Everton are a club constantly embroiled in turmoil, and have been for years now.
It has been a suffering existence, especially since Farhad Moshiri joined the club, but one which has not knocked this unwavering fanbase.
Raucous and supportive when needed despite always demanding more, this season has seen frustrations turn away from the ownership and instead towards the Premier League.
After all, not only did the division alienate themselves when they deducted ten points from the Toffees, but their subsequent ruling on Nottingham Forest has only added to that furore.
Fortunately, we at Everton News had the pleasure of speaking to Chartered Global Management Accountant, lecturer and sporting finance expert Dan Plumley about the two cases and why comparisons might not be worth all that much.
What Dan Plumley said about Everton and Nottingham Forest
Naturally, we had to ask about Nottingham Forest’s case, as the only real point of comparison there is to Everton’s initial ten-point deduction.
However, Plumley sought to emphasise the differences between the two, and how placing them side-by-side does not present a fair representation of the nuances between trials.
He stated: ‘This was my worry with the two cases and trying to compare them and I think we were always likely to, but I’m not so sure we should’ve been because they are very different cases and you’ve seen that play out in the verdict and the points deduction.
‘That ranges across a number of factors, one of which was Forest getting a couple of points back for mitigation. There’s some other examples that have been cited around the stuff in Everton’s was incorrect on the nature of the Premier League and the commission’s judgement on incorrect information, and of course the other side of that with Everton being a Premier League for three years and Forest moving between the Championship and the Premier League.
‘I guess there was always a risk we were going to compare the outcomes but perhaps we shouldn’t be. I guess what that doesn’t help for anybody is the fact that we were perhaps hoping for some kind of quantifiable number that said if you breach by X million you get X points, and as we’ve seen I don’t think we’re in that space.
‘And also I don’t think we will be moving forward as we know the Premier League are actually looking at changing financial regulations. That might happen quicker than expected.’
Impossible not to compare Premier League punishments
Whilst Dan’s claims do make sense, it was always going to be impossible for fans not to compare the two sanctions of the only real PSR punishments we have ever had.
Especially when emotions are so high, leaving fans in a state of understandable and justifiable fury.
However, it is the ambiguity that the Premier League have enforced through these two different conclusions which has sparked controversy, as their lack of set-in-stone rules lend to the anger provoked.
As Plumley notes, were there to have been a process in place that clearly stated ‘X punishment for X crime’, few could have any arguments.
But that is far from the case, instead leaving sanctions up to the discretion of an independent commission that could have wildly differing views from the last.
It breeds controversy, and truly outlines what a mockery of a trial this has been.