Chelsea: Ex-Everton chief furious with Stamford Bridge punishment – ‘I’m afraid that doesn’t add up’
Chelsea are fortunate to have avoided a sporting penalty after the club faced punishment from the Premier League.
That is according to ex-Everton, Aston Villa, and Aberdeen chief executive Keith Wyness, speaking exclusively to Football Insider, after the Blues were fined £10million over secret payments.
The payments to unregistered agents and third parties over transfers occurred between 2011 and 2018 in the Roman Abramovich era.
The Premier League said that Chelsea avoided a sporting penalty for “voluntarily self-reporting… historical breaches of rules.”
Chelsea accepted the charges, which also include an academy transfer ban and a £750,000 fine over registration of academy players in the period between 2019 and 2022.
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Everton’s former chief Keith Wyness – who served as CEO at Goodison Park between 2004 and 2009 and now runs a football consultancy advising elite clubs – believes there is a “big transgression” between the punishment Chelsea received and that of Everton in 2023.
Speaking on the new edition of Football Insider‘s Inside Track podcast, Wyness thinks the Premier League are trying to “de-escalate” the situation.
| Total Turnover | £511m |
| Annual Pre-Tax Loss | -£355m |
| Wage Bill | £388m |
| Squad Valuation | £1.52bn |
He told Football Insider‘s Inside Track podcast: “Well, as you can imagine, I’ve been paying pretty close attention to this one, and I’ve tried not to get too involved in it from an Everton point of view.
“And I’ve tried to look at it pretty dispassionately and understand the Premier League’s position. However, I do come out on the side that I think they should have had a sporting penalty in the end. I think when you look at it, it was just such a big transgression.
“There was £47m in secret payments. Everton, when they got a points deduction, was a £19m overspend. The Premier League’s whole point of view is that even if they had not paid the payments secretly, they would not have breached PSR. Therefore, that’s the reason for not getting a sporting penalty.
“Now, I’m afraid that doesn’t add up to me in terms of the equity and the fairness of things. Now, we’re talking about players like Eden Hazard, William Eto’o, who made big differences in that time when Chelsea were winning trophies.
“And so there was definitely a sporting benefit. There’s no doubt about it in my mind. And I think the language that was used was definitely sort of cover-up language. But when I tried to look at it dispassionately outside of this, I think it perhaps leads us to the conclusion that the Premier League are trying to find ways to de-escalate all these different things.”
Man City to use Chelsea verdict in 115 charges case
Finance expert Stefan Borson told Football Insider that Man City will insist they only receive a fine in their 115 charges case, similar to Chelsea.
Man City should argue that the point deductions handed out to Everton and Nottingham Forest should not be used as a precedent.
That is if Man City are found to have breached financial rules, with a verdict on the case still yet to be reached.
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