Everton's hopes of keeping their Premier League status have been dealt a fresh blow, with fears that a successful appeal from Burnley, Leeds United and Leicester City could plunge the club into administration.
Sean Dyche's side were handed a 10-point deduction by the Premier League over a breach of profit and sustainability rules. The punishment, which is a record for the competition, saw the team drop to 19th place in the league table.
Things could yet become worse, though. With three current and former top-flight teams reportedly confirming their intention to sue for compensation, further penalties could send Everton into administration and earn them a further nine-point penalty.
Leeds and Burnley were responsible for a joint letter, sent in 2022, which is understood to have played a part in Everton's initial punishment. Both clubs were battling it out with Everton for Premier League survival, with Burnley ultimately dropping down to the Championship before bouncing straight back.
Leeds remained near the foot of the table last term, with Leicester joining them in a relegation dogfight. Both ended up in the bottom three, with Everton staying up at their expense on the final day of the season, and The Mail indicates all three have reaffirmed plans to escalate the situation.
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If the latest measures from the three teams prove successful, it would leave the Toffees with a compensation bill which The Mail reports they lack the funds to settle. This would potentially bring administration, and an automatic nine-point penalty, per rules brought in by the Premier League in 2004.
Do Everton deserve their punishment? Have your say in the comments section
Everton manager Sean Dyche faces another potential relegation battle (Getty Images)There is a precedent when it comes to such a points deduction. During the 2009-10 season, Portsmouth were docked nine points for entering administration, with the punishment coming into immediate effect and all but confirming what was already a likely relegation.
The appeal from Leeds, Leicester and Burnley is set to be heard by a three-person independent panel appointed by the Premier League. Everton's initial 10-point penalty leaves them just two points from safety, and level on points with bottom-of-the-table Burnley after 12 matches.
Everton have already confirmed plans to appeal against their initial punishment, which represents only the third time a team in the Premier League has been docked points. The first example saw Middlesbrough handed a three-point penalty in the 1996-97 season for failing to fulfil a fixture.
"Everton Football Club is both shocked and disappointed by the ruling of the Premier League’s Commission," the club's statement reads. "The Club believes that the Commission has imposed a wholly disproportionate and unjust sporting sanction.
"The Club has already communicated its intention to appeal the decision to the Premier League. The appeal process will now commence and the Club’s case will be heard by an Appeal Board appointed pursuant to the Premier League’s rules in due course.
"Everton maintains that it has been open and transparent in the information it has provided to the Premier League and that it has always respected the integrity of the process. The Club does not recognise the finding that it failed to act with the utmost good faith and it does not understand this to have been an allegation made by the Premier League during the course of proceedings.
"Both the harshness and severity of the sanction imposed by the Commission are neither a fair nor a reasonable reflection of the evidence submitted.
"The Club will also monitor with great interest the decisions made in any other cases concerning the Premier League's Profit and Sustainability Rules. Everton cannot comment on this matter any further until the appeal process has concluded."
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