Everton manager Sean Dyche has got what it takes to lift the Blues out of the relegation zone. AFP Photo

by Paul Kennedy

After the news broke last week that Everton were deducted 10 points by the Premier League, I should have been as happy as a clam, named Larry, living on cloud nine. I should have been feeling like a two-tailed dog out on the town with a bucket of red paint and a big brush.

You see, when you grow up in Liverpool as I did, it is ingrained in your DNA to utterly despise your rival football team, in my case, Everton.

Each time they play, I want them to lose. Pure and simple. And I’ve no doubt every Evertonian gets immense pleasure when Liverpool get beat. That’s just the way it is. An unwritten law, if you like, that must be followed.

But after the decision was made to dock the Blues a whopping 10 points for breaching Premier League Profitability and Sustainability rules, I couldn’t help but realise how incredibly harsh, and unfair, the punishment was.

The extremely talented Mail on Sunday journalist OIiver Holt put it much better than I ever could when he wrote: “Everton are a blood sacrifice to show the Premier League can bring order to the Wild West.”

Now let’s get one thing straight here from the off. Everton broke the rules and deserved to be punished. I know that, Everton know that, and so do all of their supporters.

They overspent by a considerable amount of money that put their annual losses way over the allowed limit.

To be fair, there were quite a lot of unforeseeable circumstances they couldn’t have possibly predicted, like the COVID pandemic, and the war in Ukraine which led to their top sponsor, Alisher Usmanov, being handed a EU sanction preventing spending.

Plus on top of all that, the club are in the middle of building a fabulous new stadium that is costing an arm and a leg.

And yes, I know, COVID affected other teams just as much, but a 10 point deduction? Really? That’s the biggest punishment since Portsmouth FC were placed into administration in 2010 and docked nine points.

But it’s not all doom and gloom. Everton of late have had some decent results, and although they are now back in the relegation zone, they are only two points away from safety.

I’ve no doubt the fighting spirit will be back at Goodison bigger and better than it ever was before. I am confident they will survive, and not get relegated this season.

I hope that happens. And then things can get back to normal, and I can once again enjoy seeing Everton drop points, but fairly and squarely on the pitch and not because they are being made a scapegoat and over punished for one mistake. VNS