Yahoo News Premier League rival says Everton points deduction 'doesn't fit the crime' and 'should be greater'
Luton Town chief executive Gary Sweet claims Everton’s additional two-point punishment for breaching financial regulations “doesn’t fit the crime” and he insisted: “It should certainly be a greater amount.”
After being handed a 10-point deduction in November – the biggest sporting sanction in 135 years of English top-flight football at the time – that was later reduced to six points on appeal, Everton were given a new two-point deduction on Monday for their second Profit and Sustainability Rules breach they have been charged on this season. The decision sees the Blues sitting two points and two places above the Hatters, who are in the relegation zone on goal difference.
Speaking to BBC Radio Three Counties, Sweet said: “It's quite astonishing really. One of the things that disappoints me is that the independent commission that value the level of the penalty clearly hasn't looked into it too deeply.
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“If you look at what clubs do, we spend hundreds of thousands of pounds in data analytics to recruit the right players who are going to give us the goals, give us the points and defend the goals. So we know the value of a goal and the value of a point in monetary terms.
“If we know then it is not beyond the wit of man with such important decisions like this for an independent party to come up with that kind of data analysis to value an overspend amount and convert to points - and it is never two. It is much higher than two.
“From that perspective [I am] really disappointed that it is that little. The punishment simply doesn't fit the crime and ultimately what that means is it doesn’t become a deterrent.”
Nottingham Forest – who are level on points with Luton – were given a smaller punishment than Everton (four points) despite a larger breach. Both the East Midlanders and Everton are in appeal processes.
Sweet added: "If you look at the Forest four [points] – which I was also disappointed with – two points off for co-operating is ridiculous. You should have had two point added if you didn't co-operate – it should have been six.
“This is Everton's second time, albeit a smaller level – so it should certainly be a greater amount, but it is not for me to say how many that should be.
“As a club that has gone through a 30-point deduction (in the 2008-09 season) for something I see as relatively less, then it is somewhere between the two. It has to be a punishment level that is a real deterrent.”
