‘Highly Possible’: Lawyers render compensation decisions for Burnley and Leicester v Everton
Clubs looking to claim compensation from Everton in the wake of their punishment for breaching profit and sustainability rules may have a difficult time proving their case, according to a pair of sports lawyers.
Dan Chapman of Leathes Prior and Nii Anteson of Sheridans told The Athletic on 22 November that the likes of Leicester City and Leeds United might only get a fraction of the £100million they are thought to be after [Daily Mail, 17 November].
Additionally Chapman believes it is “really complicated” for Burnley as there could be a valid argument that they are actually better off after being relegated and promoted again, so the huge financial risk may not come to fruition.
Chapman said: “You have got to try to imagine what would have happened if Everton had not overspent in the relevant seasons. If I were Everton’s lawyers, I would say the overspend didn’t actually make a difference to anything. Obviously, the lawyers for the other clubs are going to say, ‘No, that isn’t the case’.
“It gets really complicated because if you’re Burnley, you say, ‘Well we were only relegated because of that’. But the counterargument is perhaps that Burnley are in a better position because you’ve got parachute payments (the money given to relegated clubs), you rebooted, you walked the Championship under Vincent Kompany and now you’re back in the Premier League anyway.
“It’s highly possible that a judge will say, ‘We can’t be satisfied on the balance of probabilities that causation is made out’, and even if it is, they’ve then got to say what is the appropriate compensation to put them in a position they should have been and it’s going to be very difficult.
“What you often find in cases like this is they look at a loss of opportunity and they apply an arbitrary percentage chance. They might say, for example, had Everton not overspent, I think there’s a 10 per cent chance that you would have stayed in the Premier League and therefore the difference between being in the Championship and the Premier League that season is £100million, therefore you’re going to get £10million.
“I think the numbers will end up being lower than some people might think.”
Anteson added: “You can already see the potential problems with it – you are trying to persuade a tribunal or court that a particular alternative scenario (Premier League survival at the expense of Everton) was more likely to occur than what did happen or other alternatives (you would be relegated anyway).
“Even if you did manage to persuade the tribunal or court of that, it’s likely to apply a discount to any amount it might award you to reflect the probability of your chosen scenario coming to pass above all others.”
Chapman suggested that if significant compensation were to be due to Toffees might still secure reduced fees: “Everton might try to negotiate settlements using the threat of, ‘You might get nothing anyway because we might go under’.”
On the face of it the legal assessment should help remove some of the major jeopardy that comes with the potential compensation payments.
But when the commission board which already decided that Everton were guilty of a breach and that clubs could be in line to claim are the same ones to make the call on possible awards it likely removes any confidence that the Toffees might be safe.
With no precedent in Premier League history for a situation like this to go by, and a huge scope for debate over who was effected and to what extent, it is very difficult to judge what the outcome might be as the authorities make it up as they go along.
On paper it seems very arguable that Everton got any sort of advantage on the pitch from anything they did during the period in question, so it would seem that there is enough of a grey area for the club’s representatives to argue the situation well done from £100m to anyone.
But when the commission has already effectively ignored all the arguments in mitigation to the breach itself it still feels like a perilous situation.
Despite Everton selling arguably their top two attacking stars at the time in Richarlison and Anthony Gordon the Premier League appear to feel that they therefore shouldn’t have signed anyone else, despite it being a change in the rules of stadium payments which pushed them over the limit.
It is at least something that a pair of lawyerly opinions have suggested something other than certain disaster is on the horizon, but based on recent developments that might just lead to greater disappointment when the results are announced.
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