Manchester City’s guilty verdict has reopened old wounds at Everton, with fresh reporting recalling the anger inside the club when the Blues were punished for breaching Premier League financial rules.
Mark Douglas, writing for iNews, says there was a “deep and burning sense of injustice” at Everton during their 2023-24 PSR battle, with some inside the club believing they had been made an example of.
One Everton insider told Douglas at the time: “We just want consistency.”
Those words have acquired fresh relevance following the independent commission’s findings against Manchester City.
Everton’s PSR punishment back in focus
Everton were initially deducted 10 points in November 2023 after an independent commission found they had exceeded the permitted PSR loss threshold by £19.5m.
That punishment was reduced to six points on appeal in February 2024. A separate breach subsequently resulted in another two-point deduction, meaning Everton ultimately lost eight points during the 2023-24 season.
Douglas argues that the City verdict inevitably invites comparisons with how Everton were treated, although the two cases involved very different circumstances, evidence and disciplinary processes.
The commission hearing City’s case found the club guilty of serious breaches of the Premier League’s financial rules across nine seasons. Three of four charges concerning City’s duties of co-operation and utmost good faith were also upheld.
City continue to deny wrongdoing and formally lodged an appeal against the commission’s decision today. For Everton, however, the comparison isn’t simply about the number of charges or the eventual punishment.
Douglas reports that some inside the club believed their case was being used to demonstrate how firmly the Premier League would enforce its financial rules while the far more complicated City proceedings continued.
He argues that Everton therefore have every right to feel aggrieved when looking back at how quickly their own punishment took effect.
That remains Douglas’s assessment rather than a finding of either independent commission, but the City verdict has returned Everton’s bruising PSR experience to the conversation.
The Blues appealed, served their eventual eight-point deduction and fought successfully against relegation on the pitch. Three seasons later, the consistency Everton were asking for during their own PSR battle is once again part of the debate.
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