Everton points deduction: Roman Abramovich cited as ‘staggering’ small print analysed

Everton’s former chief Keith Wyness has hit out at the Premier League’s “staggering” arguments over former sponsor Alisher Usmanov’s involvement at the club.

Speaking on the new edition of Football Insider’s Inside Track podcast, the 66-year-old – who served as CEO at Goodison Park between 2004 and 2009 and now runs a football consultancy advising elite clubs – claimed the same logic was not used in the case of former Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich or the Russian broadcast agreement with the Premier League.

In the small print from the findings in their latest FFP case, the Premier League argued Everton should have cut ties with Russian oligarch Usmanov earlier – citing the Salisbury poisonings in 2018 and the annexation of Crimea in 2014.

Usmanov’s involvement with the Merseysiders eventually ended after the invasion of Ukraine in 2022, causing the club to lose out on around £20million.

The Premier League claimed Everton took on an “inordinate level of commercial risk” by relying on Usmanov’s sponsorship.

Wyness hits out at ‘staggering’ Everton small print – ‘it doesn’t stand up to any scrutiny or common sense’

Everton were deducted two points in their latest case, meaning they have been docked eight in total in the 2023-24 campaign.

The independent panel accepted the Toffees’ mitigating argument in this case, and Wyness has questioned why the first two commissions declined to do the same.

He told Football Insider‘s Insider Track podcast: “They did actually consider Usmanov’s sponsorship of Finch Farm, the training ground, as a mitigating factor in this new case.

“They didn’t give any mitigation for the stadium naming rights.

“The Premier League suggested Everton had taken a huge level of commercial risk by taking Usmanov as a sponsor, citing the annexation of Crimea and the Salisbury poisonings.

“I find it quite staggering to say that Everton shouldn’t have had a very good sponsor when this is the same time as Abramovich was at Chelsea and Russian broadcasters were showing the Premier League.

“All of a sudden – they’re saying taking a Russian sponsor was always a huge risk.

“I’m afraid that doesn’t stand up to any scrutiny or common sense whatsoever.

“I think it was fair for Everton to budget for the sponsorship going forward, but the Premier League are very much against that – and I believe it to be very shaky ground.

“Luckily, that argument from the PL was thrown out by this panel – but it wasn’t by the first two. That is what makes people angry and annoyed about the whole thing.”

In other news, Everton set new Jarrad Branthwaite price – and it’s not what fans expected.