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Burnley and Leicester City, who finished 18th in the Premier League in the past two seasons respectively, would appear to have the strongest case for damages
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Martyn Ziegler
, Chief Sports Reporter
Tuesday November 21 2023, 3.00pm, The Times
Law
Premier League
Football
Leicester were relegated to the Championship last season after finishing a place and two points behind Everton
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The same independent commission that imposed a ten-point deduction on Everton will also decide if other clubs should receive tens of millions of pounds in compensation for financial damages connected to the case.
Five clubs — Burnley, Leicester City, Leeds United, Southampton and Nottingham Forest — have been part of a legal action connected to the Everton case. They have 28 days from receiving the ruling on the Goodison Park club, which came last Friday, to pursue a claim.
The Premier League has confirmed that the independent regulatory commission that ruled on Everton’s case will also decide on any compensation claims. The commission was headed by David Phillips KC, Judge Alan Greenwood and Nick Igoe, the former financial director at West Ham United.
In his ruling which blocked the five clubs being parties to the Everton case, Phillips said: “I am satisfied that the applicant clubs have potential claims for compensation.”
Everton have said they will appeal against the ten-point deduction and any compensation claim will have to take the appeal decision into account. An appeal would be heard before the end of the season.
Everton insiders have questioned how more than one club could receive compensation, considering that at the most only one team would have been relegated instead of Everton.
Burnley and Leicester would appear to have the strongest claim to damages. Burnley were relegated in the 2021-22 season, the campaign in which Everton were judged to have breached the Premier League’s profit and sustainability rules in terms of financial losses. Had the ten-point deduction been applied that season, Burnley would have survived and Everton would have been relegated. Burnley were promoted back to the Premier League at the first attempt but the financial cost to them was still about £50 million.
Everton were charged in March, but the five clubs unsuccessfully appealed for the commission to deal with the case before the end of last season. Leicester were relegated in 2022-23 — finishing 18th, a place and two points below Everton — and would also have lost about £50 million should they win promotion at the first attempt.
Burnley went down in 2021-22, the season in which Everton were found to have broken the rules
GARETH COPLEY/GETTY IMAGES
Had Everton’s points deduction been applied last season, it would not have prevented Leeds from being relegated but the club would have finished one place higher in the Premier League table, meaning an extra £2.2million in income.
There appear to be no grounds for Southampton, who finished bottom, or Forest, who stayed up in 16th, to claim compensation, as the points deduction would have made no difference to their league position in either season.
Phillips’s ruling added: “Those claims and their validity depend on whether the complaint is upheld. They depend on factual circumstances concerning the causation of any loss and they depend on other factual issues.
“If the complaint is upheld, the commission may wish to award compensation to one or more of the applicant clubs. If the complaint is upheld, the Premier League must provide a copy of the decision to the applicant clubs forthwith. Within 28 days of receipt of a copy of the decision, each applicant club must inform the commission whether it wishes to pursue a claim for . . . compensation.”
The compensation rules have been brought into the Premier League since Sheffield United agreed a £20 million out-of-court settlement with West Ham — during Igoe’s time at the club — after the London club had breached third-party ownership rules with the Argentina striker, Carlos Tevez.