By Victor Kanayo
Struggling Everton FC seem to have gone from frying pan to fire after Premier League organisers announced a deduction of 10 points from their points amassed so far.
According to the league organisers, the reason for the latest action was due to the fact that the club breached profit and sustainability rules.
The deduction, Supersport reports, was meted out by an Independent Commission and will be imposed with immediate effect.
The sanction is the largest in the history of the Premier League and plunges Sean Dyche’s team into confirmed relegation zone.
Only two clubs have previously been docked points in Premier League history – Middlesbrough, who were deducted three for failing to fulfill a fixture against Blackburn in 1996/97 and Portsmouth, who were stripped of nine after entering administration in March 2010.
This time, Everton were referred to an Independent Commission by the Premier League in March for a potential breach of profit and sustainability rules.
This was as the Premier League claimed that Everton admitted their breach during a five-day hearing.
It said, “determining Everton FC’s PSR Calculation for the relevant period resulted in a loss of £124.5m, as contended by the Premier League, which exceeded the threshold of £105m permitted under the PSRs.”
Reacting, Everton expressed shocked and disappointment by the ruling.
They however, vowed to appeal the ruling adding, “Both the harshness and severity of the sanction imposed are neither a fair nor a reasonable reflection of the evidence submitted.”
After narrowly avoiding relegation to the Championship last season, Everton were, prior to their points loss, 14th in the league table, eight points above the bottom three.
Nigerian international Alex Iwobi played for the club after leaving Arsenal until end of last season when he moved to Fulham.
