Everton prepare for pivotal week on and off pitch after spark of defiance fades
There are weeks that can define a club’s season and then there are weeks that can define a club’s future. It is not hyperbole to suggest the latter awaits Everton. Monday brings a must-win Premier League home game against fellow strugglers Crystal Palace, the only team Everton have beaten in their past 11 matches.
The release of victory in that FA Cup third-round replay proved fleeting as a fourth-round exit to Luton followed 10 days later. No date is fixed in the diary but Everton also anticipate a verdict this week on their appeal against a 10-point deduction for a single breach of Premier League profit and sustainability rules. The ramifications will be considerable whenever it arrives.
The return of points already won on the pitch by Sean Dyche’s side would obviously aid their fight against relegation but, by virtue of an independent commission accepting some or all of the club’s arguments, it should also strengthen Everton’s defence against the second PSR charge that was brought last month. Lose the appeal, however, and not only does the 10-point punishment stand but the threat increases of a second points deduction before the end of the season. The second charge, after all, covers two-thirds of the period for which Everton have already been found guilty of a £19.5m breach.
A club that is third from bottom, heavily in debt, whose ownership status is shrouded in uncertainty and is at present being run by an interim chief executive and interim chief finance officer, would be at grave risk of hosting Championship football in its final season at Goodison Park. And Palace think they’ve got problems.
Barring the return of 10 points – which seems unlikely given Everton admitted to breaching PSR by £9.7m at October’s hearing – the risk of a first relegation in 73 years is real. Everton insisted the appeal was their primary focus when charged by the Premier League for a second time in January. The appeal took up the first paragraph of a commercial update last week from the chief commercial and communications officer, Richard Kenyon, who revealed progress was being made on a naming rights deal for the new stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock.
