Everton's losses double for 2022-23 financial year

Just liquidate the sodding place and put us out of our misery.

Which is testament to how much our turnover has come down. We need the stadium in order to continue to be a viable Premier League club but we need to stay in the Premier League to have any chance of completing the stadium.

And right now, the universe is aligning against us.

Trying times, the players must atone v the Skunks. Can they do it?

It seems that the club is floating on the point of existential survival. Hopefully some hope and good news will come this week.

Where exactly is the intention to gain an on-field advantage?

The points deduction won't relegate us – Dyche will.

“Material Uncertainty Related To Going Concern.”

This club is dying on its feet now and it's hard to imagine I'll see the Everton that was once a stable football club again now.

I think we are seeing the beginning of the end.

We're going, going….

Imagine if it was £89.2 million.

And I know Moshiri stuck his nose in but Everton is a business and it should be making a profit let alone losing over £80M, for fuck's sake!

And the mental health of Everton fans must be a huge issue. Is there anything positive except the new stadium?!

We'll also get the next points deduction announcement during the week. We'll probably go into the Burnley game level on points with Forest and Luton.

It's over. We're doomed to relegation and administration. Never has a major club been as badly run as ours.

We're much more likely to find ourselves 3 or more points from safety by the time we face Burnley. As I said in a previous post, the jig is up.

An utter farce.

I said on another thread – just liquidate the club.

Unless we get a financial miracle right now, then 5 years from now, the club will fester in the lower divisions as a rancid carcass anchored solidly to the bed of the Mersey by the new stadium finances.

This club will have become the watchword for footballing calamity.

On the plus side, getting a ticket for the game won't be an issue.

How could Kenwright behave in this way and get away with it?

We had the misfortune to be bought by a billionaire who didn't ‘earn' his own money but had it gifted to him under increasingly dubious circumstances.

Lashing out on transfer fees, paying extravagant wages to mediocre players, and spending an inordinate amount on paying off a bunch of substandard managers, exacerbated by a dysfunctional administration, has led to our financial meltdown.

Decades gone by selling our best players. This was always on the cards. The fans are drained of hope and no plan going forward. Sadly, more bad days than good to come.

I'm really surprised and fearful of the consequences now. I can't understand why the club has hired a significant amount of new employees: +28 average over the year? Why would we do that, when we knew we were in such a financial mess?

I think this is going to result in a further 6-point deduction. There is no chance of the Premier League advocating for us with regard to ‘exceptional cooperation', as they did with Forest. So no hand-back of the 2 points that Forest got.

None of the commissions have accepted mitigations put forward so far, so it's likely our Ukraine War impact claim will be dismissed. I believe that the double jeopardy will also fail.

The odds on our relegation have just gone off the scale! What a dreadful, dreadful weekend.

Reading the facts in these audited accounts that we made a £47.5M profit on player trading, have reduced wages costs, can point to loss of (signed this time) sponsorship deals worth over £20M due to the war in Ukraine along with the double jeopardy argument, you can see what our defence will have been last week. It looks very much that paying off Lampard and his staff along with ex-directors has tipped us over the edge of the PSR again!

We will learn this week what our punishment is for this latest breach. Hopefully they will have taken on all of these mitigating factors (which are a lot stronger this time as we had actual signed sponsorship deals which we lost for 2022-23) and we don't get any more points deduction.

Yes, the PSR trend must have gone up again but if that can be explained in the context of the loss of the USM, Megafon and Yota sponsorship, then hopefully we might get a minimum punishment.

What is clear with the way the team is playing is, if we get another 6 or even 4 points deduction, we have had it and are going down I am afraid.

£134 million losses over two years, one of which was when Rafa was in charge and we spent little, and yet we still racked up losses of close to £90 million.

Another points deduction heading our way!

Dyche has by some distance been dealt the worst hand of cards in the league.

I was hoping that we could sort out our finances in a relatively short period of time, that's not looking likely now.

https://twitter.com/KieranMaguire/status/1774498790780596644?s=19

Biggest joke in football. Utterly shameful.

In reality, he is just a flunky for Usmanov which, tied in with Billy Bullshit, is why we find ourselves in this position. Poor Sir John Moores must be turning over in his grave.

No wonder Dyche and the team look numb. We have already been prepared for a mass exodus. Cue the Titanic.

Everton publish 22/23 accounts: 🔑 figs
Revenue £172m ⬇️ 5%
Wages £159m ⬇️ 2%
Amortisation £77m ⬆️ 23%
Manager/coaching payoff £7m
Executive payoff £2.5m
Loss before player sales £130m
Pre-tax loss £89m
Player signings £91m
Player sales £61m
Borrowings £341m

Also says, to comply for 2023-24, we will need to raise £40-£50M by end of the financial year, which I believe to be 30 June. Not good reading.

Right in the doo doo off the pitch and, if Burnley win on Tuesday and we lose to the Barcodes, and then lo and behold get a 4-point deduction, we would be level on points with Burnley before we play them next Saturday and right in the doo doo doo doo on the pitch too.

Now that would be the "Everton That" of all time!

Once again we are the test case on this point of how the punishment should be determined for a subsequent rolling breach.

Another first for our once great club.

I am not sure why people think there is a double jeopardy argument — we will get another severe punishment.

