Photo by Simon Stacpoole/Offside/Offside via Getty Images
Photo by Simon Stacpoole/Offside/Offside via Getty Images
Manchester City’s financial charges have been dominating the Premier League newsflow this week, and Everton have plenty of vested interest here.
The Toffees are one of a few Premier League teams who could look to claim compensation against City, while there are questions around Everton’s past points deductions and what precedent that sets for any punishment Man City will receive.
Speaking on the Unfiltered Soccer Podcast, former Everton goalkeeper, Tim Howard has been discussing City’s situation, and he’s used Everton’s previous punishment to make a point about Enzo Maresca’s side and what they could be facing.
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Tim Howard uses Everton punishment to make Man City point
The American compared Everton’s situation to Man City’s.
Everton, famously, were found guilty of breaching PSR rules a few years ago and were handed a 10 point penalty – reduced to six points after appeal.
Of course, City’s charges are much more serious, and there are 114 of them to deal with, so Howard thinks it’s only fair if City are relegated if we’re keeping the level of punishment consistent.
“When I look at the recent teams who have been fined and docked points based on Financial Fair Play or PSR or whatever acronym they’re using today, you know, Forest Everton, Leicester, and they’re docked somewhere, you know, 10 points or less, right? And depending on the appeal,” Howard said.
And that was for like one violation over your net spend over the course of like three years. You know, City cooked the books like for a decade, for a decade.
Like City cooked the books. They hid money like it’s all well and good that City fans and you see some of them, most of them, they’re like, well, we do it all again for 15 years of glory. Yeah, fine, fine.
But like, and yet I had the best manager in the world, for sure. But the fact of the matter is, some of those title races were close.”
“There are people who are more in the know, but this is a lot of speculation. Like, if you’re saying Everton, Leicester and Forest had a couple of charges and they get docked 10 points, I mean, what does 114 or 115 charges get you? There’s going to be a relegation here I think.
Another former Everton star, Landon Donovan, then gave his verdict on the matter.
“They’ve set a precedent now, the Premier League. Everton, Forest, Leicester, they’ve been docked points based on one charge or maybe one or two.
“So the, I mean, is it as simple as just doing the math? Like they have precedent. This is not, they don’t have to pull it out of the air.”
Of course, it may not be as simple as just multiplying the number of points by the number of charges, but there will be plenty of unhappy Evertonians if City are let off lightly here considering what Everton had to put up with a few years ago.