This, for Everton and many other clubs, has been a season dominated by off-the-pitch matters.
It has detracted from the actual football, and ultimately ruined the fan experience, from those who watch from home or others who go every game, home and away.
After all, what the team do means relatively little, because at the drop of the hat and with little reason the Premier League can administer punishments to put you where they like in the table.
It’s farcical, and more importantly, tricky to follow.
Sports lawyer attempts to decipher Everton’s deduction
Fortunately, speaking on the More Than A Game podcast just yesterday, sports barrister Sam Cuthbert sought to offer a breakdown of the various PSR punishments we have already seen this season.
It marks a tough task, and in the same vein that finance experts have often been deployed to try and explain why these sanctions have been administered, legal experts are the latest craze to now detail the defences behind these finances.
What a ridiculous place the football landscape has become.
However, even he was left baffled by one of the Premier League’s rulings, particularly with the Forest case, as they sought to ease their punishment for perceived ‘good behaviour’.
Everton were not so fortunate.
He noted: ‘It may be that the Premier League say that early admission amounts to cooperation over and above what’s expected, but I think that’s difficult to see, it’s difficult to understand how that wouldn’t just be the standard provided for by the PSR as outlined by the appeal board.
‘So what I think, and this goes back to there is a variance in the way these issues are being dealt with across appeal board decisions, across the commissions, and in the case of Forest as against Everton one, that’s quite a stark variance particularly in respect of how cooperation is dealt with.’
The Premier League have created a culture of confusion
Back in the not-so-distant past, most match-going fans would largely enjoy the same experiences.
Getting into the pub before the match, some might nip for a bag of chips whilst others would take a seat in a local cafe outside the ground, anxiously awaiting kick-off.
To kill time, they might discuss any transfer links, or who the manager might start that particular afternoon.
It was a quiet, content experience, and one which was once universal.
However, that has all changed nowadays, especially at Goodison Park.
Now, the pre-match chat is dominated by talks of ownership turmoil and financial distress, the latter of which has completely ruined their entire season.
The Premier League have created this firestorm through a lack of care for the customers which built the game that they seek to profit from. These loyal fans are now well and truly an afterthought, and now it seems like the relegation battle could even be decided in a courtroom.
The integrity of the division is completely scuppered, and the faith in their strength as governors is lost. Now, nobody knows what is going on, not even experts in the field.