Worth bearing in mind how lucky we've been with injuries compared to, say, Newcastle and yet we're still utter dogshit. Once we've sold Branthwaite and Onana to balance this season's books, there's no way we have a squad capable of staying up next season.

Probably in our best interests to go down this time and pray we can avoid going into Administration. Watching us in the Championship just can't be any worse than watching us flail around at the foot of the Premier League at this stage.

Like a cat in a bag, waiting to drown, as the song goes.

Hard to see us escaping with less than 4-6 points which would put us well into the mire again. Which given the way we're playing is going to require quite the turnaround in order to survive.

More than anything, it all just feels so very draining and depressing.

Moshiri's tenure was meant to see us smashing the glass ceiling and instead it's seen us stumbling down the garbage chute.

What a tremendous legacy you are leaving us.

Clutching at straws here but maybe we can avoid the penalty with a buyer waiting to absorb the losses. Is there a Shetland pony underneath all this shit?

By the way, we like you now, Josh. Give us a call.

Notwithstanding the sticker shock of today's P&L release, the PSR calculation will prove relatively kinder. There's still a fighting chance of just a further 2-point hit this week… at worst.

I am thinking Moshiri put the money in but was an absolute idiot to trust Kenwright, who was in it for his own ends.

Is this right?

No wonder he then threw the fans under the bus at the Southampton game. He thought it would be better than taking us to the vets.

Absorbing the losses doesn't matter once you're over the 105M. It's a breach.

To my mind the only possible saving graces could be:

- they decide to apply 'double counting' which means we get a third of the 'substantial' punishment. 2 at best (6/3), 4 or at worst (3+3/3)

- we've actually cooperated this year and get some kind of mitigation deduction.

- we find some creative way to explain away a chunk of the losses but the Commissions have been pretty black and white on those so far.

Again Forest will be waiting in the wings. Any point we apply will be immediately used by Forest in their appeal.

Incredible that relegation will likely be decided by Independent Commissions.

I am not going to let this get to me; unfortunately, I do not have billions and, to be quite frank, I probably wouldn't help if I could.

Too many people have rinsed this club – including that twat Kenwright. If this club folds, I save £700 season-ticket money and the extras spent going to and from the match.

The players will go to the clubs they deserve and life goes on.

And just as bad on the pitch as well. At least we've had good times. Thanks, Farhad 'n Bill.

They're losing money hand over fist, yet you can't give them any.

Just like everyone on the board doesn't have a scooby!

Then fire everyone else, and start again.

The club is not fit for purpose currently. Plus sacking everyone for dereliction of duty, failing to meet targets, or any other excuse that they could come up with, would save them £Millions£

I do care about people's welfare and income, but the 800+ employees at Everton, don't seem to give two fucks about the 500k+ global fans of the club; and the employees at 'our club' have enjoyed Kenwright's and Barrett-Baxendale's gravy train for far too long, without lifting a finger!

The club, as it stands, have a 'For Sale' sign up, and also an 'Everything must go' sign too!

Kenwright was the architect of our demise, and Moshiri was his enabler!

Kenwright, 1989 to 2023, RIP
Moshiri, 2016 to Present GTFO
EFC 1878 to 2024(5?) RIP

What a legacy, what a history over the last 35 years of 'good times' to recall, as the club financially implodes...

The assessment period for which Everton have been charged covers four seasons from the start of 2018-19 to the end of 2021-22.

Everton are only the second club to be charged with breaking Premier League financial rules after Manchester City were charged.

The Merseysiders recorded losses of £371.8m over the past three years. Premier League rules allow clubs to lose a maximum of £105m over three years.'

Sky Sports, 25 March 2023.

Everton claimed £170m of this was because of Covid, bringing them down to £202m. They then claimed adjustments brought them down to £113m. Using the Everton figures the Premier League said the loss was £123m. That is where the dispute over interest and other adjustments is centred as per the report. But the Commission did not state that they accepted the adjustments and there is no mention of the £170m write-off, only as a note attached to the Final Accounts for 2021-22.

The current losses cover 2019-20 to 2022-23; amount to a reported loss of £255 million which is over the £105million threshold, meaning Everton are in breach of the PSR Rules.

The Covid years were 2020-22 so Everton will be trying to claim an adjustment of £170M, bringing the total down to £85M. So, going on previous adjustments, Everton will be trying to claim estimated losses of £55M after adjustments.

It is unclear whether the Premier League figures will be the same or whether they accepted any other adjustments. Hopefully Everton have been more cooperative and will avoid previous penalties as a result.

The point deduction is likely to be 2 or 3 points.

The main concern is that £44.1M plus £88.7M added up to £132.8M losses over 2 years which is way over the £105M threshold for 3 years, without including a third year 2023-24.

This means that Everton will be referred to a third Commission next season. It will also be apparent to all those involved in the takeover that this will happen.

The Everton case for defence of them not breeching PSR thresholds has fallen flat on its face.

Sorry we have all been collectively poked in the eye.

The letter from Moshiri proves he is a Muppet.

I was hoping this set of accounts published would be a wind-up with it being April Fool's tomorrow; sadly, the club has treated its fans everyday as fools for the past 30 plus years, so I guess this comes as no real surprise.

Nice to see our ex-non-CEO and finance bod took us to the cleaners and then declined to testify for us.

