Liverpool wait on Manchester City point deduction outcome amid Everton claims: Exclusive

Premier League clubs including Liverpool are waiting for the outcomes of two major cases of financial investigation upon Manchester City and Everton.

The Anfield giants are continuing their good run of games as they comfortably won the Merseyside derby against Everton. They registered a 2-0 scoreline and the red card controversy aroused many questions.

Among all these talks, the Reds’ Merseyside rival Everton and PL rival Manchester City are in big trouble with financial breaches.

The Toffees have been referred to an independent commission in March for alleged breaches during the 2021/22 season.

This is because Everton reported losses of around £371.8M over the past three years. But the PL rules say clubs can only lose a maximum of £105M or they face charges.

Manchester City and Everton under financial investigation

In a report on Wednesday, The Telegraph stated,

“The Premier League has recommended Everton’s punishment to be extremely severe, and up to a maximum of 12 points.”

If the Goodison Park side is found guilty then they will face a number of potential other sanctions. These might include a fine and/or a potential transfer ban.

But the Toffees have said that they have abided by the rules and will ‘robustly defend’ their position if needed.

However, an independent commission is conducting the procedure and they hold the complete power of making any final decision. The Premier League will have no say in this matter.

This case could potentially be a stepping-stone on how the PL deals with financial conduct in the future.

City in trouble

The other case concerns Manchester City and it is quite complicated. There are several accusations against the defending champions as they have supposedly broken league rules 115 times between 2009 and 2018. And for this, they were sent to an independent panel in February.

Some of the allegations revolve around incorrect financial information, while others detailed financial payments to a former manager and other claims of allegedly not following the rules.

However, City have denied all of these claims in an official statement and their manager Pep Guardiola has demanded a decision ‘as soon as possible’.

This is not the first time the Blues have faced similar financial allegations. UEFA had previously banned the Manchester side from European competitions and fined them.

However, the decision was overturned at the Court of Arbitration for Sport as most allegations were either lacked strong proof or were time-barred – meaning they happened too long ago according to UEFA rules that say old allegations can’t be pursued.

Several fans have been questioning why the process of decision-making is taking so much time for the Etihad side’s case, compared to the case of Everton. But the reason is these two cases are very different in nature.

The case of the Merseyside club would be quicker to pass a verdict on as they are facing one charge over a shorter period. On the other hand, City’s case contains over 100 separate allegations which spanned over nine years and a five-year investigation.

This makes the process of thoroughly reviewing each case, coming to a conclusion, and passing the final verdict a time-consuming, lengthy, and careful job.

It might even take several years for the panel to reach to a conclusion.

But if Everton face a points deduction due to their alleged offense, other PL clubs including the Reds could expect and appeal for the same punishment for Manchester City.

The treble-winners could also see their PL titles ripped away for the previous seasons they have been accused of breaching.

And this could mean that Liverpool and several other clubs who finished second in those respective PL seasons can register themselves as the champions.

Sohom Chatterjee

An ardent football fan and a proud Red. I take immense pleasure in analyzing the intricacies of the game.