6 + 2 Point Deductions

[BNJ1878]

This summer felt like a big step in the right direction. We generated £40m+ from sales and slashed the annual wage bill by a similar amount. The football side of the business is in pretty good health now. It’s paying for the stadium without funding thats the challenge at the moment.
If we could move on the likes of Keane, Godfrey and Gomes whilst bringing in younger/cheaper replacements, I think that would also remove the need for a big sale like we were forced into with Richarlison.

Things are definitely heading in the right direction.

Our issue was we brazenly flouted the bent rules. (make no mistake, the rules are not about sustainability, they're about protecting the darlings)

Having the rules changed on Stadium interests during that period was a real kick in the balls too, for all their talk of sustainability that is the one thing that stands out to me as confirmation that ffp has ulterior motives written into it.

Undoubtedly.

The only thing that fixes it over a prolonged period is a spending cap. Say, 300m a year on wages and fees. You'd actually think the owners would love this, it makes the cash cow even fatter.

 

[BlueandBald]

Over the past 3 years:

Severance pay to Bentiz and his whole coaching team
Severance pay to Lampard and his whole coaching team.
Severance pay to Brands.
Severance pay/hush money to DBB, Ingles & Sharp

(All the above doesn't include the handsome salaries paid whilst all in position.)

Add to that an over-inflated wage bill for the first team playing squad that Thelwell is finally getting under some sort of control.

When you combine those outgoings with a relatively poor commercial performance, it's pretty obvious we're leaking money. The only way out is smart recruitment and player trading.

That's not "going mad" as Goat stated. The whole fan base pretty much made him do that. Had he not, we'd have got relegated and been in even more brown stuff. The wage bill is obviously ridiculous for what they're capable of but that was before the prem give us the clear. Since getting the all clear, Everton have shown they're are obeying not disobeying.

 

[b-rad]

This summer felt like a big step in the right direction. We generated £40m+ from sales and slashed the annual wage bill by a similar amount. The football side of the business is in pretty good health now. It’s paying for the stadium without funding thats the challenge at the moment.
If we could move on the likes of Keane, Godfrey and Gomes whilst bringing in younger/cheaper replacements, I think that would also remove the need for a big sale like we were forced into with Richarlison.

We've still got Gomes and Alli as two of our highest earners, so there's still work to be done.
What has really hampered us is not just the fact we have thrown (relatively) big transfer fees all over the place, but we've had to then sit with a lot of dross earning big money. No one else would match their wages, so we struggled to sell. With that situation out of the way we can start to reset and slowly climb the league a bit and put regular relegation battles behind us.

 

[BlueandBald]

Over the past 3 years:

Severance pay to Bentiz and his whole coaching team
Severance pay to Lampard and his whole coaching team.
Severance pay to Brands.
Severance pay/hush money to DBB, Ingles & Sharp.

This Sporting advantage they're rabbiting on about should also be put to bed with that alone. We've gained such a sporting advantage that we've sacked about 3 managers and a board in the time frame.

 

[BainesontoastNEW]

This Sporting advantage they're rabbiting on about should also be put to bed with that alone. We've gained such a sporting advantage that we've sacked about 3 managers and a board in the time frame.

Correct me if I'm mistaken, but isn't the Premier League's issue that we TRIED to gain a sporting advantage not that we actually did? I can see that being a loophole for them to use, unfortunately.

 

[b-rad]

Things are definitely heading in the right direction.

Our issue was we brazenly flouted the bent rules. (make no mistake, the rules are not about sustainability, they're about protecting the darlings)

Undoubtedly.

The only thing that fixes it over a prolonged period is a spending cap. Say, 300m a year on wages and fees. You'd actually think the owners would love this, it makes the cash cow even fatter.

But part of the attraction of the best players globally coming to the PL is due to obscene salaries. If that is stunted, then there will be a slow decline in the "brand" that is the PL, and the success of English clubs in Europe.

 

[RD2910]

Correct me if I'm mistaken, but isn't the Premier League's issue that we TRIED to gain a sporting advantage not that we actually did? I can see that being a loophole for them to use, unfortunately.

No. The Premier League said there was a sporting advantage but it can't be quantified, meaning it can't be said whether it was huge or absolutely miniscule, it just is. The commission specifically said Everton weren't trying to break the rules to gain a sporting advantage.

I think we can all agree that Everton were trying to gain a sporting advantage by signing players, that's pretty much the point. To be honest, I think people have got too involved with the sporting advantage, there are other parts of the ruling that are more suspicious.

 

[BNJ1878]

That's not "going mad" as Goat stated. The whole fan base pretty much made him do that. Had he not, we'd have got relegated and been in even more brown stuff.

I'm not arguing we should have stuck with Benitez or Lampard to save on the severance money. Just pointing it it was an additional expense out of the ordinary wages paid.

The wage bill is obviously ridiculous for what they're capable of but that was before the prem give us the clear. Since getting the all clear, Everton have shown they're are obeying not disobeying.

The prem didn't give us the all clear.

Everton approached the Premier League with:

"We want to sign this player for this fee, is that OK?"

The league replied:

"OK, but to keep in mind you need to raise (insert amount) to stay in compliance."

