Any rumours on how many points Leicester are getting deducted?
Think of Everton, writing off a £50million player because of circumstances entirely beyond their control, yet failing to get that factored in when their books were inspected by the Premier League. They could have gone down. Maybe this year a club will go down — maybe some are already down — for the crime of trying too hard to succeed, of not knowing their place, or as the result of a sliver of financial misfortune.
Masters implied that he was relaxed about creative accounting, and loopholes, as long as clubs abided by the rules. It is a ridiculous stance. The very nature of creative accounting is that it operates on the outer edge of legality, that it pushes the envelope. Creative accounting and adherence, therefore, do not always go together. So permission, or otherwise, is needed quickly. Yet Premier League cases and judgments drag on and on. And here we are, season starting, and none the wiser on so much of it. Everton, as ever, have no idea where they stand. No wonder the club is proving such a hard sell.