Everton’s two-point deduction, administered yesterday, has whipped up a fresh frenzy in the footballing world.
Many reporters have been left scratching their heads, whilst many media personalities have instead been lambasting the Premier League’s shoddy treatment yet again.
It has been a tiresome and unrelenting process, that has dragged on throughout this entire campaign.
And even though it may be finished for now, more might even be inexplicably set to come.
There really is no rest for the wicked.
Alan Stubbs left furious by Everton deduction
Speaking on BBC Sport Merseyside, Alan Stubbs, who has been one of Everton’s greatest supporters throughout this entire PSR debacle, was unsurprisingly quick to offer his verdict on events.
And whilst his retort was long, it includes some crucial points regarding his lack of surprise in the ruling and disbelief at the scale of their punishments, before sending a message to Richard Masters.
He noted: ‘I’m not surprised. I actually thought that the way things had gone previously with the first outcome, it didn’t surprise me whatsoever that we were gonna get another one.
‘It just feels as if what we’ve said all along, that there doesn’t seem to be any consistency in this process. I had to just really take a minute earlier on just to digest everything. And then you look at some of the information that’s there for you to read through. And then when you think about what the Premier League recommended to these commissions, they recommended all together when you add the two of them up a 17-point deduction for everything initially.
‘Just think about that. 17 points that the Premier League have recommended to hit Everton with, and at this moment in time, Everton are sitting on eight points until the potential appeal for the second one comes in.
‘But I just find that absolutely incredible. You get nine points for going into administration. And the Premier League have recommended that Everton virtually get double that. It beggars belief.
‘Richard Masters, hold your head in shame. How you are still in that in that role is unbelievable. When you think about two clubs that are being punished at this moment in time, Everton and Forest, we’ve had four different commissions and four different outcomes. Where is the consistency on that?’
Everton once again earn an unwanted first
Everton have quite often been a club of firsts.
As one of the founding members of both the English Football League and the Premier League, they were the first club to construct a purpose-built stadium for football, the first team to go on an overseas tour, the first to wear numbered shirts and the first to stage a World Cup semi-final in Britain.
However, there have also been some less impressive firsts.
They were the first to be punished by the Premier League’s short-lived retroactive diving ban in 2017, when Oumar Niasse was handed a two-game ban for a penalty he won against Crystal Palace.
And now, after this latest deduction, they are the first club in top-flight history to have seen two points setbacks in the same season.
It feels like they are certainly on a negative trend at the moment…