Everton have been charged with an alleged breach of breaking Financial Fair Play rules in the Premier League - with the top-flight's head honcho's set to issue an independent commission to look into any potential wrongdoing.
The Toffees are one of just six Premier League ever-presents, having been one of the dominating sides south of the border in the 1980's and beyond. Their status in the top-flight has looked precarious for the past couple of seasons, with survival only confirmed on the penultimate day of the season in the 2021/22 campaign.
They are right back in the mix this year, sitting just two points clear of the drop zone having played two games more than 18th-placed West Ham. Sean Dyche's side have been the blueprint for how not to spend money under new, rich ownership - having spent lavishly on flops such as Gylfi Sigurdsson, Cenk Tosun, Yannick Bolasie and more since the arrival of tycoon Farhad Moshiri in 2016, the Merseyside club have had to watch their money carefully with hardly any return on investment.
And now they could be plunged further into desperation after a Premier League statement confirmed that they would be setting an independent investigation onto the Goodison Park outfit. Leeds and Burnley, the two sides embroiled in a relegation battle with Everton last season, both began to press charges against what they sensed was a wrongdoing in the books on the Toffees' behalf, though Leeds' survival saw the Yorkshire club drop out.
With the pair having written to the league back in May to question Everton's integrity after recording an insane £371.8million of losses over the past three years - more than the allowed limit of £105m - both indicated their right to make legal claims against both Everton and the Premier League. And now, despite relegation for the Clarets, ten months on it appears that they had a case to make - with the Premier League issuing an independent commission to look into Everton's sustainability rule breach on Friday afternoon.
The Premier League's statement read: "In accordance with Premier League Rule W.82.1, the Premier League confirms that it has today referred an alleged breach of the League’s Profitability and Sustainability Rules by Everton Football Club to a Commission under Premier League Rule W.3.4. The assessment period for which it is alleged that the Club is in breach is the period ending Season 2021/22.
"Commissions are independent of the Premier League and member clubs. The members of the Commission will be appointed by the independent Chair of the Premier League Judicial Panel, in accordance with Premier League Rules W.19, W.20 and W.26.
"The proceedings before the Commission will, in accordance with Premier League Rule W.82, be confidential and heard in private. Under Premier League Rule W.82.2, the Commission’s final award will be published on the Premier League’s website. The League will be making no further comment until that time."
The nine-time top-flight winners last year denied any wrongdoing, stating: "We are comfortable that we have complied with the rules. External auditors have told us what we can and cannot claim against the pandemic. If clubs want to take legal action that’s their decision.”
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