Funniest joke of the last 12 months or so was Denise's 128-point (or however many it was) action plan. One almost has to pinch oneself to realise just how thick as mince these people were…

I've worked for companies that have gone through lean times and the first thing that stops is all travel... the second thing is a recruitment freeze. None of that seems to have occurred to anyone to implement. There really doesn't seem to have been any attempt to right-size expenses at all.

The stadium is a massive issue of course and I recall Arsenal having to really tighten their belt for years while that was happening. We don't appear to have done that at all.

Somehow we manage to sell players but keep buying others... truly beggars belief. They might not have signing-on fees but their bloody wages are killing us... over 90% of revenue.

We can whinge all we like about outside influences but this is entirely self-inflicted. This result was known in January by the club and they decided not to try and sell anyone... I guess no-one was buying, but still…

The current squad will be seeing all this and wondering What is the point? They have earned enough points to not be concerned about relegation but will end up probably being relegated anyway because of matters out of their control.

People's jobs and a heritage are going down the pan here. For fuck's sake, we had more titles than Man Utd before old purple-mush joined!

There are no 10 Commandment Rules, nor any day-to-day legal rules, or any documented rules for the Premier League, take your choice, set of rules, for the so-called finance performance rules.

"£506 million pre-tax loses over the last five seasons. What an accountant!"

Who does this affect most? Us, the fans, who have had no say in any of what has gone on behind the scenery, yet the guilty all walk away with very handsome compensations!

I despair, I really do.

Lyndon, I would query that. It was reported Everton could not produce a contract for the £20M deal when asked by the Commission. Everton admitted that they had not drawn up any paperwork.

Everton were never subject to sanctions regarding the Ukraine War, so no deals were frozen. I know it was widely reported at the time, but there appears to be no substance to that deal. If there was, Everton could legitimately sue the organisations involved.

The club has been run into the ground without any PSR rule penalties. Moshiri has been a bigger problem than any Commission.

I truly hope that we the people one day end up owning the People's Club, even if we start from scratch in the lower leagues. At least over here in the States, without relegation in any professional leagues, your average sleazy billionaire can't run a club into the ground trying to keep up with the big boys. Even in leagues without salary caps, the owners run teams like smart businessmen. So you hate your billionaire owners just a little less. There are no longer words to describe the incompetence required to do what Moshiri and his cronies have done to us.

I'm not a religious man, other than being an Everton fan, but I still believe in miracles, because I love sports. (Though I may just visit the cathedrals and synagogues and mosques when I come to town this week to say a few prayers to change our fortunes.)

The miracle: We can still scrape by this season with a 4-point or less deduction if we eke out a few wins. We then sell Pickford, Onana and Branthwaite for £175 million. We somehow escape more points deductions next season.

We're forced to buy a few young, fast, and hungry players under £10 million each. Dele Alli comes back to play for us and has the season we all want for him and us. Patterson and Dobbin finally play and take huge steps up.

Gana comes back for one more year and stays healthy. Keane comes back in the team and limits his mistakes, while scoring a few wonder goals. Calvert-Lewin finally starts scoring. Mykolenko continues to progress. Joao Virginia proves himself a top-class keeper…

We enter the new stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock still a Premier League club, only by being forced to be frugal, realizing how much money we've blown these past 8 years on overpriced players who can't run, score or pass a football.

Sorry, I had to start dreaming to stave off complete despair.

We are finished as a top-tier club.

Colin Chong will already be on a contract with the Club until the stadium is completed so no need for new owners to do anything, same as with all other employees at the Club.

We hired all those new employees as it was a recommendation in Li'l Miss Dynamite's 120-point action plan that Mark @65 refers to.

We need a takeover to be completed as soon as possible. We all feel queasy about 777 Partners, but these set of accounts make it clear that we need new funding or refinancing to continue as a going concern.

At least one of Onana, Branthwaite or Pickford will also need to be sold before 30 June.

As for the argument that relegation or administration might be for the best, it is clear that it would finish off the club for a generation. Leeds are still recovering from the downward spiral caused by Risdale's gross financial mismanagement 20 years ago.

If the Premier League consider 777 Partners as acceptable owners does the £220M(?) they lent the club disappear from the accounts being money the owners owe themselves and transferred as a shareholding?

As I understand it, and I could be wrong, a lot of the charges Man City face relate to their owners using subsidiary companies as sponsors. I wonder if this might be addressed under the new rules or, if there truly is any bias for certain clubs, if this might be used to our advantage in our sponsorship losses due to the freezing out of certain oligarchs because of the Ukraine invasion.

I do have to wonder though why this is continued with if they expect to rewrite P&S rules in the near future. And to think part of the idea was to stop clubs disappearing into insolvency. One way out may be if the City of Liverpool, or anybody else, need a new outdoor entertainment arena.

The talk of naming the south stand at the new ground after the man who has overseen our demise sums us up. That must be some sick joke and shows we're a complete laughing stock.

If I didn't support Everton, I'd want us to go down cos we offer less than fuck-all to this league and haven't done for 30 years.

Can we now just find out what Brighton do and copy it?

Also about the debt, everyone knew we would have to loan a lot of money for building so the debt really can't be a surprise. I guess the amount of debt is but who knew the costs would go this high?

This club pays wages out of proportion to its means.

If we didn't pay the huge amounts to the likes of Calvert-lewin, Gomes, Pickford, Keane and Tarkowski, then the books would look far better.

A fire sale is a certainty.

