Times article, Burnley/Leeds threaten to sue Everton

[catcherintherye]

Bottom line on that is that it's a pandemic...a once in a hundred year (we hope) human event.

It's been used to explain away and contextualise a hell of a lot in economic and political activity, and the precedent outside football and inside it is set.

If the club challenged it in a court, you would imagine they have a strong case.

As you say, pandemic causes affects to business, is quite a black and white case. It would also be hard to argue some clubs wouldnt be more affected than others.

 

[catcherintherye]

Agreed, Murdock press are very “click baity”. We went through this financial investigation in January. Surely no one at this point, other than those that hate us, would think is acceptable to effectively clear us in January, then in May, deduct points from us?! But it generates clicks to their website and earns them money from advertising

It essentially makes no sense. Theyve publicly stated theyve accepted the accounts. The question would be, why didnt they just do it in January or whatever.

 

[davek]

Agreed, Murdock press are very “click baity”. We went through this financial investigation in January. Surely no one at this point, other than those that hate us, would think is acceptable to effectively clear us in January, then in May, deduct points from us?! But it generates clicks to their website and earns them money from advertising

If Everton are 'comfortable' with it then that indicates that they know they're sitting on top of the PL's own decision making...and that's a comfy place to be.

The PL needs to agree to hand the relegated club a few more million quid in a parachute payment sweetener...which is all their yank owners are angling for.

 

[mumwasablue]

It's you who have been found out as it seems atm. We're staying up, how about you? Certainly hope you won't.

I agree. We have spent about 130 million made a profit of 5 million . Not enough investment. Covid might have knackered us. If you want Burnley to stay up fair enough. We will be back .

 

[catcherintherye]

I dont either. That would need the PL to turn round and say they got it wrong and there were breaches. Any punishment (unlikely imo) is going to be next season too you would imagine.

We are going to need to change drastically how we operate though. Wages and fees are going to come down. We are not going to be many signing players 28 and older who will have no value after their first contract.

I hope...

The issue you outline is the challenge/concern really. That moving forward there might be more scrutiny and less room for creativity for us. It had to be a wake up moment.

We have to hope:
1) We can make some sales, which keeps us the right side of the equation
2) Other teams like Newcastle start to draw attention
3) The rules get changed
4) If we do fall foul, we get a fine and a warning.

 

[catcherintherye]

I must stress that I dont expect anything to happen, personally.

The reality is, from a discussion I am having, is that the information we have used to calculate these losses will have been provided to the PL. We have been transparent. And they have signed them off. They are the key points really.

If someone views it as a mistake, it will really be the PL in the doghouse.

 

[davek]

If the club challenged it in a court, you would imagine they have a strong case.

As you say, pandemic causes affects to business, is quite a black and white case. It would also be hard to argue some clubs wouldnt be more affected than others.

I think the strength of this whole thing is a hit and hope challenge by Leeds and Burnley which the media are hoping to get clicks from for a few weeks.

It's absolutely sickening we have to go through this though.

The PL need to make this disappear very quickly. They'll have loads of levers to pull so they better get pulling them once this season is over on Sunday.

 

[Rita_Poon]

Not sure why the knickers in a twist, its not like anyone is pushing for a removal of points for us and any other big spenders like city perhaps would see any significant benefit...

 

[davek]

The reality is, from a discussion I am having, is that the information we have used to calculate these losses will have been provided to the PL. We have been transparent. And they have signed them off. They are the key points really.

If someone views it as a mistake, it will really be the PL in the doghouse.

Who were Everton's external auditors, do you know?

 

[Tin-Tin]

The reality is, from a discussion I am having, is that the information we have used to calculate these losses will have been provided to the PL. We have been transparent. And they have signed them off. They are the key points really.

If someone views it as a mistake, it will really be the PL in the doghouse.

But it sounds like they believe the PL were wrong not to take action against us and are going after them too.

Should that concern us?

 

[catcherintherye]

If anyone wants doing it's Man Utd. I am a Leeds fan their performance against you had to be so one paced it defied belief. I don't know your finances but we had our minus 15 season in 2007 when Bates pulled some manipulative accounts to keep ownership. Sheffield Wednesday and Derby always had something going on financially and we're found out. We made our bed In January by not bringing in players .Resigned to relegation but who knows what will happen. If Everton have done something wrong you will be found out . Simple as that.

The PL have been given our accounts, and have signed them off. I'm not sure what we could have done wrong.

Our crime is having to operate in a pandemic which has greatly affected the business. It would be wrong to punish a team for that. And any punishment will need to be next season if it were found to be true.

 

[catcherintherye]

Who were Everton's external auditors, do you know?

I do not. But it will need to be an accredited, independent firm.

 

[HalfTimeSayers]

Who were Everton's external auditors, do you know?

BDO.

 

[catcherintherye]

But it sounds like they believe the PL were wrong not to take action against us and are going after them too.

Should that comcern us?

To some extent yes. If they can prove the PL were wrong to accept our accounts it opens up a can of worms. However I'm not sure we can get punished on that basis, unless they could prove we were withholding information (which it generally seems we were not).

The likely event would be that the PL would probably need to make a financial settlement with said team. Similar to West Ham, Sheffield United those years ago, when it was shown West Ham did break rules, but were assured by PL it was ok. They couldn't punish West Ham.

Similar here. We have followed rules to the best of our knowledge. If after the event you decide the rules were wrong, you cant punish people retrospectively. Like if you made it illegal to drink alcohol tomorrow, you cant start locking people up for having a pint today.

It would make things messy. But difficult to see how it would come back on club.

Theres also no precedent for points deductions in PL for financial breaches, despite teams breaching previously.

 

[mumwasablue]

Has there ever been a case in which points have been deducted RETROSPECTIVELY i.e. after the end of the season? At worst we will face a points deduction next season.

The losses are easily explained by the stadium and Covid. The Premier League’s erudite lawyers and accountants have confirmed that everything we have done has been above board.

As an aside, how have Chelsea managed to sustain spending literally ten billion Pounds since 2004 when they only get similar crowds to us?

Winning and being in Champions League . Chelsea property assets and player valuations are massive. Must be3 billion in players alone