The Toffee Blues contributor and journalist Connor Williams has said point deductions and new ownership uncertainty are creating a “perfect storm” for Everton to be in a lot of trouble.
The news broke on Monday that Everton would be deducted an additional two points for breaching the permitted Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR) for the assessment period ending 2022/23.
It is the Toffees’ second points deduction this season after a successful appeal reduced an initial 10-point deduction to six.
Everton plans to appeal this latest deduction which could mean that the final standings in the Premier League will be decided after the season is over.
The subsequent two-point sanctions mean Everton have been deducted eight points overall this season.
Everton are the first club to receive two separate point deductions in the history of the English top-flight.
Everton’s latest deduction has dropped them to 16th in the Premier League, two points above the relegation zone.
Williams added: “It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be, in terms of the actual amount. I was expecting four just because Forest got four.
“I was expecting we’d worked with the Premier League this time a bit better than the first time.”
Everton won 1-0 on Saturday afternoon at home to Burnley. A Calvert-Lewin goal in the first half secured the Blues’ first win of 2024, ending their 13-game winless streak in the top flight.
After Monday’s announcement, fan fury has led to a frenzy of memes suggesting that the Premier League had scored a 90-minute plus two days equaliser to reduce the three points to just one.
Mr Williams sees the positive in the hard work the Everton players put into ensuring they beat Burnley.
“I’ll take two. It just means the win at the weekend was more important because it’s made that redundant now and into a draw.”
However, he also raised concerns the number of sanctions appears to be taking its toll on players and manager Sean Dyche.
“I don’t know how the manager himself and his staff are motivated and then trying to motivate the players to say, come on, lads, because it just seems like one step forward, two steps back from at the minute.”
He argues that the rules are not fit for purpose and are not helping Everton to be more sustainable in the future.
“People are worried that financial administration might start to loom. So, yeah, it doesn’t really help us to sustain.
“It’s actually killing us quite slowly, and with the takeover or not takeover, it all seems to be making the perfect storm for Everton to be in a lot of trouble.”
Rumours have circulated that the Premier League plans to scrap points deductions and introduce a new framework, including a luxury tax on clubs that spend beyond their means.
Williams has claimed that any change will be “too little and too late”.
“If it’s the one season where we go down and then they change the rules, Everton fans will rightfully moan about this for quite a long time because we will rightfully feel a little bit hard done by.”
The Premier League has been under pressure for some time after the government announced plans to establish an independent regulator to help protect the financial security of English clubs and the football pyramid.
According to Times Sport, Premier League Chief Executive Richard Masters believes the Football Governance Bill would give a regulator unprecedented power and reduce the appeal of the sport in which the UK is a ‘superpower’.
“The government should leave the Premier League alone. It’s the envy of the world,” said Masters.
Perhaps the Premier League is the ‘envy of the world’, but off-field matters could decide who gets relegated this year.
Williams added: “It’s been decided off the field, indeed at the bottom anyway, which is half the fun of the Premier League.
“That’s half the reason we have relegations in the English Football League: They are not fun for the teams down there.
“They are fun in terms of the competitive spectacle that’s now been decided off the field. You’re taking away that competitive edge.”
