Sometimes you have to pick and choose your battles, and it would seem that no matter how much Leicester City could feel hard done by, it really wouldn’t be in their best interests to pursue any legal matters over the 10-point deduction that Everton has received for breaching Premier League financial rules.
In fact, it is probably widely known that there was next to no chance of winning any such legal battle when the news that the Merseyside giants were being investigated.
The independent ruling that has led to the points deduction, was first launched in March. At that time they were in a battle against relegation, and ultimately The Foxes went down. Given that the case was open when there were still more than two months of last season left, the King Power outfit was keen for the process to be quick.
Delayed Decision
If at that time the decision led to the same punishment, Leicester would have survived, as they finished just two points behind. The whole relegation dogfight would’ve taken a different course, and other clubs were also pushing for a quick outcome.
As much as £100m has been talked of as a possible compensation amount, but someone who knows fully about football finances, as well as being outspoken about many subjects is TalkSPORT pundit Simon Jordan.
As LeicestershireLive reported, when Jordan was quizzed last month about how far any possible action taken by Leicester could go, he replied. “They’ve got no chance. Everyone signs up to a covenant which is basically that the sanctioning of a breach has these consequences.
“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 people signed up. Any decent court case is going to refer them back to the industry 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 breaches 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’.
“Any decent court will refer you back to your industry because that’s the governance that you decided you were going to be a party to.”
Writer’s View
The matter of finances in football is a minefield and it takes someone very savvy to keep on top of it all. Everton tried to keep up with the rules and offered assistance in the investigations. As with most legal processes, the wheels turn very slowly. Leicester City cannot feel too aggrieved by the outcome and would’ve known that it was likely to take time. To take up any action was probably not on their radar at this stage, and it would be wise for them to concentrate on bouncing back up at the first opportunity.
