Everton and Nottingham Forest face the threat of points deductions this season after the Premier League said the clubs had confirmed they were in breach of the competition’s financial rules.
Here, the PA news agency takes a closer look.
What has happened?
The Premier League says Everton and Forest have confirmed to it that they are in breach of the competition’s profitability and sustainability rules (PSR), having incurred losses above permitted levels for the assessment period up to the end of last season. Independent commissions will now be appointed to determine the appropriate sanctions, the league said in a statement on Monday afternoon.
What are the PSR?
The intention of these regulations is to ensure clubs are run sustainably. They have been in place for over a decade. Clubs are in breach of PSR if their losses over the assessment period – usually three seasons but in this case 2022-23, 2021-22 and an average of the two Covid-affected seasons before that – exceed £105m. Losses related to investment in infrastructure spending and other areas such as youth and women’s football are “added back” and not included within the calculation of loss. Forest’s maximum permitted loss was £61m, with the threshold reduced by £22m for each season that they were in the Championship during the assessment period. Critics of PSR say the rules lock in advantage for the bigger clubs with higher revenues and prevent ambitious clubs from challenging the elite.
What have the affected clubs said?
Forest say they intend to “continue to co-operate fully with the Premier League” and that they are “confident of a speedy and fair resolution”. Everton, who are already appealing against a 10-point penalty imposed by an independent commission in November in relation to an earlier PSR breach, released a much more bullish statement which highlighted what they see as “a clear deficiency” in the league’s rules. The club are understood to feel they are the subject of ‘double jeopardy’, and that league rules do not prevent a club being sanctioned for breaches which have already been subject to punishment.
What happens now?
Clubs agreed a new expedited process to deal with PSR breaches at their most recent annual general meeting in summer 2023. Under that process, Everton and Forest have 14 days to respond to Monday’s complaint from the Premier League, and hearings must conclude within 12 weeks of the complaint being issued. The commission’s decision must be handed down within seven days of the hearing’s conclusion to allow time for the appeal process, which must be complete no later than June 1 – the point at which promoted clubs gain their Premier League ‘shares’. In Everton’s case, they say the ‘in-season’ process means they must defend the league’s complaint before the appeal against the November sanction has even been heard.
If Everton and Forest’s cases will be dealt with this season, why is the Manchester City case still rumbling on?
In simple terms, because the City case is so much more complex. Although the league announced City had been referred to an independent commission last February, the size and scope of the case means it will take much longer to resolve. Sources close to the league point out that even if a case of an equivalent magnitude happened now, since the adoption of the ‘in-season’ process, it could not be dealt with under an expedited process.
Bristol City Women 0-4 Man City Women: Hosts relegated as Fowler double inspires WSL leaders
Mary Fowler scored twice to set WSL leaders Manchester City on their way to a 4-0 rout of Bristol City, who suffered relegation as a result, on Sunday.
With Arsenal having drawn with Everton earlier in the day, Man City knew a victory would be enough to take the title race down to two teams.
That victory duly arrived in emphatic fashion, with all four of Man City's goals arriving in the second half.
Fowler's fantastic strike opened the scoring in the 62nd minute, with the Australia international doubling her tally soon after, paving the way for an Amy Rodgers own goal and Alex Greenwood's late header to seal a huge victory.
Arsenal are now out of the title race, with Chelsea - who have two games in hand on Gareth Taylor's team - the only side capable of catching Man City.
The Robins, meanwhile, will be playing in the second tier again next term.
Data Debrief: Bristol heading down with a whimper
Bristol City have failed to score in their last five games in the WSL, a run of 544 minutes without a goal.
They mustered just 0.09 expected goals (xG) to Man City's 3.4, with the visitors having now kept a clean sheet in nine of their 20 league games this season.
De Rossi demands more from 'tired' Roma ahead of crunch run
Daniele De Rossi acknowledged his Roma team may be tired, but he insisted they must not allow themselves to be embarrassed.
Roma fought back to draw 2-2 with last season's Serie A champions Napoli in a pulsating fixture on Sunday.
Tammy Abraham's late header secured a point for De Rossi's team, who took the lead through Paulo Dybala's penalty before going behind to goals from Matias Olivera and Victor Osimhen.
With Serie A set to have five teams in the Champions League next season, Roma occupy fifth spot with four matches remaining, but sixth-placed Atalanta are just two points behind with a game in hand.
There is also the small matter of a Europa League semi-final against Bundesliga champions Bayer Leverkusen on the cards over the coming weeks, and De Rossi set the stall out.
"We drew, it is not a result to throw away, but it is not the result or the performance that we wanted," Roma coach Daniele De Rossi told Sky Sports Italia.
"At times you can steal the ball off Napoli, but we then gave it back again too many times. Napoli had a lot of chances in the first half, we did better in the second, but we have to do better.
"Look, we are tired, but we cannot start thinking that we’re tired and that means we can be embarrassed in the final few weeks of the season."
Roma host Leverkusen on Thursday before taking on Juventus on May 5, with a crunch clash against Atalanta – who are also into the Europa League semi-finals – set to follow after the away leg against Xabi Alonso's team.
Key to a successful end to the campaign for Roma will be keeping Dybala fit. The Argentine has been involved in the joint-most goals (12) in Serie A since the turn of the year, scoring nine and setting up three, level with Juve's Dusan Vlahovic.
PSG's latest Ligue 1 title arrives as Monaco lose to Lyon
Paris Saint-Germain have been crowned as Ligue 1 champions after Lyon overcame Monaco 3-2 on Sunday.
A 4-1 midweek win over Lorient ensured that one more victory would be enough for Luis Enrique's team to get over the line, but PSG failed to get the job done themselves when they faced relegation-threatened Le Havre on Saturday.
That game was the 700th match of the QSI era at PSG, and the club's 1,900th in France's top flight.
However, PSG's wait to win their third straight title did not last long, as less than 24 hours later, Lyon – who will face the Parisians in the final of the Coupe de France at the end of May – came out on top in a topsy turvy encounter with second-placed Monaco.
Substitute Malick Fofana was the matchwinner for Lyon, and ultimately the player who handed the title to PSG.
Wissam Ben Yedder had put Monaco ahead in the opening minute, but quickfire goals from Alexandre Lacazette and Said Benrahma turned the match on its head before half-time.
Ben Yedder netted his second to restore parity on the hour mark, and thought he had sealed his hat-trick when he volleyed in from a free-kick, only to have strayed offside.
With only a win good enough for Monaco to stay in the fight, the visitors were then caught out in the 84th minute, with Fofana racing onto Lacazette's throughball and finishing calmly.
After a dismal start to the season, relegation looked a real possibility for Lyon, but they are now, with three games remaining, still in with a shout of qualifying for Europe.
PSG on the other hand now have 12 Ligue 1 titles to their name, with 10 of those coming under QSI's ownership. Aside from the COVID-impacted 2019-20 season, five of their last six league titles have been secured before the start of May.
It also means Luis Enrique remains in the running for a treble in his first season at the club, with PSG taking on Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League semi-finals next week.
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