Harrison, Danjuma, Gomes, Dele Alli, Coleman, Young and Lonergan. Gueye's contract is also up but we won't be able to afford his wages to initiate the 1-year option.

Even if we stay up, then Branthwaite and Onana are sure to go.

God forbid we get relegated as I doubt Everton have relegation clauses in the players' contracts to reduce their wages.

If relegated, then the Doomsday Scenario sets in :

I would expect Pickford, Mykolenko, Patterson - ( if Dyche stays ) and Garner to leave too. They have international careers and won't want to be playing in the Championship.

That leaves us with Calvert Lewin, Doucoure, Keane, Godfrey, Virginia, Dobbin and Onyango all of whom have contracts until 2025. Unless we want to offer them contract extensions we will surely have to consider offers for these players as we need the money and cannot have players leaving on a Bosman any more. Plus I doubt we could afford to pay many of them.

Tarkowski 2026, Beto 2027, McNeil 2027, and Chermiti 2027. It again depends on wages but Tarkowski and McNeil could well have to go.

Coleman may stay for a further year if offered a contract - he'd play for nothing.

Young? Can we afford his wages.

It's so bloody depressing but we are now into the final Chapter of Moshiri's and Kenwright's book, The Fall of Everton.

May the next book be Everton Rise from the Ashes – A Phoenix to Smite the Liver Bird.

ps: Kenwright's name should be nowhere near the New Stadium – we have been cursed for too long. It cannot happen.

After 55 years of support, I am now starting to feel like that.
There is no enjoyment supporting Everton whatsoever. It's like self-flaggelation for some previous misdemeanour that I am not aware of.

I can only think of telling Dalgleish to fuck off in 1986 and sticking two fingers up to him.

We all have our heroes in the game, but it is the villains off the pitch that have created this horror movie.

Of the managers that we have had since Moshiri, none have brought in the players we needed, we have sold without replacing and bought to cover positions we had no need to cover.

We ever replaced Lukaku as we had Calvert-Lewin to cover; that failed, so we bought Richarlison, then sold him but no replacement as we had Calvert-Lewin.

Liverpool bought Mane, we buy Bolaise. We buy Keane, a so-called proven centre-back as we did not want to gamble on Van Dijk.

The incompetence of our recruiters goes on. Two seasons before Kompany goes to Man City we won't pay £4M for him, too much!

For far too long, we have had small people running what is in size (not stature) a huge club.

I think that's the most gut-wrenching aspect of this implosion we're witnessing. That stadium will be what Camden Yards was to the MLB. Not the biggest, but the first modern stadium to truly tap into the nostalgia of the game.

This will be the blueprint for new stadia going forward, and we've set it. And we'll most likely be tennents at best, unable to maximise the commercial benefits.

Everything is unraveling after years of foolish owners running our once great club.

At the moment administration maybe our only way out.

I never imagined we'd be here when I was standing in the Gwladys Street watching my heroes in the '60s.

The cowboys fell out, the financial crash came along and the banks went down a legal route appointing Sir Martin Broughton, ex Chelsea, as interim chairman who went in to oversee the sale to NESV who became FSG.

I've often wondered why Kenwright didn't learn any lessons from our neighbours' brush with administration.

Well he did. Don't borrow money from large financial institutions where there will be some transparency and you will be subject to review. Find some dodgy advisors with access to easily obtained dubious funds and there is no accountability.

Okay,the interest rates may be higher than a normal commercial loan but that's a price (which the fans end up paying anyway) worth paying for privacy and secrecy.

With this degree of financial chicanery, PSR rules are the least of our problems.

If they are not in the promotion race next season, they will come under the ELF Profitability and Sustainability Rules.

Building a stadium should be encouraged. Showing ambition should be encouraged.

Don't forget, the biggest club in world football 30 miles away is lobbying for taxpayers' money to build a new stadium and still spending billions on players.

Fundamentally, this is wrong and has no place in football. If a club overspends and goes into administration, that's what happens to 1000s of businesses a year. Lots of businesses need to overspend to reach their goals and become successful.

This PSR stuff is a vehicle to keep clubs in their place. We all know it stinks.

Cliff Britton took us down and Cliff Britton brought us back up. In those dark days, the Everton board interfered incessantly with the running of the club and the team and continued to do so when Cliff decided enough was enough.

But we came through it despite the board and I am certain that we will do so now.

Then, Everton can start to rebuild from whatever League they are in. We need to get back to football, wherever, as fast as possible.

Ouch!

It's going to be a painful summer following on from a painful season.

Pain on top of more pain.

Arsenal and Tottenham built new stadiums and remained competitive. Man Utd are trying it on, although weren't we hoping to get our stadium financed through Commonwealth Games legacy when Anderson was mayor?

Glass houses and stones etc.

You can't blame PSR for our serially incompetent financial fuckwittery.

Easter Sunday 2024, the latest annual accounts reveal that his poisonous legacy continues to hang over our club like a dark cloud over Bramley-Moore Dock.

I see no glimmer of hope other than that of a cheap knock-down sale out of administration might just bring a viable and credible new ownership.

But then pigs might fly.

The love and financial commitment fans put into their club, not to mention mental anguish. The billionaire was meant to improve us but probably will end us!!

Seriously we need to hit the bottom. Clear out the damage and start again. Last 30 plus years, little progress on and off the field. Our only constant has been us the fans.

