Friday Cannon Fodder: any time now

Happy Friday morning, TSF! I hope you had a nice week and are gearing up for a relaxing weekend. Maybe you’re taking all of next week off for the Thanksgiving holiday. I hope that you’re at least taking a day (or two) on either side of Turkey Day to give yourself some extra time off.

Everton were handed a 10-point deduction for breaching the Premier League profit and sustainability rules from 2019-2021. The deduction sees them drop from 14 points to 4 and from the mid-table to 19th. They’ve appealed the decision, and I suspect that if they don’t like the result, they’ll continue to appeal it up the chain all the way to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, tying up the issue with lawyers and hearings for as long as possible.

That’s the Manchester City playbook, at least. Just draw it out and fight every single piece possible until you find the technicality that saves you. City, by the way, are still facing 115 charges of financial impropriety dating back a decade. I wonder when the Premier League will rule on those charges. They sure turned the Everton issue around quickly. Strange.

If Roman Abramovich’s Chelsea is a benchmark, we should expect to see the City stuff shake out some 5+ years down the road, well beyond the timeframe in which it’s relevant. Over the past few days, reports have come out about just how shady Chelsea’s financial dealings were during their rise to Premier League relevance and prominence.

Ultimately, I think Everton will be fine and avoid relegation, even if the deduction is upheld. The three promoted teams + Bournemouth are truly terrible, and Everton aren’t. The bigger question is whether the Premier League understands that they’re approaching (and may have already passed) a crossroads with respect to club “revenue” and spending.

The Premier League title, with a handful of exception seasons, has been bought and paid for. I think they have an opportunity to get the situation under control and restore some integrity to the competition. But they need to act swiftly and decisively.

After all, there is the matter of Mikel Arteta’s press conference conduct to attend to.