Everton’s ten-point deduction in November stunned the footballing world.
After all, it was the harshest deduction in top-flight history, surpassing that of actual administration, which sees only nine points taken away.
By the Premier League’s ruling, what the Toffees had committed a crime worse than becoming a club unable to pay its own bills, thus making hundreds of people redundant.
It was the scale of this punishment that drew widespread criticism rather than the guilty verdict itself, which the club had actually agreed with.
It was thought that compliance might have earned some favour with the independent commission, but apparently not.
Sean Dyche and Kevin Thelwell were likely more shocked than anyone, with the former now recounting how that fateful day went.
How Sean Dyche and Kevin Thelwell reacted to Everton’s points deduction
Speaking to Sky Sports, the 52-year-old, who has dealt with the most impossible and unforeseen challenges since joining Everton, took the interviewer through what was a whirlwind day.
However, when the news broke he was actually on holiday, making his conversation with Thelwell rather amusing.
He noted: ‘It could have been worse, I was in Dubai. Only half a shandy light, like you do. It was an interesting afternoon.’
Dyche then went on to claim: ‘I got a text message from Kevin Thelwell saying ‘Now, I need to call you.’ He called me and said right, so we immediately went right, okay, stop standing still as they say in the coaching world. Where are we at?
‘Started immediately formulating some ideas and said right, this is the way we’re going to go with this, this is the direction, this is the immediate approach, and just went right that’s where we’re going with this.
‘We went to the players, spoke to them and we just got it straight I was as quick as we could. Unfortunately the news got out, we couldn’t do nothing about that, but we got them on the WhatsApp group, got them all involved and said look, this is where it’s at, as soon as we’re back in we’ll make sure that we give ourselves the base to work from. And we have.’
Everton’s appeal is right around the corner
Although it will not be an international break, we could see a similar reenactment of this event over the next few days, with reports having stated that a mid-February announcement is expected for the results of Everton’s appeal.
With it being nearly three months since that fateful day when ten points were stolen from the Toffees, there has been plenty of time for debate, protests and a trial, the latter of which is the only thing that matters now.
KC Laurence Rabinowitz has done all he can, hopefully, to swing the verdict in his club’s favour.
And, once the outcome is revealed, he will then have to turn his attention to their second alleged breach, set to also be enforced before the end of the Premier League season.
Any remuneration would mark a timely boost for Dyche and his men, whose performances have not garnered the league position that they have merited.
Were it not for the deduction, they would now sit 13th.
Dr Dan Plumley, a football finance expert and chartered accountant, still believes there is cause for positivity regarding the appeal.
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