To every Evertonian: We will rise again!

We tried this approach for over 3 years with no takers, Moshiri plunged ahead anyway. A look at the books, even back then, by any competent investor, showed we were a financial basket case.

The out-of-date P&S rules need revising and Premier League clubs should call a meeting to thrash out an extension of finances, and boundaries to give clubs more flexibility, and yet still make it a fair playing field.

However, 92% wage-to-turnover ratio is clearly not sustainable. If we go down, I can't see how we avoid administration.

The timing of the info release is a bit odd as I'd imagine it doesn't exactly help with the next points deduction. I'd assume we'll at the very least get the 4-point deduction that Forest got, so into the drop zone.

Ultimately, only performances on the pitch will save us. Forest and Burnley will likely get points tomorrow so we really need something as well.

Even through we are living through the most horrible period in our entire history, I love the spirit shown in that last paragraph mate.

Brent Stevens wrote something on one of the threads yesterday about Moshiri maybe needing to repay MSP to keep himself in charge whilst waiting for 777 Partners to finally get themselves pushed through.

It has stuck in my mind because I was hearing last night that Everton could be purchased on a snatch-back. (A financial term, I believe?)

Maybe this is where Bill Kenwright's shares might just come in very handy for Farhad Moshiri? This is probably one of the many different scenarios that must be getting played out in people's minds behind the scenes…

Apparently, this is a serious post...

How much did they receive in wages for that year and how much did they receive in wages plus, I believe, bonuses when Kenwright threw them under the bus and they walked away from this mess with that sum in their banks and not even a word, a glance back or even a thought for the state they'd left the club.

Do the accounts show how much they received and how will the accounts show what they received the bonuses for?

Quite a few million as part of that loss and future losses.

And since then she's said fuck-all to explain why we lost so much money under her watch.

Jesus.

These figures show a club which just keeps on spending – regardless of the perilous position were in. I doubt we will hear from Moshiri as to how and why this reckless spending was allowed to take place.

With possible further points deductions coming our way in the next couple of days, with the club in such massive debt, what could possibly be the attraction of taking over a club in such disarray?

Seems there wasn't any credible plan other than build a stadium we obviously couldn't afford and likewise buy players on astronomical salaries that we couldn't afford.

The fans to their credit took to the streets in huge numbers with banners telling anyone who would listen that our club was being badly run. But largely the response from the media was, "What do these fans want?"

Moshiri has pumped millions into the club and is in the process of building an iconic new stadium. Strange how I don't hear any media saying the fans knew all along something wasn't right and, by-and-large, we the media ignored them.

We are now waiting to hear the results of a second independent commission hearing on the club breaking P&S rules for a second time but, with the financial mess this club is in, getting another deduction which might relegate us, that could be the least of our worries.

Finally I would say to most of the Premier League clubs, stop paying players wages you can't afford; otherwise, you will all fall foul of the P&S rules. And changing the rules to allow you to keep paying unaffordable wages to players isn't the way to go.

Unfortunately, as things stand, if the performances on the pitch had been better, we could have withstood the points deductions.

Administration is the last resort, it's hard to see now what impact that could have. There is a stadium waiting and it makes no sense not to finish it. So someone will want to have it.

More questions than answers… there will be a few documentaries on this for sure; perhaps one day we'll find out the truth.

If our 2023 PSR losses are the same as 2022, I would estimate our PSR loss will be circa £55 million. So the 3-year figure will be about £118 million which is £13 million over the limit. We can expect a deduction of between 1 and 4 points.

We now need to start winning games. That is the crux of this. Over to our manager and the players. Administration would be a disaster.

Even the greatest resurrection of all led to Doubting Thomas and we are all becoming very sceptical of anything financial coming out of the club.

The lack of direction is worrying as well as we need someone making prompt, crucial decisions to mitigate the mess we are in.

The new ground has killed the club financially on and off the pitch. Perhaps we should have just accepted our place in the pecking order and stayed at Goodison.

If there was no new stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock and we hadn't sacked Martinez, the club would be sitting comfortably top half, imo. Even Martinez's worst season was better than anything since.

Who knows what the final calculation will be after all the deductions have been included but let's remember we received an initial 10-point deduction for breaching by £19.5 M and Forest got 4 points for breaching by £35M.

Now that gives us a lot of leeway and wriggle room, well that is if common sense and consistency are applied by the latest *ahem* … "independent" commission.

And that's the saddest part of all. They've let me down once too often now.

I assume Barcelona can't afford him when we're not relegated due to his increased sale value.

Could be an interesting conversation.

The London factor helped with Spurs. Look at West Ham, they are attracting record crowds due to the new stadium.

Arsenal didn't really compete during their build as spending was restricted even though they had their best ever manager in charge. Arsenal win a handful of league trophies if they had stayed at Highbury under Wenger imo.

Any clubs wanting to build a stadium will think twice given the treatment we are receiving. I am not saying we are well run, far from it. We all know how badly we are run.

The Ukraine war has royalty messed us up. Usmanov's money papered over lots of cracks that have since become seismic rifts.

How much worse can it get?!

That's how I see Everton.

Ran by a businessman with the brain of a 3-year-old in a sweet shop. (Sorry to offend any 3 year olds with this comparison!)

