Everton a club united in livid defiance: Welcome to the biggest fight in our history

The Winslow Hotel, situated in the shadow of Goodison Park, has long been a place of significance for Everton supporters.

Yesterday (Wednesday) was no different.

In a room at the famous old pub, which is adorned with club memorabilia, a group of concerned fans met to map out how they could help Everton in their hour of need.

It is six days since the club were handed an unprecedented 10-point deduction for breaching the Premier League’s profitability and sustainability rules (PSR). Initial shock at the verdict has turned to defiance and, in certain cases, anger.

The stakes are high, and the rhetoric reflects that.

Dave Kelly, chair of the Fan Advisory Board and a member of the Everton Shareholders Association, is a veteran of campaigning. He counts over 30 years of fan activism through his work with supporter group The Blue Union, co-runs Fans Supporting Foodbanks and led the Football Supporters’ Association’s Twenty’s Plenty campaign over ticket prices for away fans.

“They picked on the wrong city and the wrong fans,” Kelly tells the room, to applause.

“Welcome to the biggest fight in Everton’s history.”

Everton fans set off flares outside The Winslow ahead of the game against Newcastle in April (Peter Byrne/PA Images via Getty Images)

Also at the meeting, organised by the Fan Advisory Board, are The 1878s, a collective of fans who have long been intent on improving the matchday atmosphere at Goodison. Within hours of Friday’s verdict, they had set up a crowdfunding campaign with the money going towards the production of protest banners and flags, as well as those supporting the team. By Wednesday, this had raised over £40,000 ($50,216).

Already, 50,000 pink cards have been printed showing the Premier League logo alongside the caption: ‘corrupt’. Most of those will be handed to supporters en masse ahead of Sunday’s home game against Manchester United, with opposition fans already consulted about their participation. Everton fan groups have already been told by their Manchester United counterparts that they can expect their support.

Alongside a series of other measures, The 1878s have proposed that the Premier League anthem be booed before kick-off on Sunday and that a plane will fly over the Etihad Stadium on Saturday during Manchester City’s televised game against Liverpool in an attempt to bring maximum exposure to their efforts.

Some of the displays have been even more visceral.

Earlier this week, a banner was seen hanging from a bridge on the M62 motorway that spans northern England, with its western end in Liverpool. “Corrupt: we’re coming for you” it read, alongside images of the Premier League logo and the Everton badge.

On Friday, supporters will take their anger south and protest outside the Premier League’s London headquarters, a week on from news of the deduction being made public.

Faced with a series of events they find wholly unsatisfactory, Everton fans are fighting for their club.

This is just the start of a battle between the Premier League, one of its member clubs and their supporters that is expected to run and run.

The initial mood inside Everton last Friday was one of shock.

The decision was first communicated to their legal counsel and, by mid-morning, had filtered through to senior figures.

Everton’s players had been given the second half of last week off by manager Sean Dyche during this international break, with most choosing to jet away from the English winter to Dubai and other resorts. Dyche, who himself was away when the news hit, was informed via a call with director of football Kevin Thelwell, with most non-footballing staff being sent an email and video message from interim chief executive Colin Chong outlining the club’s intention to appeal.

Nobody had seen this coming.

pic.twitter.com/9tOMqMBRmr

— Everton (@Everton) November 17, 2023

Indeed, Everton were not expecting a sporting sanction of any nature and, even in gaming out potential possibilities, had not imagined a deduction would go any higher than a couple of points.

Chong has since chaired legal meetings with a view to establishing grounds for appeal, with the club’s formal submission expected by the end of this week.

There have been some small, informal conversations with the group of first-team players who returned to the Finch Farm training ground on Monday, where the club’s displeasure at the news and intention to challenge the verdict were also communicated. Some of those involved left with the expectation — perhaps, more likely, hope — that things could get better on appeal.

Those away with their countries, such as England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford and Scotland defender Nathan Patterson, were advised by communications staff either not to speak about the club’s sanction or, in certain cases, taken off media duties altogether. It is expected that more formal meetings will take place with key footballing figures once the whole squad has returned to Merseyside later this week.

