If Everton and Nottingham Forest’s charges warrant a points deduction – what of Man City’s 115?
Elephant in the room with City remains while those fighting for their Premier League survival are in limbo
What about Manchester City? That is the question rival managers and fans will be asking yet again after the latest points deduction imposed on a club for breaching the Premier League’s financial rules.
In the 14 months since City were charged with 115 separate violations of those rules over almost a decade, Everton and Nottingham Forest have between them faced three charges, three independent commission hearings, one appeal board hearing, and been docked a combined total of 12 points.
By the time the Premier League champions face their own day of reckoning, that could well increase to four commission hearings, anything up to four appeals, and who knows how many docked points.
It only took the conclusion of the first of those hearings for Everton manager Sean Dyche to invoke the elephant in the room when he said two months ago: “Just like everyone else, we are all wondering what makes one rule for one and one rule for the other.
“I don’t know the ins and outs for every reason, but I think we are all asking that. I don’t know what the exact number is, but they reference over 100 charges [for City].”
That was after Richard Masters, the Premier League chief executive, told MPs a date had finally been set for City’s hearing before giving the conspiracy theorists an open goal by refusing to reveal when that was.
