Everton have now been ordered to pay Burnley roughly £40m in compensation after a Premier League independent disciplinary commission ruled in favour of the Clarets.
Those at Turf Moor sued Everton after being relegated to the Championship in the 2021/22 Premier League campaign. The Toffees had breached financial rules that season, but were only docked ten points – later reduced to six – in November of the 2022/23 campaign.
Burnley successfully argued that they would have stayed up had Everton been docked those points in the 2021/22 season. The Clarets ultimately finished 17th – just four points behind Everton.
The Friedkin Group are set to appeal the verdict and have been left angered by the outcome – according to the Guardian – but Adam Williams has now shared how those at the Hill Dickinson Stadium plan to combat the decision if it is upheld.
Why do you think Dan Friedkin still has not shown his face at Everton? 🤨
Since receiving the keys to Everton, Dan Friedkin has not visited his £400m purchase.
Exclusive: Everton were prepared in case Burnley won
The Head of Football Finance and Governance Content at GRV Media told Everton News: “First of all, I’d encourage any readers to have a look at what someone like Stefan Borson, Bart Huby or Daniel Geey has to say about this. They are the experts in this field, whereas I’m a generalist.
“But the mood music around this topic has always been that, if Burnley’s claim was successful, it would have serious implications for liability and compensation in the ‘loss of chance’ principle – which basically assess claims based on the likelihood that the defendant’s claims damaged the claimant financially.
“So, Burnley’s argument went, if Everton were deducted points in 2021/22, Burnley would have had, say, a 50% greater chance of survival, which equates to the £40m they were claiming in lost revenues. The £40m therefore isn’t a finger-in-the-air number. It’s based on empirical data.
“The good news for Everton is that The Friedkin Group knew this was a possibility and they will have factored that into their due diligence when they were buying the club. We saw Chelsea’s owners hold back £100m effectively as insurance as they faced their own financial investigation from UEFA, the Premier League and the FA for example. I suspect the agreement with Farhad Moshiri had a similar provision.
“From the accounts, we know there was £42.4m of deferred payments. Perhaps this is what a chunk of that figure is contingent upon. So I don’t think this will have any major material impact on Everton, at least not financially. It does open up old wounds, however, and the broader impact in terms of the precedent this sets is very, very significant in the Man City case, the Chelsea case and so on, where the stakes are much higher.”
What more do you want to see from the Friedkins at Everton? 💰
Receive a digest of our best Everton content each week direct to your mailbox
