Even though the Toffees’ legal team did not get the complete triumph they had hoped for, Everton declared that they were “vindicated” by the decision of a new panel to cut their 10-point punishment to six. Regaining four points is certainly near the top of what they could have hoped for, considering that they acknowledged the breach.

Everton’s initial outrage was directed at both the Premier League, which had initially pushed for a 12-point tariff because the team had overspent the permitted £105 million rolling losses over a three-year period by £19.5 million, and the independent commission that fined them 10 points.

They said that the punishment was “wholly disproportionate and unjust,” and a second commission, consisting of Katherine Apps KC, Daniel Alexander KC, and Sir Gary Hickenbottom (chairman), which met for three days on January 31, largely supported that ruling. Crucially, they discovered that the initial commission had committed two “legal errors” that affected the decision, even though they rejected seven of Everton’s nine mitigating arguments. These two mistakes were determining that the club had not acted in “utmost good faith” regarding the new stadium debt they had accumulated and failing to consider precedents established by earlier cases of a similar kind, including those overseen by the EFL.