Chelsea fine: The Premier League is ‘too lenient’, says Christian Porcello

Everton and Nottingham Forest have received points deductions for breaching the Premier League’s Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR) in recent years, but despite committing “clear and willful breaches” which “include deception and concealment in relation to financial matters”, Chelsea have been spared a sporting penalty.

When the penalty was announced, Chelsea said: “Since the beginning of this process, the club has taken these matters with the utmost seriousness and provided the full cooperation of all relevant regulatory bodies.”

Because the violations came during former owner Roman Abramovich’s time in charge, new owners BlueCo made voluntary disclosures and showed “exceptional cooperation,” which was seen as enough mitigation to avoid more severe penalties.

“This is basically a series of offenses related to how a transportation business is run, so a transportation ban makes sense,” Purslow said.

“But suspending this ban entirely, again, seems too lenient.

“This should anger clubs like Everton and Forest who I don’t think have had much credit in the past where they have cooperated.”

The English Premier League previously stated, when granting Everton a points deduction, that “the financial penalty for a club that enjoys the support of a wealthy owner is not a sufficient penalty.”

This ruling also stated that “the requirements of deterrence, justification for compliant clubs, and protection of the integrity of the sport require a sporting penalty in the form of a points deduction.”

Chelsea signed players such as Eden Hazard, Samuel Eto’o, Willian, Ramires, David Luiz and Nemanja Matic as they won seven major trophies between 2011 and 2018, including two Premier League titles and a Champions League.

“Sports penalties initially came into the framework as an acknowledgment that sometimes the punishment of a fine does not fit the crime,” Purslow added.

“In other words, when football clubs gained a significant advantage in football, you needed to impose sporting sanctions to compensate.

“It is quite clear that sporting benefits have been achieved through this transfer activity.”