Everton have been referred to an independent commission by the Premier League over an alleged breach of financial fair play rules.

The Premier League did not reveal the specifics of the club's rule breach, other than saying it occurred in the period ending with the 2021-22 season.

However, Everton have posted financial losses in several recent seasons.

The Toffees denied wrongdoing and said they are "prepared to robustly defend" their position.

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In their statement, Everton added: "The club strongly contests the allegation of non-compliance and together with its independent team of experts is entirely confident that it remains compliant with all financial rules and regulations.

"The club has, over several years, provided information to the Premier League in an open and transparent manner and has consciously chosen to act with the utmost good faith at all times."

In March 2022, Everton announced losses of £120.9m for the 2020-21 season.

That meant losses over a period of three years totalled £372m, while Premier League rules only allowed that figure to be £105m.

The club said they "remain in a secure financial position" thanks to owner Farhad Moshiri - and blamed Covid-19 for part of the losses.

Everton are also in the process of building their new Bramley-Moore Dock stadium.

They remain in a perilous position in the top-flight, currently sitting 15th in the table - two points above the relegation zone.


Can Everton ever be great again?
Last year, rivals Leeds and Burnley wrote to the Premier League asking for Everton's accounts to be independently investigated, although they later dropped their threat of legal action.

The two clubs had been advised Everton complied with profit and sustainability rules after meeting with the Premier League.

In its statement on Friday, the Premier League said the commission will be independent of the league and its clubs, adding that proceedings will be "confidential and heard in private".

There have been widespread protests against Moshiri and the Everton board by fans this season.

Swindon Town have completed the purchase of their County Ground stadium.

Contracts were exchanged last month and the £2.3m acquisition from Swindon Borough Council has gone through.

The deal was funded by the Nigel Eady Trust, with the League Two club and supporters' trust now owning the stadium 50/50.

Eady, who died in 2012, left the Robins millions of pounds and wished for it to benefit the club and local community.

Swindon have played at the County Ground since 1896 and say gaining ownership will halve rental costs and allow them to develop the stadium.

Chairman Clem Morfuni said: "This is a major step forward for the club and lays the foundations for our future success."

Maidstone United have appointed George Elokobi as manager until the end of next season after a spell in caretaker charge of the National League club.

The 37-year-old former defender, who was born in Cameroon but moved to England aged 16, played in the Premier League during his time with Wolves.

Elokobi had been in temporary charge after Hakan Hayrettin left in January.

"My plan is to rebuild and bring back the success Maidstone thoroughly deserves," said Elokobi.

Maidstone have failed to win any of their 11 league matches under Elokobi's temporary stewardship and are bottom of the National League, 13 points from safety, with eight games of the campaign remaining.

Elokobi, who won both the Championship and League One titles as a player at Wolves, finished his playing career with Maidstone, having captained them to promotion to the National League in 2021-22.

His three-year spell with Maidstone ended a career that saw him quickly rise from non-league Dulwich Hamlet into the EFL with Colchester United and later the top division with Wolves.

Another highlight of his time at Molineux was a headed goal in a Wolves win over Manchester United in 2011 that ended a 29-match unbeaten run for the Red Devils.

George Elokobi with his Wolves team-mates and the Championship trophy
In his time with Wolves, George Elokobi (left) won both the Championship and League One titles
"As we are all fully aware this season has not gone as we all hoped. We can't change the past, however we can learn from this and obviously look to the future," Elokobi told the club website.

"A huge thanks to the board for entrusting me with the role. I also want to thank all the backroom staff, who have been working tirelessly behind the scenes since my appointment as interim manager.

"To all the players, I want to thank you for continuing to give your all under the current circumstances.

"Under the new structure and with your continued hard work, I know we can only get better and get back to our winning ways.

"To the amazing Maidstone United supporters, I want to thank you for your patience this season. Your support has not gone unnoticed. Here's to bringing Maidstone United back to its winning ways."

Hayrettin had guided Maidstone to the National League South title last season but departed after a run of two wins in 23 fixtures in all competitions.

Maidstone chief executive Bill Williams added: "As caretaker manager the performances under George have been encouraging, when you consider the squad he inherited and the horrendous injury list.

"George has set out a clear plan and vision for the first team and is ideally placed to hit the ground running as there is a lot of work to be done over the summer.

