What Everton’s points deduction ruling could mean for Manchester City and Chelsea

Premier League side Everton have had their 10-point deduction for breaching the financial rules (PSR) reduced to six points after an appeal.

The club were deducted 10 points in November last year after an independent commission found that they had broken Profit and Sustainability rules, a set of regulations which do not allow losses of more than £105 million ($133m) over a three-year period.

After an appeal (and the club publicly calling the decision “wholly disproportionate”) four points have now been given back. This decision has a drastic effect on the Premier League table and as a result, Everton’s chances of survival. Sean Dyche’s team now move on to 25 points and are up into 15th place in the Premier League table; before the ruling they were just one point and one place above relegation.

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What does this mean for Manchester City and Chelsea?

Both Manchester City and Chelsea are under investigation for breaching the same rules as Everton, but the situations are not identical.

While the ruling does not immediately change things or provide a solution to other investigations, it does set a baseline of the punishment that corresponds to a defined level of wrongdoing from a Premier League club.

As for Manchester City, they find themselves under investigation for a total of 115 charges for allegedly not providing accurate financial information to the Premier League and misleading regulators about the revenue made including both sponsorship income and operating costs.

While no punishment has been confirmed, section W.51.4 of the Premier League’s official rules and regulation do not hold back: “a fine of unlimited quantity, suspension of a club from playing in league matches, with an unlimited timeframe, point deductions, replays of past matches, permanent expulsion” and the added ability by the commission to “make any such other order as the commission sees fit”. Do not expect to hear a verdict any time soon, however, as the sheer size of the case means that a conclusion is likely to take a while.

Chelsea, meanwhile, are also under investigation for what The Guardian say was “leaked files [revealing] a string of secret payments that may have breached strict football rules”. They also add that “the transactions in question appear to have been for Chelsea’s benefit, raising questions about whether they were declared in accounts submitted to football’s governing bodies.” These payments were made when Roman Abramovich was in charge of Chelsea. The Russian Oligarch was forced to sell the club after UK sanctions were put in place following the illegal Russian invasion of Ukraine.