Finance expert makes ‘fractured dressing room’ and £100m claims if Everton are relegated

Everton face a potential 'fractured changing room' should they drop out of the Premier League because of some players not having relegation clauses in their contracts.

That is the verdict of football finance expert Kieran Maguire, speaking on The Price of Football podcast.

Everton have just four matches remaining this season to retain their proud 61-year top-flight status. A 2-2 draw against Leicester City last Monday left them in the bottom three and one point adrift of safety.

A report from The Telegraph recently claimed that should the Toffees be demoted to the Championship, some players face 'significant pay cuts' while others do not need to worry. That's because Everton last summer started to plan for a 'doomsday scenario' and included relegation clauses in new signings' deals.

The Blues are said to be looking at losing circa £100 million in revenue - the majority from TV money - should they be jettisoned from the Premier League. But wage disparity could cause morale issues if they do go down, according to Maguire.

What’s been said

He said: “It comes back to decision-making. One of the decisions a club makes is the nature of contracts it offers to players. If you talk to the people at Brighton, Bournemouth and so on, we know our first objective is 17th position. Everything else, ultimately, is a bonus and if you have a good run, great.

“You're looking for 38 points realistically at the start of the season and then start to have greater ambitions. We also have to acknowledge there are now seven clubs who are never going to be relegated from the Premier League so, therefore, we're looking at three out of 13.

“There's just under a 25% chance at the start of the season of being relegated. Therefore, we need to protect the club accordingly. Steve Parish (Crystal Palace chairman) was talking recently and said even with parachute payments, we face the thick end of a £100 million reduction in our revenue. How do we deal with that? We deal with that by having relegation clauses in our contracts for players.

“Everton have not done that traditionally. That could be because of a misplaced sense of worth by the owners and they'll also point out that Everton have not been relegated for several years so we don't need that. I absolutely understand that but it would now appear that Everton, if these stories in the newspapers are correct - and we always have to take these things with a dose of salt - that what's going to happen if Everton are relegated that these players signed before summer 2022 are safe. They are locked into their contracts. Those players who have been signed since - and let the buyer beware, no-one forced the player to sign a contract - will have to take a reduction.

“Speaking to chief executives from clubs who have been through relegation, they say we can normally get a maximum of 20-25% reduction. Anything else, the player won't sign the contract. You could, therefore, end up with pretty much a split changing room. You'll have players who'll have taken a £10-20,000 per week pay cut - I'm not happy about it but I wanted to play for Everton and they're not going to be on a pauper's wages as we know.

“But then they're looking at some of their colleagues who put in performances that also contributed towards relegation - this is no way guaranteed and, ultimately, if they get two wins out of the last four games they're safe - but what happens here is you get a fractured changing room. People go: 'I've taken a pay cut, he hasn't and that's not good for morale in any way, shape or form.”