RIO DE JANEIRO Brazilian authorities said on Monday that soccer star Neymar was fined 16 million reais ($3.33

The scale of Everton’s 10-point deduction has shocked football in a way that is felt beyond Goodison Park. Even figures from other clubs were stunned as they went through the 41 pages of the judgement for breaches of profit and sustainability rules. Part of that is that there was no precedent for this; the Premier League had never done anything like it. That is why many in the rest of world football are watching just as keenly. Over the last few years, a constant refrain in the highest-level boardrooms has been the following: “something must be done about the power of the Premier League”. A fair question is now whether something big is going to change because the Premier League itself has finally done something. Except, the Premier League would be keen to say they didn’t do this. The English top-flight just believed there was a breach and referred it to an independent commission. Even the statement on the competition website was headlined with that. “Everton FC deducted 10 points by independent commission.” That language is read as quite pointed at a time when the Premier League is posing the biggest resistance to an independent regulator. This is all a show of governance. Some of the response, however, has already been an illustration of where the Premier League might be headed over the next decade. That might well be ongoing and fractious debates about what happens in court rooms and legal meetings rather than what happens on the pitch - to say nothing of that said between supporters. Everton, who have publicly made their severe grievance with the outcome clear, have 14 days to launch their inevitable appeal. After that, if the decision is upheld, they can’t go to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. Leeds United, Leicester City, Burnley and - potentially - Southampton have 28 days to lodge compensation claims from loss of earnings due to Everton staying up at their expense. Such long legal cases might be more concerning for the club, rather than what comes next, especially since the weakness of this season’s promoted clubs may well mean 10 points isn’t enough to see Sean Dyche’s side relegated. Sources connected to Everton do also feel that points number will come down on appeal. Coincidentally, some of the club’s harsher critics have already pointed to the example of Luton Town in 2008-09. There is a view, particularly among those relegated, that they shouldn’t have lost out for conforming to the rules. That is where the discussion has gone now the initial shock has passed. On the other side, there has been debate about the logic of the profit and sustainability rules. Most criticism has been reserved for the idea of getting points deductions for losses of £124.5m instead of £105m, particularly when knowledge of that came from internal documents the club openly shared in order to co-operate. Everton themselves closed their statement with what looked like a warning. “The club will also monitor with great interest the decisions made in any other cases concerning the Premier League’s profit and sustainability rules,” it read. There remains so much uncertainty over similar cases. An independent commission is still looking over the 115 Manchester City charges, which is a case of far greater complexity. Chelsea are meanwhile under investigation for a range of potential breaches from the Roman Abramovich era, after the Bureau of Investigative Journalism reported allegations of secret payments possibly relating to transfers and managerial appointments. The new ownership already paid an £8m settlement with Uefa earlier this year for self-reporting potential breaches to the European body and the Premier League. There had been a feeling this may earn good will with authorities but the Everton case illustrates that may not lead to clemency. This is an issue of perception, but one much bigger than how certain details are looked at. Taking in all those cases, and with the added complexity of how interlinked these situations and seasons are, it only deepens this wider debate about where English football is headed. There is now a cloud over at least nine Premier League titles, eight Champions League qualifications and two relegation places, before you even get into more mundane, but still costly issues, like prize money for placings. This isn’t what football is supposed to be about. Supporters are supposed to be able to trust what they see. The entire concept of sport is dependent on it. This certainly isn’t what the Premier League is supposed to be about, especially when so many foreign league executives say that the image of good governance has been part of its immense international growth. There may end being a huge irony to that. This potential explosion of off-field examinations and litigations is increasingly seen as the inevitable consequence of an era when the Premier League was just too laissez-faire in regulation. The view of many competition insiders is that the old Richard Scudamore regime didn’t look seriously enough for breaches as they didn’t want to damage the Premier League brand. What it potentially did, however, was create conditions that could end up harming the brand more than anything. “Nobody likes points deductions or asterisks on the league table,” one source said, “but doing it for smaller cases prevents far bigger problems. “This is all coming home to roost.” The argument can of course be extended to the much wider issue of ownership and how lacking in regulation the Premier League has been on that, too. Two of the cases referenced here involve two of the takeovers that are seen as landmarks in modern football history, in the 2003 Abramovich purchase of Chelsea and the 2008 Abu Dhabi purchase of City. Much of the Everton case could be instructive for both. The scale for punishment is clearly now very high. One paragraph of the judgement makes this all too clear. “At one level, disregard of the potential PSR [profit and sustainability rules] difficulties can be said to increase Everton’s culpability. But the Commission considers that there is a danger of double counting. We have already made clear that our approach is to start by considering the extent by which the PSR threshold has been exceeded: the greater the excess, the greater the culpability. We do not consider that the reasons for the PSR breach should aggravate that culpability unless they can be said to constitute exceptional conduct. For example, a deliberate cynical breach of the PSR to achieve a sporting advantage might increase culpability beyond that already arrived at by the extent of the breach.” These sentences are why many are now openly saying that City and Chelsea could be facing huge points deductions or even demotion, in the event they are charged and found guilty. No punishment could be as straight as direct relegation, though. Any punishment going that far would be an expulsion, at which point the English Football League would have to decide whether they want to admit them. While there may be harsh penalties, though, there evidently isn’t as much of an appetite for retrospective punishment. This could leave previous league tables and records untouched. Public opinion would be very different, though. This is the danger the Premier League has got itself into. Over a decade of English football is under scrutiny. Might this lead into something akin to the Premier League’s “Calciopoli era”, where there is so much litigation; where the very reputation of the game is affected? For all the grimness of that, there are many who believe it could be for the greater good. One source from a football body summed up another view. “Everything has to fall apart to get better.” Read More Why Everton have been handed 10 point deduction as Premier League takes FFP stand Watch: Everton CEO responds to Premier League after point deduction Everton vow to fight to ‘unjust’ Premier League points deduction Everton rocked by points deduction as Premier League toughens on financial fair play Victor Lindelof: Scoring more goals is next step for Manchester United Sean Dyche: Everton are starting to show belief on the road after latest win

