In an exclusive interview with Best Anonymous Casinos, former West Ham and Everton striker Tony Cottee labelled the Premier League ‘idiots’ over the raft of points deductions that have been levied on clubs this season;
- Outdated FFP rules are a shambles – Premier League is suffering
- Deducting points from teams after the end of the season is nonsense
No One Understands New PSR Rules – It’s An Absolute Shambles
The Premier League’s new Profit and Sustainability Rules have muddied the top flight’s financial waters even further, leaving fans confused about their club’s situation. Tony Cottee criticised the lack of clarity within the regulations and called for more transparency;
Tony Cottee: “With the PSR and all the rules that have been brought in, there’s going to be new regulations coming in the summer. I’ve got no idea. I don’t think anyone understands it; no one knows what’s going on; it’s an absolute shambles. At the moment, Everton are battling against the Premier League. They’re challenging the points deduction and quite rightly so. So we’ll have to see what develops from that. But I think this is all being caused by the Premier League. I don’t understand the rules. I don’t think anyone understands the rules.
“How you’re only allowed to lose £35m in one season, I don’t get that, because if you’re trying to buy a new player, you’re trying to buy a Dominic Calvert-Lewin, it’s going to cost you £56m. So that’s one player. When these rules were brought in, which I think was 10 years ago or so, players weren’t going for £100m. There’s been huge inflation. They’ve got to sort the rules out; just clear the decks and sort out the situation.
“You’ve got my old club Leicester, you’ve got Chelsea, you’ve got Man City, you’ve got Everton, you’ve got Forest – all these clubs are in situations that need clarification. Get it sorted out and put some proper modern rules in, because that’s the key to it. They’re not modern; they’re outdated rules. Put the rules in; everyone knows where they stand, and let’s just make the Premier League what it has always been. Get it back to being the best league in the world.”
‘Idiots’ Decided Teams Can Be Deducted Points After Season Ends
Two of Tony Cottee’s former clubs, Everton and Leicester have flouted PSR rules, with the Foxes set to begin next season on -12 points. There has even been speculation that teams could be deducted points after a season has ended, a scenario that outraged the former striker;
Tony Cottee: “All of the points deductions and that – no one wants to see that. Just to compound it all and make it even more stupid, they’ve allowed it to be that potentially the act that the latest ruling could be after the season’s finished. I mean, what? What idiot thought that was a good idea? How can you have rules where someone’s going to challenge something and we’ll give you a decision after the last game’s been played? It’s complete nonsense. They’ve made themselves look really, really foolish, and that needs to be changed.
“You’ve got to have rules and dates in place that work for everyone, and we can’t have this in the future. There’s no way in a million years we should ever have to worry about the last day of the season being played, and then there might be a change or a points deduction that could alter the league. Once you’ve played that last game, once that last final whistle goes, Sunday, the 19th of May, that is the end of the season. You cannot have things going on after that. Whoever thought that was clever, I don’t know.”
