Premier League ‘desire to crush Everton’ slammed as Manchester City and big six should go down – Martin Samuel
The clubs who tried to break away to form the European Super League should have been relegated rather than Everton, according to Martin Samuel.
The Times journalist wrote in his column on the paper’s website on 28 October that the Premier League had developed a “taste for blood” and linked their “desire to crush Everton” to trying to ward off an independent regulator.
But he pointed out that plans for a regulator only came about in the wake of the failed attempt of Manchester City, Arsenal, Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool and Tottenham to leave the top flight altogether, for which they have only had to pay a combined £22million in punishment.
Samuel calls the breakaway attempt a “betrayal so heinous” that it brought politicians into the fray, and yet “they got away with it”.
He claims that those clubs should have instead been sent out of the division in the way that Everton would be if they are hit with the 12-point penalty, reportedly what the Premier League wants in punishment if a profit and sustainability breach is proven [Telegraph, 25 October], while suggesting that if they had been it would be clubs such as the Toffees who would arguably have benefitted the most.
Fix up
Samuel makes a valid point when the league appears to be cracking down on Everton in a way that they simply haven’t elsewhere.
It remains to be seen what comes of Manchester City’s 100-plus FFP charges, denied as Everton’s is, when the Toffees are at risk of oblivion over one.
But when the rules are supposed to uphold the integrity of the top flight it is completely undercut if clubs that tried to abandon the competition completely are welcomed back in with what barely amounts to a slap on the wrist.
Everton have maintained they broke no rules in terms of spending so the commission may yet find in their favour, but the huge deficits that have mounted in recent seasons clearly aren’t a positive situation when Farhad Moshiri is trying to cut his losses and sell the club.
If the Toffees have breached the regulations then they should expect some sort of punishment, but when there are already suspicions they are being used as a proxy for the Premier League to threaten Manchester City, and previous opportunities to lay down the law on the top sides have been squandered it seems awfully convenient that now they suddenly want to get tough.
It will come as no surprise to Toffees fans though who have got used to that sort of uneven application of rules, especially when it comes to officiating, and will be desperately hoping it doesn’t send the club into a disastrous relegation it can’t escape.