If my memory serves, Arsenal brought through a crop of youngsters, didn't spend money on some of the dross we bought (going from John Stones to Ashley Williams!) yet still managed to get into the Champions League to finance the stadium.

And winning three FA cups.

We could only wish for such competence.

If you know where the skeletons are buried and you are prepared to stay quiet via a confidentiality agreement, then that's the price.

Yes, it's cliche and shouldn't have to come to this, but is has!!! All 3,000 tomorrow going to Mutantville have my blessings and may you witness a win for the lads. This could be this season's Brighton away.

Go on a run and win 3-4 of the next few games we'll be okay… we must keep kicking the can down the road as long as we can!

I love Everton more than my Mrs (just don't tell her) and it doesn't end like this… I'll go down fighting in hope of a better Everton someday for my 2-year-old lad.

Fuck the Championship – it is 100% better to struggle in the Premier League than win the Championship.

COYB!!! All we can do is get behind the lads.

Some people think administration would be an easy way out, but it would be a nightmare and even worse than 777 Partners taking us over right now!

In administration, the HMRC get first dabs as creditors followed by all the players, leaving nothing for the ordinary men and women who work for the club or any business owned money by the club.

The administrator would then sell the assets to clear the debt. They are duty-bound to get the best price available, but we would have no choice in which of those assets is sold, and in a fire sale those prices would be lower than market value as the vultures would be circling.

This means the likes of Braithwaite, Onana and Pickford sold cheaply, and the new stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock being sold to the likes of Mike Ashley!

Add in we'd get a 9-point deduction, be relegated and start life in the Championship with negative points and hardly any senior players, leading to probable further relegation to League One.

We have just got to hope that somebody more credible than 777 Partners is waiting in the wings.

No more £100k+ a week player salaries. Unless they are top class current internationals, they're simply not worth it, as the players I have mentioned, plus quite a few others in the past have shown.

No more raiding Barca's B-Team for boat rockers or injury-prone cast-offs. We have to start using a salary structure nearer to clubs like Brighton, Bournemouth, Wolves etc.

We have to start getting better value for our players. That means buying them young and cheap and selling high and really mean it.

As it is as with Branthwaite and Onana now we baulk at the idea of selling them even though we need the money. Not to mention, because we're not winning trophies, we start bribing them to stay with bigger wages when contracts are being renewed. Again costing us money. Our days of chucking good money after bad have to end.

On a wider note, I personally think after what has happened to Everton, Forest and may soon be happening to other clubs as well, the days of English clubs spending a Billion+ quid every summer are probably over. Which will no doubt be a big blow to the continental clubs.

They can have Onana, I won't miss him one bit. Our main on-field problem is goalscorers as we only have one in Doucoure. And Beto looks like he's got the bit of luck to nick a few too….

Onana offers nothing going forward and the game is full of midfielders who can run around and hastle people so he won't be missed. We need players with an eye for goal….

Also, random topic but why oh why isn't McNeil our penalty taker?? Surely every club's best free-kick taker should take penalties too…

How can we trust him time after time to score from 20-30 yards out and over a 4 man wall. But we can't trust him to hit the top corner from 12 yards out with no wall!!

I'm still fuming over Beto's missed pen at West Ham… why the fuck can't someone like McNeil hit the top corner from 12 yards, even 100 out of 100 times. It must be a peice of piss when it's your bloody job!!

I know one thing though, the bastards will never stop me supporting Everton — be it in League 2 or the Vanarama, they will still be my team.

Last chance saloon as far as relegation is concerned; move Dyche to one side and go all out attack for the next 9 games. We are buggered anyway if he keeps these tactics up. He would be an all-time hero if he turned this round — "How's your nerve, Sean?"

You could be the man responsible for saving this club, and bestowed with all-time greatness by the fans. Have you the mettle to go for it, bud? Or are you going to be bundled up with all the other failures at Everton?

Are you in football to create a legacy or just happy to take the dough and walk away with the "wasn't my problem" attitude? I can virtually guarantee that, if you go all out, the fans will back you 100% and not hold you responsible if it fails. Currently, a proportion will.

You have nothing to lose and a chance at legendary status —just go for it.

Sean has it right – as supporters, we have no say in how the club is run financially but that does not mean to gag any supporter expressing their opinions and I doubt if many have actual facts of how we got in this financial mess.

What I want is Everton to stay in the Premier League and the only way supporters can help is to start bolstering up visually, the team and manager as per previous seasons.

As far as the manager goes, it is no use firing him… but, when practically 50% of our 29 actual games are losses, I do not think he has a future.

We need to stay in the Premier League – not fall down in to the Championship and give the other lot the chance to say, 'We are the only Premier League team in the city and represent Liverpool."

I may be thousands of miles away but my blood still runs blue from a transfer in 1956, I want my team in the Premier League, it is in our blood, I don't care at this time who buys the club as, whoever it is will not have got their wealth as a charitable organization.

We need points on the board, more than what we need with more deductions, and then we can stick 2 fingers up to a corrupt Premier League organization.

Nothing above warrants a points deduction because a points deduction was never voted for, and was not the intention when PSR was voted for.

There has definitely not been any sporting advantage in 2022-23 it is just bad finance management mainly because of building a stadium and Russian money running out.

The Premier League have already given us an unjust points deduction and should be helping the club now – not punishing us further. The club has been trying to sort out the mess and we need to get the club sold.

