Everton's bid to remain in the Premier League was dealt a fresh blow on Monday, April 8 when the club was docked two points for breaching the division's financial rules.
Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR) in England's top flight permit clubs to lose £105 million ($132.77m) over a rolling three-year period.
The Premier League charged Everton with breaches of these rules in January 2024, and an independent commission has found the Goodison Park club breached by £16.6m.
As a result, Everton dropped to 16th place in the table and are now just two points above the relegation zone, despite last weekend's 1-0 win over Burnley — their first Premier League win since beating the same opponents back in December.
Everton announced they will appeal the decision, having done so when they were hit with a 10-point PSR penalty earlier this season. That punishment was reduced to six.
IN DEPTH: What are Premier League Profit and Sustainability Rules?
Why have Everton been deducted more points in the Premier League?
The rolling three-year assessment periods used by the Premier League means clubs who breach are inherently at risk of doing so again.
Everton's initial deduction related to the three years up to and including the 2021/22 season. Their latest breach takes in 2022/23 and the two prior campaigns.
In its ruling, the independent commission stated that any PSR breach justified a three-point deduction, with Everton's worthy of a five-point penalty because their £16.6m overspend was deemed "significant".
However, the commission took into account three main arguments for mitigation, including that the club had already been deducted points this season. Everton's sponsorship deal with Russian company USM being suspended due to the invasion of Ukraine and an early admission of guilt also worked in their favor.
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Everton PSR timeline: What happens next for Premier League team?
The April 8 verdict continued more than a year of PSR turmoil for Everton.
The Premier League referred them to an independent commission for the initial set of branches on March 24, 2023. Everton's 10-point deduction came almost eight months later, on November 17, 2023.
By the time the punishment was reduced from 10 points to six on February 26, 2024, Everton had already been hit with their second charge.
Due to the obviously messy spectacle of punishments from previous seasons bleeding into others, and the prospect of teams having their fates sealed away from the pitch, the Premier League sought to tighten up its PSR possess.
All hearings into this sort of PSR breach are to be heard and concluded within 12 weeks of the charge. Everton's April 8 verdict came exactly 12 weeks after they were charged.
The latest possible date for an appeal hearing to be concluded is May 24, five days after Everton travel to Arsenal on the final day of the 2023/24 Premier League season.
Premier League PSR: Which other teams have been charged?
Nottingham Forest were charged alongside Everton on January 15. Their commission hearing was wrapped up in time for them to be docked four points on March 18.
Forest are level on points with third-bottom Luton Town at time of writing. Like Everton, they have appealed their punishment.
Leicester City were relegated from the Premier League last season but the Championship promotion chasers were hit with a PSR charge on March 2024, relating to their final three-season spell in the English top division.
The relative slew of PSR charges and verdicts over recent months has also prompted questions over the status of Manchester City, the reigning Premier League champions, who were hit with 115 charges for alleged rule breaches in February 2023.
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City's independent commission hearing is yet to commence and those are undeniably not great optics for the Premier League. However, the case is entirely different and far more complex than the Everton, Forest and Leicester situations.
Since the rules have been in place, City have never failed PSR, in terms of the simple calculations over which other clubs have fallen foul. The most serious chunk of the charges against City relate to allegations of falsifying and artificially inflating sponsorship arrangements.
The nine-time English champions were tried on similar grounds by UEFA in 2020 and initially hit with a two-season ban from European competitions, before that punishment was overturned by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). City were fined 10million euros for failing to cooperate with UEFA's investigation, and non-cooperation also forms part of their Premier League rap sheet.