The Athletic has been told the overall mood in the dressing room is one of defiance.

Everton’s performances have been on the up in recent weeks (Emma Simpson/Everton FC via Getty Images)

While surprised by the deduction, the team believe they are on the right track under Dyche, having won six of their last nine games, and are confident they can get out of trouble having been pushed into the relegation places by the points deduction.

Many of the same themes mentioned by supporters are also doing the rounds internally; the need for a siege mentality. The ‘Everton against the world’/‘Us versus them’ attitude.

Some players have suggested in private that the decision is a joke. Others have called it completely unjust. There is still anger, too, over the insensitive timing of certain leaks detailing the league’s preference for a heavy sporting sanction, which came less than 24 hours after the death of Everton’s long-standing chairman and former owner Bill Kenwright last month.

GO DEEPER

Bill Kenwright, Everton and the sadness of a love affair that turned sour

The hope is that all of this can have a galvanising effect. Throughout the process, Dyche and his staff would preach about “controlling the controllables”, shutting out the noise and focusing on the football. The message will undoubtedly be the same again after these latest developments.

“What does remain in place is the unity, focus and determination that helped earn points — now supplemented by the additional fuel of what we believe is a wholly disproportionate ruling,” Thelwell wrote in a letter to fans on Wednesday.

“We are rallying in the face of a sporting sanction in the only way we can — focus and hard work. Spirit remains unwavering. Sean and the players are fully focused on the work that lies ahead and everybody at Finch Farm is united.”

Before the points deduction, Everton’s players and staff were already of the opinion that their league placing did not reflect their performances this season. Their underlying numbers suggested the side should be somewhere around ninth, not 14th (as they were before last Friday). Today, they are 19th out of 20.

So much of the work that went into the team’s recent improvement appears to have been eroded. The sad reality is that this deduction has struck just as Everton were starting to make progress. Now, just as they had begun to dig themselves out of the hole under Dyche, they find themselves pulled back in it — this time, because of events not of their doing. That irony has not been lost on anyone.

Dyche oversaw a 3-2 win against Crystal Palace in Everton’s most recent fixture (Sebastian Frej/MB Media/Getty Images)

This is still a club in a precarious financial position, too, reliant on loans from their prospective new owners 777 Partners to fund cash flow and plug shortfalls while the takeover approval process is ongoing.

Everton will still have to be careful over future financial fair play (FFP) compliance while they work through the heavier losses made early in Farhad Moshiri’s tenure as owner, with one area of concern the potential loss of merit money for this season. Each place in the final table next May will be worth just over £3million more than the one below it, with Everton having dropped five positions after this verdict. The sporting sanction could also have financial consequences, particularly if the worst happens and they end up relegated.

For some with knowledge of the club’s dealings and workings, granted anonymity to protect relationships like other sources consulted for this article, the events of recent months are also a reminder of how poorly Everton have been run in the past few seasons. They point to a harsh outcome in the PSR case and a series of mitigating factors for the breach, but also how the independent commission report shone a light on the disconnect between the hierarchy and the footballing operation at the club during the period in question.

Most of those responsible, including Moshiri, are either on the way out or have already gone. It is those still at the club and the supporters who are going to be left counting the cost.

GO DEEPER

Crisis clubs: If it can happen to Everton, it can happen to anyone

Everton have already announced their intention to appeal but this is a battle that could be fought in the courts and even in the UK parliament.

Liverpool Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram is one of several prominent local politicians to have written to Premier League chief executive Richard Masters to express concern over Everton’s sanction. In his letter to Masters, Rotheram called the verdict “wholly disproportionate” and said “the punishment does not fit the crime”.

Earlier this week, Ian Byrne, the Labour MP for the Liverpool West Derby constituency, tabled an early-day motion calling action against Everton to be paused until an independent regulator has an opportunity to scrutinise the findings. Byrne’s motion has received over 20 signatures already. Other local MPs have written to the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, Lucy Frazer, in an attempt to have Everton’s situation debated in the House of Commons.