But people need to stop talking about a points deduction as though it is the correct and acceptable punishment. To stress it yet again if we were a red cartel club we would not be having a points deduction conversation.

The Premier League set a trap for Everton FC that the club fell into big time. I do not want to see Evertonians falling into the other trap of Premier League propaganda making a points deduction look acceptable.

What the hell happened to 'They are messing with the wrong club'?

Every club, when it builds a new stadium, will invariably go through a period of retrenchment unless they are lucky enough to hit on the taxpayer like West Ham and Man City. Both Arsenal and Spurs struggled during their build.

The difference is twofold, firstly the massive revenue increase potential they could anticipate which ours simply doesn't have; and secondly the means of financing.

Arsenal player-traded their way through plus had a very large real estate asset in the Highbury re-development. Spurs' trick was to secure long-term funding at the absurdly low interest rates applying at the time, as low as 1.5-2%. We're paying at least 5 times that and because we built when we did, are also hit by supply chain cost increases.

In essence, as currently structured, EFC is non-viable. The rather optimistic stadium revenue increase Deloitte estimated doesn't even come close to servicing the stadium debt. There has to be a massive write-down of debt from all the parties involved, not just Moshiri.

The stadium appears to have cost around £800M but is worth barely a third of that as it currently stands. Without an anchor Premier League tenant, I would argue it is near worthless.

I think I know, very broadly, how this ends, a slow-motion car crash of a distress acquisition, once those currently having title over the club's assets appreciate just how deep their bath is going to be…

This must impact the City of Liverpool as it is part of the redevelopment plan. Are they likely to become involved?

Everton have certainly not gained any sporting advantage in 2022-23. Guilty of complete negligence and financial mismanagement whilst trying to better ourselves building a new stadium. Now in an utter mess that needs support, not further sanction.

Somebody needs to change the media narrative and present the true facts. Sadly we have no leadership and the misrepresentation continues.

Could we all say that we support Liverpool and see if that works? This has the smell of one club city with us a footnote in history and a warning to others for standing up against the elites.

Birch walks out of Everton after six weeks in job — The Guardian, 17 July 2004

I'll contemplate the second if we get relegated and/or go into administration. I hear the key is getting the seasoning just right.

On second thoughts, maybe not. 😬😬😬

We just seem to be jumping out of one frying pan and into another.

Surely at some point we have to receive some good news. It seems with every new bit of news that hits us, it we seem to be less stressed and come to expect it, like every defeat in a match. That is how low we have sunk, surely now the only way is up.

US regulators push insurers to cut exposure to Everton bidder 777 Partners — Financial Times.

Can you give us the gist?

It's interesting that when we were punished the first time, the anger and ire was all directed at the Premier League, yet this time the majority of posts are directed at the dunces who have ruined our once-proud club.

I am finding similar responses from guys I work with (I don't live in Liverpool) who now think we are just so badly run and are getting our just desserts, any sympathy they had last time has evaporated.

Sad times.

I don't want to be a wet blanket but didn't we sign Onana, Maupay, Garner, McNeil and Gueye for a total of £75M in that period?

And wasn't the purpose of those incoming transfers to give us a sporting advantage?

At least that's probably the line the Premier League have taken.

There is no point in ignoring what is right in front of our eyes. Signing those players rather than not signing them is clearly a sporting advantage – or was designed to gain one. The fact we are now a bit pants ignores that we did start the season pretty well because of those players.

There is no conspiracy against Everton. If that were the case, then the Foxes and Forest wouldn't also be in the same situation. Chelsea are about to have to sell players to avoid a similar fate.

Our anger should be directed at Moshiri and the senior leaders off the field. Dyche and the players need our total and noisy support. It is the only viable proactive course of action for supporters.

"We just seem to be jumping out of one frying pan and into another."

Right into a hot vat of Duncan's testicles. Hold that thought, maybe not.

The stadium will cost £500-£700m overall, but is projected to add £50m a year to revenue.

Like buying a house, you pay that large figure off over time, and with extra income you can afford to do it.

Nobody builds a stadium and just pays for it there and then. Spurs spent nearly £1 billion and they probably still owe a large percentage of that.

That's why stadium and infrastructure costs are left out of PSR.

Every business that borrows to cover its losses must show, usually in their accounts and notes, how they intend paying off that debt, but we just seem to add to it, that is paying off debt by borrowing more rather than reducing costs and increasing income.

It has been said that Moshiri's original plan was to spend more on better players to get more prize money by finishing higher in the Premier League and qualifying for cash-raising European competition, a laudable aim but lacking the necessary management framework to enable same or a fallback position to stop from being in our present position.

You weren't thinking, were you, that somebody would just throw money at it until it all went away.

If the stadium did only cost £500m, raised £50M of incremental revenue each year, and was financed at ultra-low interest rates, then you'd be right.

But none of those 3 things are true. FYI, our current stadium revenue is around or a little below £20m so a 150% increase sounds more than a little optimistic.

I don't live in the Liverpool area anymore so I'm not really familiar with local politics but, in these challenging times, it's hard to imagine much concrete financial support from government.

I hope Dyche is ready to change tactics, despite a lot of us thinking he won't, and gets the players on the field ready to sweat and fight for those points – even if we only come back with one, every point is vital to stop us going down.

