any appeal and they’ll be wanting to ensure they’ve covered every base. I doubt titles will be stripped, because the other teams won’t want that, but a lengthy European ban? Calciopoli style relegations? I really wouldn’t be surprised.
Lewis, Busby Way

Seems pretty clear to me that the time discrepancy between Everton and Man City recieving judgements is easily explained without accusations of corruption.

Everton admitted it, city are refusing to cooperate.

Arrest a guy who nicked a car, he says “fair enough guv, I did it and it’s parked up over there” then the journey through the criminal justice system is going to go pretty smoothly. Even if he’s well within his rights to appeal a harsh sentence.

Arrest a guy who’s nicked over a hundred cars, he sits in stony silence, opening his mouth briefly to request his lawyer… well you’re probably going to have to spend some time building a case. And you’ll have to do it for each charge.

It sucks and I imagine all clubs will be a lot less willing to cooperate in the future. But, I’m not sure throwing down a punishment before you’ve worked out how to prove the case is a sensible alternative. In fact, it’s pretty much the reason juventus won their appeal on their initial points deduction last year.
G, Swansea

We all agree/hope that City should have the book thrown at them at some point, but the Everton tears are laughably unjustified. TX Bill’s “let’s make an example of little old Everton shall we”. Little old Everton?? Oh boo hoo. For every other mid to lower table team’s fans, Everton’s expenditure on players over the past 5-6 years has been extraordinary and inexplicable. I’m sure there’s a F365 page someone can grab detailing Everton’s eye watering number of unwise £20m+ signings, but every year it looked like they were playing a cheat code. So much cash wasted away, with a cr@p (but historic, I loved going there, and I love the fans) ground and no funding, it made absolutely no sense and was infuriating for teams trying to get by in the same league. They absolutely deserve to be penalized. Multiple teams that have been relegated over the past several years by a few points while Everton spent obscene amounts to circle the drain every year will have absolutely no sympathy, and nor should anyone else.
Mike, WHU

In response to your comment that Man City will be next, I think you are kidding yourself. We have all seen for years money rules in FIFA and EUFA, why would you possibly believe the FA / PL are any different?

Why else would they still be “investigating” things from 5 to 14 years ago? It must be tough for the “investigators “ to come up with a way to let Cityzens off the hook!
William T

Hi,

After Everton got docked an immediate 10 points for one charge of breaking financial rules this really shines the light on how ludicrous the Man City situation is.

115 charges and we have to wait until all are investigated for an outcome? Why not just deal out the punishment as they go through the investigation? Charge one -10 points, charge two -20 points and a large fine, charge three -30 points and even larger fine etc. This can go on until City are unable to play a Sunday afternoon kickabout in the local park.

Also not cooperating with an investigation like City are should result in an instant points deduction or suspension from the league. Nothing screams guilty like refusing to cooperate in an investigation you could easily prove your innocence in by simply supplying paperwork and emails.

City fans will scream “waaaaah you just hate us because we win” but the reality is we have seen two clubs punished for a single charge just this season. The City situation cannot be drawn out and pushed under the rug (most likely involving government intervention because natural gas exists) like City are no doubt betting on.
Morris

Arsenal and FFP
Arsenal fans have a short memory when they scoffed at my suggestion they were exactly playing within the rules all the time.

Not too long ago uefa placed them on a watch list because in 19/20 20/21 seasons they spent more than Chelsea and ran up a bill of about £260m on top of historical losses when paelladyce took over. If you don’t believe me it’s a Google search away and before you say open your traps to shout that no action was taken just remember uefa are toothless. Also I didn’t say definitely cheating, you peeps are touchy , I said possibly creatively accounting which if you consider spending £260m in two years on top of losses the previous two years when the limit is lower than that is kind of correct.

As for people who said ‘but but Liverpool spend big!’
We do, but not outside of our means and not breaching ffp either, it’s actually the one occasion when I can comfortably say Liverpool have done zero wrong and have no suspicion of such either.
Lee

The final point in the/Stewie’s Emery v Arteta debate
Can I write one final point on the/Stewie’s Emery v Arteta debate. Stewie’s missive that Emery got us to the Europa League final: he did but A) we were absolutely dreadful in it; 3-0 down after 65 mins, losing 4-1 in total and almost never really competing [8 shots on target to 2] and B) [and this is kind of important], we played some absolutely horrendous shi*e along the way, losing the first leg of the rounds of final 32 & 16 to the mighty BATE Borisov + Rennes respectively. We played decently in the QF + SF admittedly, but this was no glorious run to the final. Even our group contained Vorskla Poltava & Qarabağ, teams I had never heard of before, or since… #shivers

Emery is a great coach and I wish him well – but he was he was poor during his time Arsenal manager, had completely lost the dressing room in the 2019/20 season and carried over an unfortunate stench from his final season with PSG where his side won the 1st round 4–0 of the their tie v Barcelona, only to get knocked out HISTORICALLY by losing 6-1 in Barcelona.

He was [potentially] the right manager, but he arrived at the wrong time, and because he made such a balls of it, he will likely never be considered again. And I doubt he would ever want to be our manager again – both of these things are fine. So dear Stewie – pick a different argument.
Anonymous (remembering when brackets were a thing)

Fair play to Lee for a pretty comprehensive dismissal of that bot-goon. I’m Liverpool so have no dog in that fight, and I will miss the comedy nonsense if he disappears, but all the same made me chuckle.
Andy  (brackets still a thing? – we all have fans we would prefer not to have) Thailand

Baby Dyche do-do-doo
That picture of Dyche on the front page is brilliant – he looks like a toddler who’s really enjoyed his chocolate pudding!

Thanks for the giggles,
Dave PVFC