The Everton Fan Advisory Board has backed the club's appeal against the judgement, released this week
Fans of Everton hold up pieces of paper with a message of protest against the Premier League ahead of the match between Everton FC and Tottenham Hotspur at Goodison Park on February 3, 2024. Photo by Robbie Jay Barratt - AMA/Getty Images
Fans of Everton hold up pieces of paper with a message of protest against the Premier League ahead of the match between Everton FC and Tottenham Hotspur at Goodison Park on February 3, 2024. Photo by Robbie Jay Barratt - AMA/Getty Images
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Everton supporter organisation the Fan Advisory Board has questioned the fairness of the latest ruling against the club and backed its appeal.
A commission operating under the Premier League’s profit and sustainability regulations (PSR) ordered the club to pay Burnley £35m in compensation and interest after effectively finding the Blues avoided relegation at the expense of the Clarets through the first of their two spending breaches.
The finding has caused anger at Everton, with the club slamming the three-person panel’s interpretation of the regulations and immediately launching an appeal.
The FAB has echoed the concerns of the Blues and other commentators since the judgement came to light.
Everton’s first breach of PSR related to the 2021/22 financial year, when the club went £19.5m above the league’s overspend threshold. The Blues were deducted 10 points the following season, a punishment reduced to six points on appeal.
The original judgement, found to contain some errors that led to the deduction being decreased, was reached by the same panel that ruled on the compensation claim - one of several points of concern raised by the FAB and others.
The case put forward by Burnley was that the punishment should have been applied in the relevant football season, when they finished four points below Everton and fell to the Championship as a result. In concluding the Clarets' chances of survival were negatively impacted by the Blues' overspend, the panel heard evidence that included complex statistical claims over how many additional points the extra £19.5m attributed to Everton’s spending could have had on the pitch.
Th Blues accepted that money would have led to a sporting advantage but argued over whether and how it could be quantified, as well as when the breach actually took place.
Burnley were relegated at the end of May and the deadline for PSR compliance was the end of June, creating a window for Everton to remedy their position after the end of the season - a period other clubs have since used to address their own troubling PSR positions and thus avoid sanction.
In its statement, the FAB referred to the handling of other cases and how the panel ruled on the dispute. It wrote:
The Everton Fan Advisory Board (FAB) has serious concerns about the Independent Commission’s decision ordering Everton to pay £26m, plus interest to Burnley for a historic PSR breach. This ruling raises major questions about fairness, consistency and the process that produced it. We fully support the club’s appeal.
Evertonians will need no reminding that the same Commission panel issued Everton’s 10-point deduction in 2023 - a decision later reduced to six points, after significant errors were identified. The same panel has now ruled again on a related compensation claim. Allowing a panel already found to have misjudged the case to sit a second time undermines confidence in both the decision and the wider process.
The Commission previously accepted that any “sporting advantage” from a financial breach is almost impossible to measure, yet built this ruling on exactly that: imagined points, imagined league positions and imagined outcomes. Football is decided across 38 matches by form, injuries, refereeing decisions, mistakes and pressure - not by retrospective modelling. Burnley were five points ahead of Everton going into May. To now attribute their relegation to a single financial breach is not credible or proportionate.
This ruling means Everton has effectively been punished three times for one breach: a points deduction, its own costs, and now a multi-million pound payment to Burnley. If upheld, it risks encouraging more retrospective claims between clubs, creating instability across the league.
These concerns sit within a wider issue. Enforcement across the Premier League has LACKED TRANSPARENCY, has been inconsistent, and recent cases have not inspired confidence in the current system. With the Independent Football Regulator now in place, there is a clear need for independent oversight and consistent standards in such matters. The Everton FAB has been consistent in calling for this from the outset.
This matter predates the club’s current ownership. Everton cooperated fully with the original process and has strengthened its governance and compliance since. The club has confirmed that this ruling does not affect football operations or summer planning, and we note the Premier League’s written support regarding any further PSR impact.
The FAB supports the club’s appeal and expects this ruling to be tested thoroughly. Evertonians accept the need for financial rules, but those rules must be applied in a way that is fair, consistent, proportionate and rooted in footballing reality.