If we go down, fans have got to realise it will be a long time before we get back up with the situation we are in. Next season will be the same but at least we'll be fighting from the Premier League.

And we would have gained more sporting advantage if we had not signed Onana. He is shit and handicaps the team in every game he plays in.

If the club had put me in the witness stand at the independent commission hearing, I would have explained quite clearly how we have not bought any sporting advantage for years.

But to stress yet again. Nothing above deserves a points deduction.

Premier League Football Clubs Debt And Interest Payment Data 2022-23

We're top of debt according to this, posted Februay 2024, as at the end of the 2022-23 season.

Note, though, it's debt – not loss – loss is what EPL sanctions were based on for, as part of PSR. And it seems it depends also whether we're talking about internal or external debt.

There's a lot of posts stating we should sell Onana and Branthwaite, as they are assets. But are there other ways?

Surely not ideal, but don't we own Finch Farm? What's that worth?

What about the Liver Building? Didn't Moshiri buy that, and what is it worth?

Then finally, and quite disgustingly, you'd probably be able to find a buyer for the new stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock who would lease it back to Everton.

We have to sell assets to wipe debt. That's clear. It's that or sell the club to someone who will wipe debt –and that for sure ain't 777 Partners because they don't have the assets themselves to accomplish wiping the debt.

It's a mess. The club is on the fast-track to administration, and I don't see any way to avoid it. How do you allow this to happen? It's financial malfeasance.

Well we're in a kids' dingy with the Elastoplast patches over the holes falling away while we are being circled by great whites… you have to laugh! 😃

It's states wages for the year of £152m.

Does anyone have a breakdown of this as if you look at most sports sites or reports our 1st team wage bill in this period has reduced from £82m to £79m and we have the 14th largest wage bill in the prem and reducing.

So what is the disconnect between the £152m and the £82m? This is £70m. Surely it can't be annual bill for club admin and runners and coaches and managers etc. If so we need to face into that immediately.

Does anyone have the breakdown of the £152m?

Can we put depreciation in our accounts for Barrett-Baxendale's pay-off?

I'd have thought it critical to close the funding gap?

Less than an extra £5M has been gained from new or existing sponsors. So we are over £15M worse off than we would have been with USM.

Just on Finch Farm, we did own it but sold it and we now lease it at a huge cost per year from Liverpool City Council, I think it is in the region of £1M per year.

I'll give you three guesses who sorted that deal out. He's gone now — forever.

‘The king of the conmen', with one of the biggest worries right now being that whoever takes over might just split the ground from the club and force Everton to rent it off them instead.

No Irony, just more evidence that the man cared for himself a lot more than he ever cared for our football club.

I imagine they have been looking for a new sponsor to replace USM but assume there are no big-name parties interested in associating themselves with a club tainted by chaos and failure and facing the risk of relegation, administration or even liquidation.

It is probably something of an achievement the club managed to renew existing deals as well as strike a few new ones with Stake, BOXT, Socios, Christopher Ward and Marc Darcy to lift the other sponsorship revenues.

But it says a lot that none of those names meant anything to me until they signed up with the club. There was no way deals with comparatively small brands could ever plug the gap left by the suspension of the USM, Yota and Megafon deals.

Success breeds success on and off the field. Long term failure militates against even the best efforts to grow the club as a commercial entity. Until we can re-establish the club in the top half of the table, qualify for Europe, and enjoy long runs in the domestic cups, we will have to live with what we have.

As an aside it is salutary Spurs have still not signed a naming rights deal 5 years after their new stadium opened. Obviously Daniel Levy is holding out for the best possible deal, a stance which our new owners, whoever they may be, will find more difficult to sustain.

Premier League clubs' £1bn of losses in 11 charts

Everton are a financial car crash, but are not alone. It also shows how most of the money goes to those 6 ‘super league' clubs which PSR has made sure will never get changed.

Even Newcastle who are in theory the richest club in the world can't break into that group of 6 and will have to sell players (to those 6 clubs) to keep within the PSR limits!

I thought Everton were nuts spending 92% of revenue on wages and then I see Leicester spent 116% and still got relegated!!!

Sporting competition has to somehow be re-engineered back into the game but will anyone ever grasp that nettle?

That then done, the whole 'rules and regs' will be dumped as not fit for purpose and revamped.
Chelsea and City will...allegedly...no doubt skate and, as is seen with the CPS, it will be deemed as not in the 'public' aka, the Govt / Saudi / whoever interest to proceed.

But in reality, they'll bang us for -4pts, thus leaving the 3 protagonists all on the same points.
Thus, whoever goes down won't be able to truely blame the Premier League for relegating them.

Twats.

I'd be surprised if we hear anything today.

Be more surprised if we don't get some level of points deduction but "double jeopardy" may hopefully perhaps have helped us.

I wonder if Masters will wear a black wig today?

It was definitely being reported in the media, that the verdict would be given by April 8th, so we will soon see if this is correct.

Problems galore ahead for the Premier League and it’s precious brand.

There seems to be a few clubs who will need to sell players in June to help them comply with the existing P&S rules, but I think many clubs will be very wary of signing players in June as that would be adding to the risk of them breaking P&S rules.
The real elephant in the room that the clubs don't want to talk about is the salaries they are now paying players, and unless they address this problem then this problem isn't going to go away. Apart from a handful of clubs most clubs are in massive debt caused wholly by the ridiculous wages being played to players.