Everton is a club trapped in a doom loop of misery the Premier League appears unwilling to help it escape.
After two years of punishing relegation fights and having to sell its best players to satisfy accountants the club, somehow, earned enough points to have been all but safe before Christmas.
But the deduction of eight points across an unprecedented series of prosecutions means it is destined for another fight to the death.
Everton face brutal transfer reality as key 16-day window nears after second points deduction
I celebrated when Everton got 10-point deduction - but what Premier League are doing now is a mockery
And survival would offer only limited respite - this will be a summer that could lead to a third points deduction and may even lay the basis for a fourth next year. Rather than offering a route to salvation, the Premier League is overseeing a system that appears designed to keep Everton on its knees.
Everton is a club that has been mismanaged for years. That is a point that should not be forgotten amid the justified frustration and anger being directed at the Premier League following the club’s latest deduction. A billionaire has squandered hundreds of millions to do nothing other than turn a proud institution into an easy target for an organisation looking for one last opportunity to stave off the independent regulation it is so desperate to avoid.
For evidence of the league’s desperation look no further than its actions on the week its rules were used to condemn Everton again and then set a pathway to future, further damnation.
On the same day the latest verdict made for more bleak reading about Everton’s failed efforts to find financial stability, the Premier League placed an advert with the
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