Lazy Everton points Deduction claim does Sean Dyche and his players a Disservice – and potentially much worse
Our Everton FC correspondent Joe Thomas discusses the significance of refuting the growing narrative that the Blues’ performance is a response to the club’s point deduction in his weekend Royal Blue column.
Everton’s excellent performance is not attributable to the harsh 10-point deduction the team received. Let’s be clear about that.
After the victory over Chelsea, the query was posed. Similar to how it did following the victory over Newcastle United. Similar to how it did following the victory over Nottingham Forest. Just as the club was left off of the form guide this week in a Premier League social media post, you could always feel Sean Dyche getting ready to contest the idea that disregarded months of diligent work.
The reaction of the players and those around them has been extraordinary but what has been impressive is their professional ability to sustain what they were already doing. Performances have not been galvanised by the adversity – they have continued in the face of it. This is important for several reasons.
One of them is that it would be wrong for a narrative to develop outside of Everton
that the potentially crippling sanction ended up being a positive for the club. We need to be clear – 10 points will likely slow progress, hold it back, cost millions in merit payments and mean it has to work even harder to become financially sustainable, which is supposed to be what the profit and sustainability rules are designed to encourage.
The Blues’ season hasn’t been flawless on the field. The summer was difficult because football director Kevin Thelwell had to carefully negotiate what deals could be financed as players, both current and future, were sold to bolster finances. Results were delayed at first when the transfer window filtered into the next campaign, creating a chaotic environment. In light of this, Dyche continued to maintain that the underlying indicators were encouraging. This initiative has become even more amazing because of its early challenges. Regardless of your stance on xG, it is indisputable that the messages from those press conferences during the early part of the season were eventually validated by the outcomes.
They did that long before November’s staggering announcement that Everton would be handed a 10-point sanction – a punishment greater than that stipulated for entering administration and one that plunged a mid-table club back into a relegation battle. But that last point is key. It forced the Blues back into a battle they were already looking set to avoid.
Brighton & Hove Albion was the game that proved a corner had already been turned. The two wins in a week at Aston Villa, in the Carabao Cup, and Brentford showed there was fight in the squad, though the results they were set against – including the awful home defeat to Luton Town – meant the outlook remained glum.
The thrashing of Bournemouth ended the home curse and offered reassurance Everton may be better than at least three sides in the Premier League. The win at West Ham United built on that belief – one that was strengthened by the stubborn display, even in defeat, at Anfield one week earlier.
With the benefit of hindsight, the progress was clear before Brighton but it took that game to realise it was not another false dawn. Brighton inflicted one of the most humiliating moments of last season on the Blues when they won 4-1 at Goodison Park in January
. To watch Everton get an early goal and match them in the same calendar year showcased impressive progress. The late, cruel Ashley Young own goal cost Everton the win but that disappointment was the dominant post-match emotion told the most important story – Dyche’s men were consistently going toe-to-toe with good teams and were no longer a pushover.
Draws were no longer to be celebrated – this was a club beginning to expect victories.
That being said, few expected the win at Crystal Palace. The last match before the international break during which the punishment was announced, Idrissa Gueye’s winner made the rest of the Premier League take note of Everton’s new status as a genuine mid-table side.
The 10-point deduction somehow scrubbed that progress from much of the country’s mind. Coupled with the results the following weekend – including the unfortunate, wondergoal-led deflation at home to Manchester United – the Blues were five points from safety at a time when the club was the focus of international attention. For Everton to have responded to that with three wins in a week that have lifted it back of trouble is impressive but, for the reasons mentioned, this resurgence did not start after the points deduction. Nor has it been sparked by the punishment.
To claim that, as has repeatedly been the case by outside commentators, does not do justice to the work already underway at the club before it suffered the deduction. It also has the potential to undermine scrutiny of that process and the challenges to it. No-one is arguing Everton do not deserve sanction but the extent of the penalty appears harsh – even more so with little in the independent commission’s 41-page report to explain the thought process behind it.
This matters because the sanction amounts to a repeat punishment for a club that is progressing toward a more responsible and sustainable financial basis. If the Blues were to lose out on millions of pounds because their league position is several places lower because of the deduction, that will hurt. This season will still have its challenges and if Everton have to wait a few extra weeks to confirm survival, it could lose out on the chance to save further money by being able to forward plan for the following season.
The indications point to a successful season for the Blues. The signs were there long before the deduction of points. Ignoring that might be detrimental to Everton’s development toward a sustainable future, as well as to Dyche and his players. It also carries the risk of weakening the legitimate cries for examination.
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