Everton will face a material risk to their existence if the club were to be relegated amid ongoing investigations over their accounts.
Last week, the Toffees were referred to an independent commission for an alleged breach of the Premier League’s financial fair play rules in relation to their spending last season following an audit of their accounts.
The details of the Blues’ latest financial results were released on Friday, with the club posting a further £44.7 million of losses for the 2021/22 season. While that was an improvement on the £120.9m loss the previous season, it comes after the club actually make £67.7m profit on player trading, with Richarlison, Lucas Digne and James Rodríguez among the departures.
Those results take the club’s losses to £417.3 million over the last four years, by far in excess of the league’s allowances of £105m over three years, although clubs were permitted additional losses as a result of the pandemic.
Chief executive Denise Barrett-Baxendale stressed that Everton remain in ‘a secure financial position’ thanks to the ‘continued support and commitment’ of majority shareholder Farhad Moshiri, who has provided an additional £70m since the financial year-end.
However, Barrett-Baxendale’s confidence is seemingly not shared by the auditors of Everton’s accounts, Crowe UK LLP, who say the club face ‘material uncertainty’ on their ability to continue operating without Moshiri’s support, should they face relegation.
“Should the club be relegated, it will require additional financial support from its majority shareholder,” they said in the report.
“These matters indicate that a material uncertainty exists that may cast significant doubt over on the group’s ability to continue as a going concern.”
The Toffees sit just two points outside of the relegation zone having played a game more than all but one of the sides below them, and while they may survive on the pitch, they still have the threat of that investigation hanging over their heads.
A points deduction is one of the potential punishments if the alleged breaches are proven, and the Mail report that the Premier League are ‘confident’ of completing the investigation before the end of the season next month.
This comes after six clubs wrote to the Premier League ‘demanding answers’, with the report saying they have ‘asked for greater transparency, and demanded that the case be concluded this season.’
The Premier League had given assurances to clubs last year that Everton did not have a case to answer over their finances, though ‘a different picture emerged’ after assessing their audited accounts, with the case ‘based on queries they have raised about allowances claimed by the club for the impact of the pandemic’.
Everton host Tottenham on Monday evening.
