Everton’s ongoing feud with the Premier League has been of gargantuan proportions, with politicians and some sections of the media actually fighting in the blue corner.
And the outcome, of which we are yet to have any inkling which way it will swing, could prove integral in the long-term future of the Toffees.
After all, it is well-documented how devastating relegation would be for a club that has flirted with the possibility for three seasons running now.
Richard Masters, as CEO of the Premier League, has unsurprisingly made himself the figurehead for Everton’s valid frustrations.
And his latest reply to various grievances held is certain to only worsen his image on Merseyside…
What Richard Masters has said about Everton
In a report outlined by The Times, replying to a letter sent by Mark Carney, the former governor of the Bank of England, Sir Brendan Barber and Dame Sue Owen, Masters has outlined a number of threadbare defences in a desperate attempt to justify his actions.
Their decision to attack Everton, and more recently Nottingham Forest as well, looks nothing more than a last-gasp effort to prove that the Premier League doesn’t need the government’s independent regulation.
However, in doing so, he has arguably made the institution look weaker than ever, putting his own job on the line.
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In the article, written by journalist Paul Joyce, the journalist relays his words: ‘We completely reject the suggestion that the judicial panel and the commission that heard this case is anything other than absolutely independent of the league.
‘The suggestion that these individuals are somehow compromised is entirely without merit or foundation. Its perpetuation in your letter, published in the press, is damaging and unhelpful.’
Everton FC v Chelsea FC – Premier League
Masters then goes on the offensive: ‘Unfortunately, the Premier League had held concerns about the level of Everton’s transfer and salary outgoings for some time.
‘These concerns were expressed to the club over many months and yet, despite those warnings, Everton continued to spend significantly on transfer fees and wages, whereas other clubs remained within the relevant threshold.’
A weak statement from the Premier League
As aforementioned, this seems like nothing more than a thinly veiled attempt to justify what has been a terribly ran progress followed by a grossly exorbitant punishment.
The Premier League, in their attempts to bully Everton, have never looked so frail and despaired.
This statement does little to disprove that either.
Everton FC v Aston Villa – Premier League
Photo by James Gill – Danehouse/Getty Images
Going on to reference the six teams who threatened to join the Super League in 2021, he merely suggested that they had gained no sporting advantage, and that the matter was over in mere days.
And yet, it remains to be seen what sporting advantage the Toffees have gained from the interest costs that pushed them over the limit, that of which are clearly tied to the Bramley-Moore Dock stadium.
The hope is that KC Laurence Rabinowitz can comb over this latest statement, alongside the other mountain of evidence, and out the Premier League for what it is: a defunct and archaic organisation desperately trying to keep hold of its diminishing power.
