Photo by Carl Recine/Getty Images
Photo by Carl Recine/Getty Images
There’s been one story dominating the Premier League this week – Manchester City’s financial charges.
City have been found guilty on 114 rule breaches relating to financial misconduct, and the Premier League could be set to throw the book at them.
Everton could seek compensation from City, and all this talk about compensation has led to further discussion about Everton’s case with Burnley.
Burnley received £40m in damages from Everton earlier this year after claiming that their relegation in 2022 was, in part, caused by the Toffees’ PSR breaches that would lead to later punishment.
Everton are now in the process of appealing that decision, and if that appeal is successful, things could get ugly.
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Burnley could go bust if Everton appeal is successful
Speaking on The Blue Room Podcast, Christian Smith, host of The Lawyer Podcast and a former commercial and sports disputes solicitor spoke about the Everton case with Burnley.
The legal expert discussed Everton’s appeal, and he made quite a scary claim.
Smith reckons that if Everton’s appeal is successful, Burnley could be forced to pay back the £40m they received earlier this year – which could have dire consequences, including a situation where the club as a whole collapses.
“Look, I don’t know whether it’s (the funds) in escrow or anything like that. I would doubt it,” Smith began.
“But again, I mean, I wouldn’t want to kind of make a confident assertion about that. In terms of whether or not if the case gets overturned and Burnley’s basically found that they lost that and they need to pay it back. Yeah, they would have to pay it back.
“And essentially that would be, I mean, obviously given Burnley’s reported financial difficulties, that obviously as I understand could be difficult for them.
“Basically, I mean, my understanding is that it would work like any kind of judgment debt or any kind of money owing.
“So if they couldn’t pay it back, foreseeably there’s a situation where Burnley collapses over it, where they’re basically found to not be able to pay their debts, and they are no longer able to run as a company like any company would if they basically couldn’t pay their debts.
“I mean, that’s obviously the extreme end of what could actually happen. But effectively, Burnley would be legally bound to pay that money back, and what happens when companies can’t pay money back? Well, you go into proceedings over that. So we will see.”
Burnley are in serious financial trouble at the moment, and the last thing they need is another £40m hit.
Everton could be due that repayment, but that is pending appeal.
If push comes to shove, that could land Burnley in significant trouble, to the point where they could go bust – and Everton may have a part to play in that.
Do Everton want to be partly responsible for a 144-year-old footballing institution going to the wall? That may be a question the higher-ups at the Hill Dickinson Stadium have to answer if this appeal is successful.