Do you think the Premier League was sitting there thinking "I wonder how we can punish Everton"?
Sure, they probably needed a Goat to sacrifice, we gave them 1.
I don’t think the PL agenda is that vindictive or simple as being anti Everton but people seem to continuously overlook what the PL is, it’s a cash generating machine that has a sole aim to make money. It’s a private company accountable only to the clubs that play in it and the majority of these at the bottom are transitory members with very little sway. Its entire revenue generation model is dependent on tv deals and the sponsorships that come with that and they are dependent on eyeballs and the consumer pound that follows that.
Hence we’ve seen football teams in the lower leagues of the pyramid go to the wall without any concern from the PL or its clubs whatsoever who could have saved any of these teams in the blink of an eye. We’ve seen plans for the 39th game, the reaction to the super league teams etc. The PL may as well be a big bank, except whilst it can be as equally immoral it doesn’t have to conform to any of the regulation as bank or other large corporation would have to.
It is in the PLs interests for the teams that bring in the most viewing figures to do well. They are historically the teams at the top Liverpool Arsenal United and increasingly City and Chelsea. That is why Google UPS and Nivea are partnering with these teams and not Crystal Palace and Fulham.
It is the Pl associated media’s interest to generate content that attract these eyeballs. Pro Liverpool content is great, anti Everton content is also pretty good because more people will read that than a pro Everton piece which might get a few readers in L4 but not much wider.
This goes to a wider scale as well. UEFA and their sponsors do not want to see Everton Fulham Palace In their flagships competitions, they want United Liverpool City etc.
You can even take it wider and look at the increasing number of last day finishes now for the title and relegation places compared to previous seasons. People remember the Michael Thomas goal and Blackburn at Anfield as exceptions but since Aguero in 2011 we’ve now had 3 more occasions when the title has been decided on the last day, that’s 4 in 12 years, a far higher rate statistically than previously. Similar is happening with relegation battles to and the CL places, we are not seeing title winners, top 4 places, and bottom 3s being decided in March anymore like we used to.
If it wasn’t for the excellence of Dyche we’d be in another relegation battle now probably lasting the entirety of the season which would have sparked new life into the bottom of the table that was looking done by Christmas at the current rate. All of the news reports about Everton and the point deduction will have driven many many kopite eyeballs to the PLs media channels, and it had the associated benefit of making the PL look tough in the face of looming regulation safe in the knowledge they can upset a member that has zero sway on the success of their product.
The customers that the PL work for are the consumer fans of Liverpool United Arsenal City Chelsea and any other team who can get successful enough to sway the PLs profit and loss numbers when it comes to tv deal and sponsorship renegotiation time.
Anyone who believes the PL is some benevolent administration working for the benefit of its 20 members that just happens to be a bit incompetent is quite frankly naive.
You dont become the richest most successful sporting competition in the world through being incompetent. They know exactly what they’re doing which is what they’ve always done, favourably ensure the success of the teams that drive revenue on a rotational basis giving the illusion of fair competition and unpredictability without ever actually having any of these things outside of the favoured teams over a season long basis. Sure a Brentford or Bournemouth can beat Liverpool or United in a one off game, they might finish above them for one season but they will never ever be allowed to consistently displace them and deprive them of their revenues (and the PL’s associated revenues from fans watching them)
There’s people on this forum basically arguing that the PL doesn’t conform to capitalism and is somehow some fair moral arbiter. If I had to put my mortgage on whether it’s the former or the latter I know which one I’d bet on.
