- Everton penalized 10 points after Financial Fair Play violations
- The Toffees are the only Premier League team to be penalized with a point deduction
- West Ham avoided a similar penalty, but paid hefty fines for signing Tevez & Mascherano
Deductions of points are rare in the Premier League. But three teams were punished with this serious penalty since 1992, when the league was established.
Everton is the latest team to suffer such a fate after they were discovered to have incurred excessive losses. They became the first side in the division to be found guilty of Financial Fair Play regulations.
Take a look at how points have been deducted in the Premier League.
Middlesbrough 3 Points (January 1997)
Middlesbrough was the first Premier League team to ever receive a point deduction. In January 1997, officials deducted three points.
Boro failed to show up in December for the game with Blackburn Rovers, a relegation-rival team. Manager Bryan Robson said he had 23 absentees due to injury or illness and was therefore unable name a complete squad.
Boro, despite claiming that the Premier League had assured them they could delay the match, failed to prove it and was fined PS50,000 and docked 3 points. The court’s appeal of the decision was later dismissed.
Boro would be relegated to the bottom of the league, finishing 19th, just two points behind safety.
Portsmouth – Nine points (March 2010).
Portsmouth was the next Premier League team to be hit with a point deduction in March 2010, a 13-year wait.
Portsmouth was struggling even before the 2008/09 campaign, when rumours began to circulate that they were in serious debt after reckless transfers and no investments.
Ali Al-Faraj’s takeover of Portsmouth was meant to be the solution to all its problems. However, between December 2009 to February 2010 Portsmouth failed to pay any salaries, while also receiving a court order for unpaid taxes.
Portsmouth was docked 9 points as soon as they were placed in administration. They are now at the bottom of their league.
Everton (10 points) (November 2023).
Fast forward another 13 years, and Everton joined the Premier League list of teams that have received a point punishment. Their 10-point deducton was the largest in league history.
Burnley and Leeds United wrote to Premier League in May 2022 to ask for an investigation of Everton’s finances after Toffees had recorded losses totaling PS371.8m during the previous three years. Tensions arose due to the tight relegation fight at the end 2021/22 season, in which Everton narrowly escaped.
The investigation began in March 2023, and the punishment of 10 points was imposed in November.
West Ham’s controversial fine (April 2007,
West Ham United avoided controversially a point deduction in April 2007, over the deals they made to sign Carlos Tevez, Javier Mascherano and other players during the summer of 2006.
The Hammers have been found in breach of regulations regarding third party ownership. As a result the players are technically not eligible for the Premier League.
West Ham was instead fined PS5.5m – an amount that they accepted with joy as it meant they avoided being relegated by just three points. Tevez added to the drama by helping West Ham defeat Manchester United in the last day of the campaign, which ensured their safety.
Sheffield United was relegated in place of them that same year. They sued West Ham in order to claim their top-flight status. After this plea being dismissed, they pursued financial compensation and won. In 2009, the Hammers agreed to pay a settlement amounting to PS20m to end the case.
