01 March 2024 , 00:00
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Ian Wright believes Manchester City are going to be "dancing" after the Premier League reduced Everton's points deduction from 10 to six earlier this week.
The Toffees were sanctioned back in November for breaching Premier League profit and sustainability rules, which state that clubs must not lose more than £105million over a three-year period. They were initially handed a 10-point deduction, but following an appeal, it was announced on Monday that the punishment had been reduced to six.
It comes with Manchester City still under investigation for 115 alleged breaches of profit and sustainability over a nine-year period stemming between 2009 and 2018. City's punishment is yet to be determined, but Wright is now concerned the recent events around Everton have undermined the Premier League and that will only play into City's hands.
"The Premier League made a mistake on two of the charges," Wright said on the Stick to Football podcast, brought to you by Sky Bet. "If you've got people who are doing that job, and they've got nine to look over or whatever it is, and they get them wrong to the point where they've got to give points back – what are Manchester City's lawyers going to do to people like this?
"They are going to have them dancing! It’s ridiculous how they can get that wrong. What I think they should have done, personally what should have happened is, they should do what they are doing, 'right, we are fining you, you are going to get 10 points', and then they [Everton] say, 'right, we are going to appeal'.
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"Let them appeal, then we find out what’s going to happen after the appeal, then you do the judgement. How are you going to do it before? Because now, you get into this embarrassing situation."
Meanwhile, Jamie Carragher had some sympathy for the Premier League. He said: "It's never happened before, this is the first time a team has been fined for this, so no one really knows what the right punishment should be.
Everton's points deduction has been reduced from 10 to six (Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)"This is interesting in that, the reason there isn’t an actual deterrent for this. If you know the sentence for a crime you’re going to commit, you might look at it and go 'it might be worth it' – if we spend a bit more money and we stay up, we’d take that.
"The whole point of the Premier League not having a sanction in place was to almost scare, or almost put people off from breaking the rules, because we don’t know what the actual sanction is."
The reduction of Everton's points deduction has massively boosted their chances of staying in the Premier League this season. They have jumped up to 15th - above Brentford and Nottingham Forest - on 25 points from their 26 fixtures. The Toffees are now five points clear of the relegation zone.
However, Everton are also facing a second disciplinary hearing for further breaches, with an outcome expected by Monday, April 8. As for City, there has been much speculation over what punishment they could get.