‘Totally Hopeless’ – Lawyer blasts politician over ‘Nonsense’ Everton retrial complaint
Lawyer blasts Andy Burnham over ‘nonsense’ formal Everton complaint, brands retrial call ‘totally hopeless’
Andy Burnham’s attempt to have the Everton points deduction overturned in favour of a new process has been blasted as “nonsense”, by Stefan Borson.
The lawyer reacted on Twitter on 26 November after the Greater Manchester mayor called for the punishment to be declared “null and void” in a formal complaint to the Premier League, and roundly dismissed the politician’s arguments.
Borson acknowledged Burnham’s claim that the Premier League changing the rules on spending midway through the process was an “abuse of process” as a “good question”, and expressed his own bafflement at what they were trying to do, but still dismissed it as “irrelevant” when the independent commission had apparently ignored it in reaching their finding.
Burnham had posted on Twitter on 26 November along with his letter to the Premier League: “I have today written to the Premier League to register a formal complaint about the treatment of Everton. You can read my letter here.
“In summary, trying to introduce new rules in the middle of an ongoing case amounts to an abuse of process and regulatory malpractice.
“I am not saying Everton do not have a case to answer. They do. What I am saying is the process which led to the 10-point deduction is flawed.
“The ruling should be declared null and void and a new process started following agreement on a sanctions policy with the 20 clubs.”
But in a scathing reaction Borson wrote: “What a load of nonsense, written by a fan masquerading as someone in *relevant* authority. He should save his letter for other clubs within Greater Manchester.
“It was within Everton’s gift to argue these technical legal arguments at the Commission itself. There is no abuse of process in circumstances where the Commission specifically refused to follow whatever the PLs suggestions were and where the PL clarified an apparent “misunderstanding” (para 89) such that the PLs tariff was considered nothing more than a submission.
“What on earth the PL was playing at introducing sanctions to its Board on 10 August 2023 but neither mentioning them to the clubs nor incorporating them in the rule book is a good question but an irrelevant one for the Independent Commission especially in circumstances where it specifically said it ignored them.
“Given the stance of the IC there is clearly no prejudice whatsoever. The idea that once they had heard the PLs suggestions they could not ignore them is a hopeless argument – hence Everton never ran it.
“Asking for an effective retrial rather than an appeal is also a totally hopeless argument. So what’s the point in the letter outside of guest piece in a fanzine.”
Bleak outlook
While Burham’s arguments sound convincing from an Evertonian point of view, with emotion invested, it doesn’t seem particularly encouraging to the club’s chances of getting any concessions if the legal response would be to quickly reject them.
Whether the Toffees-supporting mayor genuinely believes his letter would lead to a new process or not only he will know.
Everton and the fans clearly feel they have a case but the club had also maintained it had one in the run up to the initial commission hearing and it is quite clear how that turned out.
The club’s actions have put them in the firing line and it would probably be naive to expect to escape without any sort of blowback from the spending under Farhad Moshiri.
But it is also feels like an arbitrary process that has conveniently, or very inconveniently depending on your perspective, landed on Everton at the most inopportune time when there is at least the appearance of other clubs gaining far more from similar behaviours.
The Toffees’ problem may prove to be that however much the whole situation feels unjust, and it isn’t hard to see why there is that strength of feeling, any procedural avenue to challenge it is already shut.
The fans will continue to make their feelings known and Sean Dyche will rally his side behind it, but with the same panel set to hear the appeal as reached the original findings there probably won’t be many who are hugely optimistic with the appeal.
