TalkSPORT and former Crystal Palace chairman Simon Jordan has slated two Championship outfits following an investigation into Everton’s alleged breach of Financial Fair Play regulations.
As first reported by The Daily Mail, second-tier sides Leeds United and Leicester City will join Premier League club Burnley in taking legal action against the Toffees should the club be found guilty of exploiting FFP rules.
Clubs are only allowed to make a maximum of £105 million in losses over the course of three years but in March 2023, it was announced that Everton recorded losses of £371.8 million in that timescale.
The issue was referred to an independent commission but last week, the Premier League recommended that the Merseyside club should be hit with a 12-point deduction which would place them at the bottom of the top-flight table.
Furthermore, Leeds United, Burnley and Leicester City are looking to take a £300 million case against Everton should they be found guilty of breaching FFP as all three clubs were relegated during the Toffees’ supposed flaunting of UEFA’s rules.
However, speaking on talkSPORT on Monday morning, Simon Jordan has hit out against the three clubs, believing ‘they’ve got no chance’ of being successful in any lawsuit [quotes via MOT Leeds News]:
“No chance, no chance, no chance. They’ve got no chance. Everybody signs up to a covenant which is basically that the sanction of a breach has this consequence.
“Now they can make a case if they want and try and make a case through the legal system to try and suggest that this is a breach of the rules to which they signed up and the consequence of those rules. But any decent court case is going to refer them back to the industry that they came from and say what were the rules that you signed up to.
“The rules that you signed up to were that the punishment for financial breachers was this. You can’t then go and say ‘Well I don’t like the rules that I signed up to and I can’t do anything about changing those rules, so I’m now going to sue you for them.'”
Writer’s View
Jordan’s logic makes sense. All three clubs signed up to UEFA’s FFP covenant, stating that those who breach the rules will be punished by the governing body. Clubs can’t take matters into their own hands in this respect. If Everton were found not guilty, perhaps there could be a stronger case.
However, on the flip side, frustration from the trio is understandable. Everton lost three times more than they were allowed but managed to secure their status in the Premier League unpunished so far while the others were left to get relegated and deal with the financial windfall this brings.
