Everton’s ten-point deduction in November stunned the footballing world. After all, it was the harshest deduction in top-flight history, surpassing that of actual administration, which sees only nine points taken away. By the Premier League’s ruling, what the Toffees had committed a crime worse than becoming a club unable to pay its own bills, thus making hundreds of people redundant. It was the scale of this punishment that drew widespread criticism rather than the guilty verdict itself, which the club had actually agreed with. It was thought that compliance might have earned some favour with…
