Everton manager Sean Dyche has said that he is “pleased to have got something back” after the club’s points deduction for breaching Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR) in the three-year period to 2021-22 was revised on appeal this week and admitted that the clarity should help improve the form of the team.
The initial 10-point deduction, which was handed to Everton in November, was reduced to six with immediate effect on Monday and that instantly lifted Dyche’s team out of the relegation zone and into 15th place, five points above the bottom three.
Although Everton face another points deduction for a further alleged breach — which must be heard by April 8, but any appeal could extend the process to May 24, the week after the season ends — Dyche said this week’s judgement was beneficial for the whole club.
“We’re pleased we got something back. You’re always greedy, aren’t you? Want more,” Dyche said. “The points the club made have obviously been listened to and we got four points back.
“We’ll take that and it brings clarity to the situation, which is good for us, good for the players, but good for all actually.
“There’s nothing we can do [about the second case] at this time. The main focus was on this appeal and what came from it. The line’s drawn under that now, the players are clear of that, we’ll take on the rest of the season at this time and with an open mind.”
There had been signs that the appeal, which dragged on for over two months, was beginning to impact the performances of the team, who went on a four-game winning run in the Premier League in December but are now without a victory in their last nine league outings.
“The word galvanised was used early on but I didn’t think we needed that,” the Everton manager added. “I thought performance levels were good but it does start to creep in eventually. But to give the players credit, it took a long time for that to happen.
“We were all waiting and the noise gets bigger and bigger and they are thinking ‘When’s it [the decision] coming?’ The players hear all that. So I have a lot of respect for the playing group, they have done well to bat it away and stay focused on the job in hand. Now the line is drawn and we crack on.”
'We know we have to score more'
It would be an opportune time for Everton to pick up their first three points of the calendar year when they host West Ham United on Saturday and end a positive week with a further triumph in front of a home crowd.
Eighth-placed West Ham ended their own winless run by putting four goals past Brentford and should Everton get the better of the visitors this weekend then an upturn in their own goalscoring fortunes will be needed.
Everton have scored six goals across their nine-match winless sequence and Dyche is conscious of the need to improve that tally.
Asked how his struggling strikers can rediscover their goal-getting, he replied: “By what we do in training. Finding different ways to create chances, although I think we have done that over the course of the season. The moment of truth is putting the ball in the net.
“They know that. I don’t have to keep reminding them. The strikers know. The midfielders know. The wide players know. They know where it’s at. It’s our responsibility to keep getting the team to force those chances.”