Everton have been docked 10 points by an independent commission after being found to have breached Premier League financial rules.
The league referred Everton to the commission in March for an alleged breach of its profitability and sustainability rules in the period ending in the 2021-22 season.
The rules allow clubs to lose a maximum £105million over a three-year period or face sanctions.
As a result of the punishment, Everton will drop into the relegation zone ahead of Burnley on goal difference and now face a fight to preserve their top flight status ahead of their eagerly anticipated move to a new stadium on Bramley-Moore Dock.
The Toffees are one of only six teams to have featured in every Premier League season since the competitions inception in 1992 and have already voiced their intention to appeal.
A statement read: ‘Everton Football Club is both shocked and disappointed by the ruling of the Premier League’s Commission.
‘The Club believes that the Commission has imposed a wholly disproportionate and unjust sporting sanction. The Club has already communicated its intention to appeal the decision to the Premier League.
‘The appeal process will now commence and the Club’s case will be heard by an Appeal Board appointed pursuant to the Premier League’s rules in due course.
‘Everton maintains that it has been open and transparent in the information it has provided to the Premier League and that it has always respected the integrity of the process.
‘The Club does not recognise the finding that it failed to act with the utmost good faith and it does not understand this to have been an allegation made by the Premier League during the course of proceedings.
‘Both the harshness and severity of the sanction imposed by the Commission are neither a fair nor a reasonable reflection of the evidence submitted.
‘The Club will also monitor with great interest the decisions made in any other cases concerning the Premier League’s Profit and Sustainability Rules.’
More to follow…
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