Manchester City and Chelsea face the risk of relegation from the Premier League following Everton’s 10-point deduction, according to a former financial advisor to the champions.
The deduction has left the Toffees reeling, dropping them to second bottom of the league, and they aim to file an appeal.
City is being investigated for 115 suspected breaches of Premier League financial rules, while Chelsea is being investigated for alleged payments related to previous owner Roman Abramovich.
“Without seeing the judgement/award -10 points for Everton feels harsh for a straightforward FFP [Financial Fair Play] breach to me,” said Stefan Borson, a lawyer who has advised City, when Everton’s announcement surfaced on Friday.
‘But reinforces that sanctions against City [if proven] and now Chelsea [if charged and admitted on the off-books payments] will be potentially relegation inducing.’
Borson added: “One thing is for sure, given the scale of this sporting sanction, Chelsea’s calculus [in my opinion] that they could breach PL P&S [Profit and Sustainability] and just take a fine as a cost of doing business, must be in urgent and immediate reconsideration.
“The January window may be interesting. Even in the best case, they can no longer rely on being able to convince an Independent Commission to accept their Covid and Sanctions allowances as exceptional adjustments [to the extent that was the plan].”
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Borson mentioned relegation as a possible consequence in February when City was charged with 115 breaches of the Premier League’s financial rules regarding sponsors and contracts during a nine-year period.
He tweeted back then: “Alarmist or not, the sheer extent of the PL charges are at a level that IF found proven, must lead to relegation.”
Mail Sport journalist Nick Harris responded: “Stefan is a former financial adviser to Man City, a Man City fan, a former banker, current lawyer, CEO & general counsel to a PLC dealing with allegations of historic accounting issues. Also well across FFP issues. So this is an interesting view.”
Everton dropped to 19th in the Premier League table after being docked ten points for violating Premier League profit and sustainability regulations.
The club was sent to an independent commission in March for alleged violations during the 2021-22 season, and a hearing was held last month.
After the team was accused of breaking financial rules in 2021-22, the Premier League advocated for a significant points loss to set a precedent. Over a three-year span, the Toffees incurred astounding financial losses of about £372 million.
