It looks set to be another nightmare of a week for Everton, who have started it off in the worst possible way.
Having squeezed past Aston Villa on Sunday, likely delighted to have snagged a point off third-placed opposition, reports emerged to quell their enthusiasm.
They were expecting another punishment.
Well, today that notion has been confirmed, with the Premier League finding both the Toffees and Nottingham Forest guilty of breaching spending rules.
It is a truly clueless verdict, and one which makes little sense given the Merseyside club have already been punished this season for financial misconduct.
As Andy Burnham noted, how could they possibly be punished twice in one season for the same crime?
Well, Richard Keys and Andy Gray have uncovered an even bigger conspiracy, as they outlined for beIN Sports.
What did Richard Keys & Andy Gray say about Everton’s FFP crisis?
The co-hosts, who were running over an article regarding the Premier League’s future plans, expressed outright disgust with what this summer holds in store.
That is, because the Premier League plans to make wholesale changes to the rules they are currently enforcing on Everton and Forest, which could see them punished whilst Manchester City go free.
Even if Simon Jordan thinks their cases are not alike at all, that cannot stand, as Keys explains the news: ‘They’re going to change the rules in August. So, what we’ve got here is a scenario where if one or the other or both are charged tomorrow, they’re going to have to come to a conclusion about punishment before the end of the season, which this time, if it were something in the order of the points deduction Everton have already had, would see them relegated.
‘My problem is, how can you then change the rules? If they know that’s coming, I don’t understand why we’re in a scenario now where Everton could be playing Championship football.’
Gray responded: ‘What has made this league has been the league’s ability to bring the best players in world football to it, and if we’re going to make rules and regulations that stop us doing that, and don’t allow us to do that, then the only thing that will suffer will be the quality of the league.’
Will Everton be deducted even more points?
With an appeal process still ongoing, it remains to be seen whether the initial ten points deducted will remain as such.
After all, the club seemingly remain confident that they did not commit a crime anywhere near befitting such a severe sanction, and the appointment of KC Laurence Rabinowitz will only help to solidify their defence.
The hope is that, if they are handed another deduction, it will at least coincide with the retrieval of some of the first set of points they lost, thus rendering it useless.
However, that is wholly up to both independent commissions, who will look to come to a fair conclusion.
Although, as an Evertonian, I hardly doubt that the outcome will be as such. After all, in their desperate last-gasp effort to appear strong, the Premier League have arguably never looked so weak.
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