"In the four years he's been at our club, George has shown exceptional leadership."

THE MATCH

SUNDAY 26TH MARCH KO 1:00PM

v

LAST MATCH



Our unbeaten run came to an end as we put in our worst defensive performance of the season as we went down to the Dingles. We were quickly 2 down when Cole poked one thru Dawsons legs then from the KO we gave the ball away And Norwood fired past Dawson. We pulled one back when Smith found Gregory who slotted in from close range. Smith nearly equalized but his header was well saved. Onto the 2nd half and we were bossing things and then Gregory scored again from close range following a Johnson cross. We were the better team but then defensive mistakes gave Barnsley the lead and then they added a fourth in injury time just to rub it in. I though we were the better team overall but you cant expect to win games when defending like that, at any level.

THE MATCH



Next up and our first ever trip to Forest Green. They have struggled in league one and currently sit bottom of the league and haven't won in the league for 16 games and are 13 points from safety with just 9 games to go, so barring a miracle will be playing in League 2. There leading scorer is a familiar name, Connor Wickham who has 9 goals in 19 games. They are managed by Duncan Ferguson, the former Everton striker, he took over on 26th Jan.

ALL TIME H2H

OWLS 1
FOREST 0
DRAWS 0

CURRENT FORM

OWLS              -                                                                           

FOREST           -                                                

EFL STOOGES

DOES IT MATTER THERE ALL CORRUPT  

DAVID ROCK
Samuel Ogles and Joseph Stokes
Fourth Official : Thomas Kirk

THE TEAM

Dawson
Palmer Famewo Flint
Hunt Bannan Adeniran Vaulks Johnson
Gregory Smith

SCORE & SCORER (HOME TEAM SCORE FIRST)

0-2 Smith

WEDNESDAYS FIRT GOAL TIME

26

BML LEAGUE

Owlskev 25
Stateside 23
Imre 20
Wash 20
SCO 18
Maddix 16
Peiowl 14

OTHER GAMES OF MILD INTEREST

Charlton Athletic v Wycombe Wanderers
Exeter City v Accrington Stanley
Fleetwood Town v Lincoln City
Peterborough United v Derby County
Portsmouth v Port Vale

HHHAH

THE MUPPETT LEAGUE

WEREHAM




KATE BECKINSALE TRIBUTE PIC

Italy v England - 23/03/23 - Naples

https://www.htafc.com/news/2023/march/cl...ownership/

In a nutshell, Deano completed getting the 75% shares off skint Phil then flipped the lot to the Yanks, subject to the usual formalities.

Hopefully that takes Administration off the table.

Premier League

Zinman          8pts 1CS 4CR -3GB 3BB 0SB
Derby            7pts 1CS 3CR -3GB 3BB 1SB
SCO              7pts 1CS 3CR -3GB 3BB 1SB
Sanjay          7pts 0CS 3CR 0GB 0BB 1SB
Snooty          6pts 2CS 4CR -3GB -3BB 0SB
Blue Baggie    5pts 1CS 4CR -3GB -3BB 1SB
Minizin          2pts 1CS 3CR -3GB -3BB 0SB
Stairs            -1pt 0CS 2CR -3GB -3BB 1SB

After a couple of good weeks it was back to normal for the Premiership as the total points scored was at its lowest for some time. I suppose with 1 game being called off we have a slight excuse! Just one correct gamball result.....yes, you've guessed, that player chose not to play it, so the main differentiator
this week is the bonus ball, but given that just 9 points separate top from bottom, I suspect we won't see much movement in the overall table.

Zinman comes out on top this week with a mighty 8 points and for once in his life he actually got a correct bonus result. He sits just a point ahead of Derby, SCO and Sanjay - Derby and SCO had an identical score breakdown though Sanjay could have done better if he'd been braver with the gamball. He also played the bonus on the abandoned match so has that to carry forward to the next round in a couple of weeks.

Just another point back to Snooty who actually got the most correct scores and shared the highest total of correct results - just shows that you really have to be careful with those balls! Another point back to Blue followed by a bit of a gap to Minizin who may be beginning to feel the pressure at the top of the table as we approach the final run in. Stairs had a bit of a 'mare - he bravely chose to gamble for just the third time this season but lost points on that and his bonus, only scoring from 2 games to find himself at the foot of the table with a negative score.

