A financial expert has warned Everton and Nottingham Forest to prepare for further points drops.
The clubs were accused of breaching the Premier League’s Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR) earlier this season and Everton were stripped of 10 points following an investigation. On appeal, the penalty was reduced to six points, but the Toffees are not out of the woods yet.
According to Stefan Borson, who for some time acted as a financial adviser to Manchester City, Everton and Forest can expect to be docked another “two or three” points depending on the outcome of Everton’s recent appeal.
The clubs could lose £105 million over three seasons, which equates to £35 million per season. However, Forest could only lose £61 million because it spent part of that period in the Championship.
Everton’s original points deduction was for a PSR breach in the 2021/22 season, but the Merseyside club is still awaiting the outcome of a second PSR breach investigation in the 2022/23 season – the same as Forest. Speaking to talkSPORT, Borson said that both teams can expect a further six points deduction based on the precedent set by Everton’s recent successful challenge, although both penalties are likely to be reduced on appeal.
“I think you can work on the basis that the starting point will be another six [points deducted] and then you’ll discount for the two years where they’ve already had a penalty and it gets you back to two or maybe three, or maybe one.
“I still think they’ll get an additional points deduction, it’s just that it’ll be assessed in the overall context, it’s just that most of their arguments are unlikely to succeed because they’ve already been run and so I think it’s a relatively straight-forward decision for the independent commission on Everton.
“It’s a similar sort of equation for Nottingham Forest. I’d be slightly concerned if I was a Forest fan because of the aggravating factors because it looks like they spent recklessly and that’s something that will put them further up the scale of punishment. Putting them further down the scale, however, is that they only breached one year of Premier League financial fair play.
“I would think that Forest are probably looking at something like two to three points, plus the potential of some aggravating factor around the recklessness of the spending, minus the potential of what the appeal commission describe as the golden mitigation which Sheffield Wednesday had when they sold their stadium which Nottingham Forest are hinting will be Brennan Johnson.”
Everton’s second hearing is scheduled to take place in March, while Forest’s hearing will take place in April. If the clubs appeal the decisions, they may not know their fate until after the end of the season.