Andy Burnham, the Mayor of Greater Manchester and a former Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, has launched a scathing attack on the Premier League for imposing a 10-point deduction on Everton over their breach of profit and sustainability rules. Burnham has accused the Premier League of an “abuse of process” and “regulatory malpractice” for changing the sanctions policy in the middle of the case against Everton, and has called for the decision to be declared “null and void”.
Everton were hit with the record penalty on November 24, after an independent commission found that they had exceeded the permitted losses of £105 million over a three-year period by £48.9 million. The commission also imposed a £30 million fine and a transfer ban on the club, which Everton have appealed against.
Burnham, who is an Everton fan, has written a letter to Alison Brittain, the chair of the Premier League, outlining his concerns about the fairness of the process and the severity of the punishment. He has also spoken to the media at Goodison Park on Sunday, before Everton’s match against Manchester United, where hundreds of fans staged a protest against the Premier League.
Burnham said that he was not defending Everton’s financial mismanagement, but he was questioning the legitimacy of the Premier League’s actions. He claimed that the Premier League had introduced a new sanctions policy on August 10, when the case against Everton was already underway, and had handed it to the commission without informing the clubs or the public.
“You cannot in an ongoing case create new policy in the middle of a case and then introduce it towards the end of it. It is what people would call regulatory malpractice. It is simply not possible to do that,” Burnham said.
He added that the new policy had increased the maximum points deduction from six to 12, and had removed the discretion of the commission to consider mitigating factors, such as the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, the club’s investment in a new stadium, and the club’s cooperation with the investigation.
Burnham argued that the commission had expressed its discomfort with the new policy in its ruling, and had suggested that it would have imposed a lesser penalty under the previous guidelines. He also said that the new policy had made the appeal process “demonstrably unfair”, as the commission had to apply the same policy that it had criticised.
Burnham urged the Premier League to scrap the decision and start the process again under a clear and agreed policy for all member clubs. He said that the current situation was damaging the reputation of the Premier League and the integrity of the competition.
“This is not just about Everton. This is about the future of the Premier League and the way it is run. It is about the trust that fans have in the Premier League and the way it regulates the game,” Burnham said.
The Premier League has not responded to Burnham’s letter or his comments, but has previously defended its decision as “proportionate and consistent with previous sanctions for similar breaches by other clubs”. The Premier League has also said that the new sanctions policy was “in line with Uefa’s regulations and with the EFL’s rules”.
Everton are currently 18th in the Premier League table, with 10 points from 13 games, after losing 3-0 to Manchester United on Sunday. The club has until December 8 to submit its appeal, which will be heard by a separate independent commission.
