Everton told to brace for another six-point Premier League penalty by former financial advisor to Manchester City

The Toffees saw their original penalty, awarded following breaches of spending regulations between 2019 and 2022, reduced on appeal on Monday. Everton are also under investigation for breaking the Premier League's Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR) for their 2022-23 accounts, alongside Nottingham Forest. Amid another impending ban, manager Sean Dyche used the defence of "double jeopardy" to dispute further punishment. However, financial guru Stefan Borson claims that this repeat offence is exactly why Everton may be punished.

Borson, who used to advise Manchester City and has been vocal on a number of financial matters in the Premier League this term, told talkSPORT: "This thing about double jeopardy is wrong. This thing is about natural justice in taking a three-year period in which you've been punished for two already, and the second Independent Commission will have no issue understanding what is fair in that context and understanding that they shouldn't be punished twice for the same period.

"That said, it will clearly see another breach as being a serious matter because of the things you look at in the assessment of the PSR is the trend. Clearly the trend has gone against them in breaching, because if the trend had continued to improve, they wouldn't have been in breach. Everton have had pretty big losses for 2022-23 - they haven't released their accounts yet, but they're due to be released publicly by the end of March - but we know they were signed off in November or December, and like many clubs, they've held onto them. We don't know what the number for Everton is, but we know that the loss for 22-23 was very big, and therefore, they will still suffer a serious punishment."

Dyche's side leapfrogged both Forest and Brentford upon their appeal, which was made after the original commission admitted to making two "legal errors" in their initial sanction. But Borson believes Everton are not out of hot water just yet, as he issued a warning to the Toffees: "I think you can work on the basis that the starting point will be another six, and then you'll discount for the two years where they've already had a penalty, and it gets you back to two or maybe three [points], or maybe one. I still think they'll get an additional points deduction, it's just that it'll be assessed in the overall context. Most of their arguments are unlikely to succeed because they've already been run, and so I think it's a relatively straightforward decision for the Independent Commission on Everton."

Borson did add that Forest may be spared such a strict deduction due to only being in the English top flight since 2022. Clubs in the English Football League (EFL) are forced to stay within a losses threshold much lower than the Premier League's £105 million ($133m), meaning their spending could be closer to that figure.

The Daily Mail notes that Forest will learn their fate at the start of March, with the deadline for both cases confirmed for April 8. Each club will then have seven days to appeal, the results of which would come on May 24 - staggeringly, five days after the close of the 2023-24 Premier League campaign.