The points deduction is not a punishment — it’s a licence fee for the wealthy

When Everton were hit with two separate points deductions totalling eight points last season, the football world tutted approvingly. Finally, the Premier League was enforcing its Profitability and Sustainability Rules. But look closer. The system is a farce: it punishes the desperate while the rich simply pay their way to compliance.

The myth of equal enforcement

Everton’s transgressions were real: they overspent by £19.5 million over three years. Nottingham Forest committed a similar breach. Both were docked points. Meanwhile, Manchester City face 115 charges — largely for financial misrepresentations spanning a decade — and remain untouched, using the full might of their legal cabinet to delay any verdict. The PSR regime catches only the clubs too small to fight back effectively. As of 2025, City have spent an estimated £50 million on legal fees alone; that sum would be a FFP breach for most clubs.

How the system favours the elite

The PSR allows losses of £105 million over three years, but with permitted add-ons for infrastructure, academy spending, and women’s football, top clubs can effectively double that. Chelsea, under Todd Boehly, exploited long amortisation contracts to spread transfer fees over eight years — until the Premier League closed that loophole, but only after Chelsea had already spent over £1 billion on players. The rule changes are retroactive only when it suits the establishment. The elite use sophisticated legal and accounting structures to turn sanctions into a cost of doing business. Points deductions are a tax on the poor.

  • Everton’s new stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock, costing £760 million, should be a triumph — but it was funded partly by debt that then exacerbated their PSR breach. They were punished for investing in their future.
  • Manchester City’s Etihad Campus cost £200 million, but through related-party deals with sponsors linked to the Abu Dhabi ownership, they declared it as revenue — a move now under investigation.
  • Chelsea’s academy fire sale of players like Mason Mount and Conor Gallagher generated pure profit under PSR rules, even though the club spent over £250 million on agents’ fees in 2023 alone.

The rebuttal that doesn’t hold water

Defenders of the system argue that the rules are clear and clubs know them. They say points deductions are proportional and that Everton’s two separate charges prove the system works. But this ignores the structural inequality. A club like Everton cannot afford the elite legal teams that help City navigate charges. The Premier League’s own independent commission admitted that Everton’s breach was “not deliberate” yet still deducted points. Meanwhile, Manchester City’s 115 charges include allegations of deliberately misleading regulators — a far more serious offence. The disparity in speed and severity is not a bug; it’s a feature of a system designed to protect the establishment.

The verdict: a specific prediction

By the summer of 2026, the Premier League will have settled the Manchester City case with a fine of no more than £50 million and a suspended points deduction — a token penalty that will allow them to claim the system works. Everton, meanwhile, will be sold to new owners who will immediately face a new PSR crunch, because the club’s debts will collide with the loss of a relegation clause that currently shields them. The elite will always buy impunity. The PSR is a shell game, and the media keep applauding the empty cups.

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