Dyche focused on job at hand amid Everton chaos

Sean Dyche said he and his Everton players are used to facing challenging circumstances after it emerged the club could be hit with a second points deduction this season.

The Toffees were docked 10 points in November for breaking the Premier League’s profit and sustainability rules which restrict how much money a club can lose over a three-year period.

Everton are appealing that decision, which judged they had breached the limit at the end of the 2021/22 season.

On Tuesday, Everton and Nottingham Forest were then referred by the Premier League to an independent commission for sanction after breaching the rules at the end of the 2022/23 campaign.

Both clubs are involved in the Premier League battle for survival and any further points penalties could have huge ramifications on who is relegated at the end of the season.

Everton responded to the 10-point deduction with a run of four consecutive victories to pull clear of the relegation zone.

But they have since taken just one point from their last four Premier League games to sit just one point above the drop zone.

“My insistence is on myself, the staff and the players to stay focused on the job in hand, which hasn’t changed at all,” Dyche said at a press conference ahead of Wednesday’s FA Cup third round replay against Crystal Palace.

“We stay focused. I think we’ve done a good job of doing that and the players deserve a lot of credit so far because they have stayed focused.

“I think the on-pitch situation has remained strong. I think the performances have remained strong. We had a really great run of performances that got wins, and a good run of performances that didn’t, but that’s sometimes the Premier League.

“We’ve continued that process under some testing, challenging times, but they are still there. So, therefore, kind of weirdly, it’s becoming a norm, which is not a norm I was hoping for, but these are the circumstances. The players have to get on with it and so have I.”

‘On-pitch sanction’

Everton’s financial issues date back to reckless spending during Farhad Moshiri’s time in charge of the club and the costs related to a new 53,000 capacity stadium.

British-Iranian businessman Moshiri agreed to sell his 94 percent stake in the club to US investment firm 777 partners in September, but the deal is still to be ratified by the Premier League.

Dyche led Everton to safety after arriving at Goodison Park just under a year ago and said he has had to work with one hand tied behind his back as the club get back on an even footing financially, while trying to remain competitive on the pitch.

“I’ve been here approaching a year, and in my timeline, and certainly by the recent stats and facts, I think we’re in the bottom three or four for net spend over the last three or four seasons. There’s a start point for the club motioning to do things correctly,” added the former Burnley boss.

“Since I’ve been here, we’ve let players go out of contract, who, some we would’ve kept, but we couldn’t do that. We’ve been working hard to lower everything here. We sold three young players in the timelines we were given to make sure the money was in. We wouldn’t normally have sold those young players.

“It’s an on-pitch sanction, but we’ve actually been cutting the idea of being on-pitch powerful by trying to do the right things.”