Southampton Football Club chief executive Phil Parsons has referenced Everton in a strongly-worded statement challenging the EFL’s decision to expel the Saints from the Championship Play-Offs – a ruling he described as the largest penalty ever imposed on an English football club.
In a statement published on Wednesday, Parsons reached for the Blues’ 2023/24 points deduction as evidence that his club’s punishment is wildly out of proportion. Everton’s six-point deduction – which came after losses of £124.5 million — was held up as a marker of what a “proportionate” sanction looks like. The implication being: if Everton only got six points docked for that, how can Southampton be thrown out of the play-offs entirely?
Everton supporters, who spent the better part of two seasons watching their club dragged through repeated commission hearings, appeals and points deductions – with all the anxiety and outrage that came with it – may find it a touch rich to see their ordeal casually deployed as a convenient yardstick by a club looking to soften its own punishment.
