EXCLUSIVE: Everton face a further NINE-POINT deduction — Mail Online 18/11/23
EXCLUSIVE: Everton face a further NINE-POINT deduction - and almost certain relegation - with Toffees set to be plunged into administration if Burnley, Leicester and Leeds are successful with £300m compensation claim against Toffees
Everton were hit by a TEN-POINT deduction from the Premier
League on Friday
Burnley, Leeds and Leicester have confirmed their intention
to sue Everton
Anthony Gordon should ditch England to play for Scotland -
It's All Kicking Off
By MATT HUGHES
Everton face being forced into administration and given
another nine-point penalty that would almost certainly relegate them if a
second independent commission rules that other clubs should be compensated for
their spending breaches.
Mail Sport revealed on Friday that Burnley, Leeds and
Leicester are pressing ahead with plans to bring a compensation claim against
Everton, which would be heard by another three-person panel appointed by the
Premier League before the end of the season.
Everton's prospective buyers 777Partners have committed to
providing around £20million-a-month to help with the club's running costs
whilst the Premier League are assessing their takeover bid, but Mail Sport has
learned that they would not be willing to pay a compensation bill that could
run into tens of millions of pounds.
The deal agreed by Farhad Moshiri and 777 in September
contains clauses stipulating that the sale price will be reduced significantly
if Everton are instructed to pay compensation or relegated from the Premier
League.
Everton's current regime lack the funds to settle a
significant compensation bill, which would leave the club facing administration
and the automatic nine-point penalty introduced by the Premier League in 2004.
While Sean Dyche's side are just two points from safety
despite being docked 10 points on Friday, the loss of nine more points would
almost certainly seal their fate.
In an interim hearing held before the independent commission
was appointed last May David Phillips KC ruled that Burnley, Leeds and
Leicester, whose claim was first revealed by Mail Sport, had a case.
'I am satisfied that the applicant clubs have potential
claims for compensation,' Phillips wrote in a judgement published for the first
time on Friday.
The three clubs are understood to be preparing a claim for
£100m each based on the loss of Premier League income as all suffered relegated
in seasons during which Everton have been found guilty of overspending,
although such claims are seen as wildly optimistic. The amount of compensation
to be paid would be decided by a second independent commission if they deem
Everton to be liable.
Burnley, Leeds and Leicester have 28 days from Friday's
judgement to formally lodge their claim, with the Premier League confident it
will be heard before the end of the season, as will Everton's planned appeal
against the 10-point punishment.
'Those claims and their validity depend on whether the
complaint is upheld,' Phillips added in his judgement in May.
777 have already loaned Everton over £40m on the
understanding that this debt will be converted into equity in the club if their
takeover takes place.
If the American investment firm withdraws or their proposal
is rejected by the Premier League they would become secondary debtors, joining
the back of the queue to be repaid by Everton behind their other funders Metro
Bank and MSP Capital, as well as other creditors.
Everton have become just the third club in Premier League
history to be given a points deduction.
Middlesbrough were docked three points in 1997 after
refusing to fulfil a fixture against Blackburn due to illness in the squad,
while Portsmouth lost nine points in 2010 after entering administration.