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LGBT+ England fans could turn their backs on Jordan Henderson when he plays for his country in a symbolic response to the midfielder’s move to Saudi Arabia. Henderson was included in the 26-man squad for the upcoming games with Ukraine and Scotland as England manager Southgate stuck with the 33-year-old despite his move to Saudi Pro League side Al-Ettifaq. Southgate does not believe Henderson will be jeered when he next turns out for England, despite the criticism he has faced for moving to Saudi Arabia after being a keen and vocal supporter of the Premier League’s ‘Rainbow Laces’ campaign and also working alongside Liverpool’s official LGBT+ fan group. And while Joe White, the co-chair of Pride in Football and founder of Three Lions Pride believes Henderson will not receive a hostile reception, his presence on the pitch could be greeted with a symbolic gesture “in the same way he turned his back on us”. “It definitely will be a very muted atmosphere and, whilst he’s got presence in the squad, he will not have a presence in our banners that we take to games any more,” White told the PA news agency. “I don’t think it will go hostile because ultimately we want England to do as well as possible but I do think that, say he came on as a substitute, where before there would be a lot of cheering, particularly from our group at Three Lions Pride, I think there will just be silence now . “It may well be that there comes a joint message from the LGBT fans in the stadium who may well turn their backs on him coming onto the pitch in the same way he turned his back on us by going to Saudi.” Speaking after announcing his squad, Southgate said: “We are picking a team for football reasons.” “There are lots of different ownership models of clubs in England, there are lots of players playing in countries where there are different religious beliefs, I don’t really know why a player would receive an adverse reaction because of where he plays his football. “That of course is a personal choice. I have to pick a squad based on the players that I think can get us qualified for a European Championship and that’s why we’ve picked the players we have Gareth Southgate “It is really difficult to… I’m a bit lost really with some of the questioning because you walk in to try and talk about a squad announcement based on football decisions and increasingly we are navigating such complex political aspects that I’m not really trained to do. “Forgive me if I am stumbling a little bit but I find it a really difficult scenario to try and get right. “We’ll do the best we can and we try to make decisions for any number of reasons but I have to pick a squad based on the players that I think can get us qualified for a European Championship and that’s why we’ve picked the players we have.” England had previously been criticised by LGBT+ groups after they opted against wearing the ‘One Love’ armband during the World Cup in Qatar last year. Southgate, though, reaffirmed his commitment to inclusivity, adding: “We are supportive of the LGBTQ+ community. “A large number of the team and staff have either relatives or friends from that community. “It is something that we are very conscious of and a situation we are very conscious of. “We have tried to be very supportive but I also accept members of the community felt let down around the World Cup. “These are all very complex situations that we are trying to do our best to navigate.” Southgate told BBC Radio 5Live that it had been a straightforward decision to pick Henderson, while adding it was up to the player himself when he would address the issue. “It’s for him to decide when he’s going to speak and how he speaks,” he said. The PA news agency understands media plans for which England players will be put forward to speak at St George’s Park next week are still to be confirmed. Asked if there was anything Henderson could do to win back support of the LGBT+ community, White added: “I don’t think he can regain the trust purely because he’s now living in a country where it’s illegal to be LGBT, where the local LGBT community have to hide and live in fear of arrest, of state-sanctioned abuse. “He can’t just suddenly start going ‘Oh well, I’m engaging on LGBT rights’ because he doesn’t have the influence in the country and if he does things without listening to the likes of Amnesty International and people who know what it’s like to have to protect local LGBT people, all he’ll do is end up damaging those who are most affected by that regime.” Former Manchester United captain Harry Maguire and Manchester City midfielder Kalvin Phillips were both included in Southgate’s squad despite being yet to play a minute of club football this season. Under-21 European Championship winner Levi Colwill received his maiden formal call-up and uncapped Arsenal striker Eddie Nketiah has also got the nod for the first time, although there is no place for Chelsea forward Raheem Sterling despite a strong start to the campaign. Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Liam Smith scoffs at Chris Eubank Jr’s intelligence in heated press conference Gareth Southgate says Raheem Sterling ‘not particularly happy’ at England snub Southgate not expecting ‘adverse reaction’ from England fans to Jordan Henderson

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