Here are the latest Premier League headlines for Tuesday, March 29.
Everton lose over £100m but will avoid sanction
Everton have posted a loss of over £100million for the third successive year but will not be held in breach of Premier League profit and sustainability rules. Figures released show a £120.9m deficit for the year ending June 2021 after another season hugely affected by Covid.
Independent calculations suggest the global pandemic impacted Everton to the tune of £103m in the 12-month trading period, with the full effect on the club since the start of the outbreak estimated at £170m. Everton's losses over the last three years amount to £371.8m, with Premier League rules stating a club is in breach of financial regulations if they make an adjusted loss of more than £105m over a three-year period.
In the last seven years the club have made a profit just once, in 2016-17. Budget and transfer restrictions are the first sanctions which can be applied but according to the PA news agency, there will be no penalties forthcoming due to the extenuating circumstances associated with Covid.
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The Premier League has had access to Everton's latest accounts since November and with the Goodison Park outfit continuing to be fully transparent and co-operative, club officials remain confident the Toffees are in a good place. That is based on record turnover of £193m and the continued support from billionaire Farhad Moshiri, who committed £100m through a new share issue during 2020-21 and provided a further injection of £97m after the end of the financial year. But otherwise the figures make for gloomy reading, coming on the back of losses of £111m in 2018-19 and £139.9m in 2019-20.
Forlan's Man United hopes
Diego Forlan hopes his former club Manchester United end the campaign on a high and can improve enough to compete for silverware next term. Man United are going to end a fifth straight season without a trophy and Ralf Rangnick's sixth-placed Red Devils are also on course to miss out on Champions League qualification.
Bookmakers consider Arsenal and Tottenham better bets to secure a top-four finish, which would mean United enter a crucial summer in an even tougher predicament. The search for a new permanent manager is under way and an underperforming squad needs reshaping in the coming months, with former Red Devils striker Forlan hoping things will improve.
"Now that the World Cup is coming, everybody is asking 'who do you think is going to win?"' he told the PA news agency. "There's so many teams that have the opportunity to win the World Cup and it's only one who is going to win it. To go through those phases, you will have to beat teams and those teams are going to have to lose.
"This kind of thing is going to happen (in the club game) with Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea, Real Madrid, Barcelona, the other teams. The big ones. It's difficult for you to win every season. The thing to do is to be there.
"When you are in this kind of situation playing with the big ones, it's disappointing to lose but it's football and you know it can happen. Of course then you have the league, the Premier League in this case, and Manchester United will try to go for the Champions League spot. That will be the goal this season. Of course Manchester United is a team that everybody expects them to win but sometimes it's difficult.
"When other teams beat you, you will have to finish the league the best you can and then for the next season try to improve what you did wrong."
Chelsea ownership plea
Chelsea's new owners have been urged to accelerate major structural change in English football by granting supporters the coveted golden share. The Stamford Bridge club's eventual new proprietors have the power to spark the long-mooted Government legislation on both fan influence and an independent regulator, according to lawyer Stuart Hatcher.
A partner at London firm Forsters and a big Brentford fan, Hatcher drew up the Bees' golden share deal in 2012 when Matthew Benham took ownership at the west London club. Brentford's golden share stands as the template for positive football governance, giving fans veto powers through a supporters' trust holding.
Tracey Crouch's fan-led football review has called on Government to usher the golden share into club ownership models, as well as legislate for a new independent regulator to oversee the sport. And Hatcher believes Chelsea's new bosses will have the opportunity to shape a positive change in football club ownership.
"This could be a catalyst for a number of important things that should be coming down the line anyway," Hatcher told the PA news agency. "I think Chelsea's new owners giving supporters the golden share would set the tone for other clubs. The Government probably won't be rushed or affected by what Chelsea do themselves. The fan-led review did take a long look at Brentford and spoke to a lot of the Brentford people; I've spoken to people on the committee as well. And they were saying 'actually this is a good model'.
"I don't think the Government's going to be rushed into its own legislation program, they have their own problems and challenges. But if Chelsea do it you might have other fans calling on their clubs to follow suit. Without being pejorative about Brentford, and I'm a Brentford supporter of course, nobody really cares that we've got this little thing - but if a massive club like Chelsea do it, if a big club winning Champions League titles can do it, it can't be that dangerous.
"And the pressure would come on other clubs to fall in line. If anything the Government is only going to legislate for minimum standards, so this is going to be a chance for potentially a new owner to get some kudos as well, saying we are going to set the benchmark. It could create a situation where anything less at other clubs would lead to pressure from fans of those clubs."
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