We didn't raise that amount and gave reasons why. The league ignored those reasons.

Everton knowingly broke the rules and hoped that the mitigating circumstances and other allowable deductions would get us off the hook.

Is the punishment fair? No.
Was the procedure followed by the commission transparent? No.
Did the commission change some of the rules after charging Everton? Yes.

Our low net spend over the past 3 years is pretty irrelevant to the case. You'd hope we're below the 105m losses for the new 3 year period but it's probably closer than we'd like.

 

[BNJ1878]

But part of the attraction of the best players globally coming to the PL is due to obscene salaries. If that is stunted, then there will be a slow decline in the "brand" that is the PL, and the success of English clubs in Europe.

It doesn't really matter though, does it? A competitive league is a better spectacle than 4 or 5 teams at the top year on year. Even if some of the better players leave for Saudi/Wherever enough global fans are already emotionally invested in their PL team of choice.

The success of the PL isn't only the players, it's the colourful stories around the clubs and the fans that follow them home and away. Some are overblown and hyped, but theres still the appeal there.

Nobody is tuning in to the Saudi Super League. A good friend of mine is on the exec board of that league and he knows (as somebody with a long career on sports broadcasting) getting people to tune in from overseas is an almost impossible task.

 

[Blue peter]

sell a player to pay a fine christ lol

Sell that player to a club who’s also on the profit and sustainability brink and who is equally as ill disciplined as us, and let’s get them into trouble. The more the merrier!

 

[Jacko93]

I'm not arguing we should have stuck with Benitez or Lampard to save on the severance money. Just pointing it it was an additional expense out of the ordinary wages paid.

The prem didn't give us the all clear.

Everton approached the Premier League with:

"We want to sign this player for this fee, is that OK?"

The league replied:

"OK, but to keep in mind you need to raise (insert amount) to stay in compliance."

We didn't raise that amount and gave reasons why. The league ignored those reasons.

Everton knowingly broke the rules and hoped that the mitigating circumstances and other allowable deductions would get us off the hook.

Is the punishment fair? No.
Was the procedure followed by the commission transparent? No.
Did the commission change some of the rules after charging Everton? Yes.

Our low net spend over the past 3 years is pretty irrelevant to the case. You'd hope we're below the 105m losses for the new 3 year period but it's probably closer than we'd like.

The league didn't tell us how much we had to raise at all, they just told us it was up to us to ensure we stayed within the limits.

Our calculations were different to theirs due to to a difference in opinion as to what was allowed in addbacks. This was why the commission conceded that we hadn't set out to flaunt the rules.

 

[Blue peter]

I don't think we're guilty, guilty. We haven't just over spent. Unbelievable turns of events have happened to Everton in that 3 year period. We're building a new stadium, not to mention in the middle of a global pandemic. We've had a 20 mill pound player declared unable to play and our main sponsor USM sanctioned due to a war. How unfortunate is that? I don't want to throw names under the bus but Wolves and Forest must be close to breaching and they've had none of those things happen.

I agree, it’s not been purely down to us…we have been unlucky (based on timing of world events), incompetent (with how the money has been spent), and ill disciplined in allowing us to get to the brink.

 

[scotchbutterpin]

We've still got Gomes and Alli as two of our highest earners, so there's still work to be done.
What has really hampered us is not just the fact we have thrown (relatively) big transfer fees all over the place, but we've had to then sit with a lot of dross earning big money. No one else would match their wages, so we struggled to sell. With that situation out of the way we can start to reset and slowly climb the league a bit and put regular relegation battles behind us.

So frustrating. Just shows the scatter-gun approach to buying players has us in the turd.
Sure Covid effected us, like everyone else, but it wasn't that which messed us up. Simply bad management.

 

[b-rad]

It doesn't really matter though, does it? A competitive league is a better spectacle than 4 or 5 teams at the top year on year. Even if some of the better players leave for Saudi/Wherever enough global fans are already emotionally invested in their PL team of choice.

The success of the PL isn't only the players, it's the colourful stories around the clubs and the fans that follow them home and away. Some are overblown and hyped, but theres still the appeal there.

Nobody is tuning in to the Saudi Super League. A good friend of mine is on the exec board of that league and he knows (as somebody with a long career on sports broadcasting) getting people to tune in from overseas is an almost impossible task.

A competitive league is better than 4 or 5 teams on top each year, unless you are one of those top teams.

I agree the success of the PL includes the rich history of many of the clubs, but rich history doesn't attract foreign players, or global fans.
The next generation of global fans won't be as emotionally involved in PL clubs as the current generation is. It would only ever be a slow shift, but I would expect a salary cap in the PL would change the attractiveness of its clubs to the best players in the world.

Does it matter? Well, maybe it shouldn't, but with PL clubs having tasted the riches then its unlikely enough clubs would agree to such a cap.

 

[b-rad]

So frustrating. Just shows the scatter-gun approach to buying players has us in the turd.
Sure Covid effected us, like everyone else, but it wasn't that which messed us up. Simply bad management.

It was Covid, and sanctions as a result of Russia/Ukraine which tipped us over the edge, but yes we were already a mess.