Minizin 282
Zinman 270
Derby 261
Stairs 234
Blue 229
Sanjay 207
SCO 203
Snooty 201

No positional changes but Zinman is creeping ever closer to Minizin at the top of the table. Such a shame that Mini will be visiting during the next set of fixtures and will be mysteriously unable to post his predictions due to the sudden lack of internet access at Zin Towers (access form work will be unaffected). Stairs brief challenge to the top 3 appears to be fading after 3 distinctly average weeks while the battle to avoid the automatic drop remains tight, just 6 points separating the bottom 3.

Zin


Championship

BBB 13pts 2CS 2CR 5GB -3BB 1SB
BaggieOne 11pts 1CS 4CR -3GB 3BB 1SB
AAA 11pts 1CS 3CR NPGB 3BB 0SB
Lady Jane 2pts 1CS 2CR -3GB -3BB 0SB
Themaclad 2pts 0CS 1CR 5GB -3BB 0SB
Dingle 1pts 1CS 1CR -3GB -3BB 1SB
Amelia 0pts 0CS 3CR -3GB -3BB 0SB
Twerton -3pts 0CS 1CR -3GB -3BB 1SB

Poor scoring week in the Championship this week, although the loss of one game didn't help that!!  Only three players made double figures with BBB leading the way with 13 points, managed a weeks high 2 CSs and backed this up with a CR on the Gamball.  BaggieOne and AAA both finished second on 11 points, got there in similar ways with AAA saving points by not playing the Gamball and B1 scoring on one more game.  Both of them were the only players to score positive points on the Bonus this week.

Big drop off to 4th place where we find Lady Jane and Themaclad on 2 points each.  Themaclad was one of only two players along with BBB to score points on the gamball but that was his only correct result.  Lady Jane scored one CS but like everyone else below her and Themaclad, she failed on both the main balls.  Dingle is 6th with a single point courtesy of the Scoreball after wiping out his positives with his negatives!!

The bottom two in this weeks table are the bottom two in the table, so I suppose they are playing to form.  Ameilia scored a big fat zero and Twerton thought he would outdo her by scoring a -3!!  Just 4 scoring games and one Scoreball between them!!

287 Dingle
261 BaggieOne
259 Lady Jane
254 AAA
252 BBB
186 Themaclad
166 Twerton
145 Amelia

For the first time in a few weeks we see a positional change in the table!!  BaggieOne has finally caught LJ and reclaimed second place, a position he has held for quite a bit of the season before, can he now make it his own?? The decent form of AAA and BBB has seen them move a little closer to the promotion spots and now 2nd through 5th places are separated by just 9 points, so all to play for in the run in to the season.  The bottom three are as you were, no surprise there when they only scored a combined -1 this week!!

Cheers
SCO

Anybody remember him. He was a tall young centre back who was almost permanently fifth sub' for us when we went into the National League. I don't know if he ever got on the field for us.

Now he's playing for Stamford who are top of the Midlands Division of the Northern Premier. On Sunday there was a picture of him in the Non-league Paper, having scored to ensure victory. He has put on some weight. He's a big lad.

If we got him in the gym pre-season maybe he'd scare a few people. Looking at him, if he says its Thursday then I for one won't be arguing.

Almost bat and ball time this thread for four day stuff only

League Two side Tranmere Rovers have sacked manager Micky Mellon.

The 51-year-old Scot had seen his side slip to 14th in League Two after just six wins since mid-October.

It was Mellon's second spell in charge, having returned in June 2021 after leading Rovers to back-to-back promotions to League One in his previous four-year spell.

"From both a personal and a club perspective this hasn't been an easy decision," said chairman Mark Palios.

"Since he returned to the club in 2021 after a year in Scotland, we haven't managed to achieve the success we both wanted and I reluctantly came to the conclusion that a change was needed as we start recruitment preparations for next season."

Ian Dawes will work as caretaker manager, assisted by Andy Parkinson, while Tranmere consider a permanent replacement "in preparation for the new season".

Mellon previously left the Merseyside club in July 2020 - after they were relegated to League Two on a points-per-game basis - to join Scottish Premiership side Dundee United, but came back less than a year later.

Tranmere's next game is at Colchester in League Two on Saturday.