“The idea was to outline some of the issues constituents, friends and people both inside and outside the city have been saying about the process; to raise awareness of the situation and the unfairness of it,” Byrne tells The Athletic. “It was also to get it to parliament and start building some support among MPs, which seems to be happening.

“People are talking about it and it’s got some decent coverage.

“It’s important for football. I’ve had supporters of other clubs saying they thought it was an unfair process. Everton admitted culpability but it was just the lack of transparency which has caused massive concerns. Overwhelming support for an independent regulator is also coming through loud and clear.

“This is just an early-day motion for MPs to publicly support. The next steps are to go into debates in Westminster and raise it in parliament. Some of the others (MPs) involved will be looking to take that on. And then we’ll be looking to discuss the football regulator. We want to push the government to enable the legislation from the King’s Speech (made earlier this month), which is there and ready to go. It needs to be implemented, not kicked into the long grass.

“It’s been strange seeing ‘Ian Byrne, supporter of Everton’ on Sky Sports as someone who supports Liverpool FC home and away but it’s got to be done for the good of the game and the city.”

A group of Everton fans are also consulting lawyers with a view to suing the Premier League. The supporters, who will soon be launching a crowdfunding campaign, argue that the punishment against Everton was arbitrary, a view upon which those in charge of the club’s appeal may lean.

GO DEEPER

Everton points deduction: What is the club's case for the defence on appeal?

The barrister advising the group, Matt Stanbury, himself an Everton fan, says: “The Premier League arranges, promotes and regulates its matches, and takes revenue from them.

“We are looking at whether the punishment imposed on Everton, which appears almost to have been plucked from thin air, has breached a legitimate expectation on behalf of the fans that the games which they have paid to attend will be fairly contested without the risk that the Premier League will later impose a penalty which, in reality, overturns the result.”

The group also points to the fact that the Fan-Led Review (of football governance, from 2021), which the government has accepted, concluded that punishments imposed on clubs should be subject to a “guiding principle” that sanctions should avoid impacting fans “wherever possible”.

Everton are a team and club united in the aftermath of the Premier League sanction (Tony McArdle/Everton FC via Getty Images)

TV executive and Evertonian Will Hanrahan kick-started the push for fan-led legal action, in conjunction with Stanbury.

“I instinctively feel that we fans are also customers, and that means we have rights,” Hanrahan tells The Athletic. “But how were we represented in the rather secretive commission process? And why punish us at the very moment the political and legal direction of travel is to empower fans through a regulator?

“The Premier League and the commission are behaving as if we have no rights — and that is unjust. So let’s get a court to decide what our rights are. If we have none, football is in a bad place.

“The league is using Everton as a scapegoat in its fight with the government over the regulator. We can all see the injustice — such treatment is not new to our Merseyside community. But we are not known for taking a backward step.

“We have a stone against Goliath. Let’s use it.”

The Athletic has been told that Everton’s Fan Advisory Board is also taking legal advice with a view to challenging the Premier League’s decision.

Tony Sampson, the advisory board’s vice-chair, said: “The Fan-Led Review was intended to give supporters a stronger voice. We’re not only concerned about the excessive nature of the penalty, but that a sporting sanction has been applied with no thought for the direct impact it has on supporters.

“At no point has the commission considered supporters. We think that needs to change and are taking legal advice on the best way to submit supporters’ views via the appeal process.”

Everyone associated with Everton is steeling themselves for the fight ahead.

It was not lost on the supporters at The Winslow on Wednesday that, after years of division, old wounds appear to be healing and their club is more united than ever. That is what a common cause and a perceived sense of injustice can do.

One of the unofficial slogans since Friday’s news, to be displayed on banners during this Sunday’s match at Goodison, is “We shall not be moved”.

As one supporter in attendance at this week’s meeting succinctly put it: “The Premier League has done something we haven’t been able to do: unite our club.”

GO DEEPER

Everton's 10-point deduction: Why is the sanction so steep and what does it mean for the Premier League?

(Top photo: Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images)

ncG1vNJzZmismJqutbTLnquim16YvK57lGlvbmpoa3xzfJFsZmppX2eAcLHVnqmtp55ivbC1za2qZq2ensGmsIyfmKerXaW%2FsMDErKto