GRAEME SOUNESS: Liverpool will empathise with Everton after the Toffees’ 10-point deduction for breaching sustainability rules… The city unites very quickly if there’s a sense of injustice

• Mail Sport has launched a campaign to help stamp out abuse of match officials 
• CHRIS SUTTON: Everton players must keep their heads – It’s All Kicking Off 
• Have you witnessed abuse of referees? Contact [email protected]

I worked in the city of Liverpool for nine years and know it as a place that unites very quickly when there is a sense of injustice.

That is why I believe that many Liverpool supporters will not enjoy, one bit, the way that Everton have been treated by the Premier League with that 10-point deduction. And of course, the reaction of Everton fans speaks for itself. I think Everton can rightly feel aggrieved, when there are charges hanging over the head of another club.

The Premier League charged Everton with breaches of sustainability rules in March and within eight months have now imposed a tough punishment. Yet they have been investigating Manchester City over breaches of the same rules for five years, also charged them in March, and have not even got to the point where a commission will sit down and examine the evidence. It could be years before that case is dealt with.

The Premier League have also known since 2022 that Chelsea might be in breach of sustainability rules, after new financial information came to light when Todd Boehly bought that club.

I accept that there has been one charge facing Everton, while the City case is far more complex. But what is the delay when it comes to City or Chelsea either clearing themselves or facing whatever punishment might come their way? Why, after five years, is that not happening with City?

Everton have been handed a 10-point deduction by the Premier League for breaching sustainability rules

Their arch foes Liverpool will likely be able to empathise with the Toffees despite the rivalry

Mail Sport’s Graeme Souness spent nine years living in Liverpool playing for the Reds

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From the outside looking in, the Premier League seem to have turned around and made up their mind very quickly about Everton — while it is a different story for clubs with far deeper pockets. This looks a whole lot like smart, expensive lawyers kicking the cans down the road. One rule for the wealthiest clubs and another rule for those with a lot less money to throw at the job of defending themselves.

I do think that the points deduction will consolidate Everton and unite their dressing room. I firmly believe they will get out of this, despite being dropped to a position one above the bottom club, Burnley.

I have been critical of Everton in the past 12 months and didn’t think they had made any obvious improvements last season under Sean Dyche. But somehow, Sean has come up with a way of winning games and keeping his better players fit. He deserves full credit for that. That Everton team looks like one that no one would enjoy playing against, right now, because they are full of beans. They are quite a direct team. They make it a physical encounter, which I love.

They need to keep their key men fit to get out of this predicament. There’s been an over-reliance on Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s goals and he has had fitness issues. I like what Abdoulaye Doucoure and Amadou Onana have brought in midfield, while James Tarkowski at the back seems to be a really solid citizen, who puts his head where most people don’t want to put their feet. A real warrior-type. So, yes, I think they will be fine.

For me, as a Liverpool player, games across Stanley Park at Goodison held no fears. You have to remember who the respective two teams were, back then. For all of my time at Anfield, we were the dominant ones. But there has always been a fabulous atmosphere inside that grand old stadium and it will be increasingly the case in the weeks ahead.

That sting of injustice will only make Evertonians come out in bigger numbers and display even more passion for their club.

They used to call matches between us and them ‘the friendly derby’ when I was playing — even though it wasn’t so friendly on the pitch.

You would actually see a blue section of the Kop, back then. It’s no longer the case, of course, yet I do believe there will still be some empathy, club for club. You don’t take on Merseyside lightly. I fully expect Everton, one of the great clubs of English football, to be fortified and push on.

The sting of perceived injustice will only make Evertonians come out in bigger numbers

Sean Dyche has turned Everton into a physical side which few teams will want to face

REDS’ GOAL THREAT IS SECOND TO NONE 

Liverpool are quietly going about their business, with no one making any pronouncements about them as potential champions, which is just the way Jurgen Klopp will like it before their match at Manchester City on Saturday.

People are talking about what they don’t have, more than what they actually do have, though for me, they are a very dangerous outfit.

I don’t feel they are getting the best out of Alexis Mac Allister yet, as a holding midfielder. And I don’t know that Wataru Endo, their Japan midfielder, is the answer in the long term. But they definitely are a team with more goalscorers than anyone else. 

At Liverpool, you’ve got Luis Diaz. You’ve got Darwin Nunez. You’ve got Diogo Jota. You’ve got Cody Gakpo. And of course, you’ve got the main man, Mo Salah, who has not remotely had his head turned by the huge amounts of money Saudi Arabia were offering.

When you have that many goalscorers in your team, you don’t have to be playing brilliantly every week to be winning games. They sit a point behind City after 17 games, despite being the club without a Gulf state sovereign wealth fund at their disposal.

There has been talk about Sir Jim Ratcliffe following the recruitment model of Arsenal and Manchester City when he takes over the football side of things at Manchester United. 

Well, I’m sorry, but I don’t think you need look any further than Liverpool’s recruitment model, given their net spend compared with the rest. The numbers tell the story. Pep Guardiola’s net spend has been £550million. Jurgen’s has been £128m. Liverpool are who Ratcliffe should be looking at.

Whoever wins in east Manchester will strike a first blow and put other teams under a bit more pressure. But nothing is decided by who wins or loses on a weekend in late November.

The Reds’ goal threat is second to none with the likes of Mohamed Salah (centre) and Darwin Nunez (right) among their ranks up front

REF ABUSE IS A SAD REFLECTION OF OUR SOCIETY 

I have read a lot about respect this week. For me, the lack of that quality is at the heart of the stories which have been told in these pages about what officials at football’s grassroots find themselves dealing with. 

GET IN TOUCH 

We want to hear from refs who have been abused – or parents who have witnessed atrocious behaviour on the touchline

Email us at: [email protected]

I can’t say I have witnessed the abuse those referees are up against but some of the stuff I hear about bewilders me. 

One of the things that has astounded me in recent weeks was fire crews turning up at a Bonfire Night event to find people hurling live fireworks at them and abusing them. 

I’m really not quite sure what that says about our society. Is it just where we are right now, with so little respect for all those in authority?

Why would you make a fireman’s job more difficult when he is there to do a public service? 

People trying to save lives being physically abused? Explain to me how that happened. 

I’m sad to say it is a reflection of where we are as a society and I suspect that is what we may be witnessing on municipal football fields.

Mail Sport has launched a campaign to stop the abuse of referees to help boost the game

Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta is one of 15 Premier League managers to be booked this season

Rhys Baldwin (left) and George Sleigh are two young referees who have quit due to abuse

HEARTWARMING GENEROSITY OF A MAIL READER 

I was touched to open an envelope addressed to me, via the Daily Mail’s offices, and find a cheque inside for £100 made out to ‘Isla c/o Graeme Souness’. No accompanying letter. Just that wonderful gesture from a reader. Followers of this column will know of my young friend Isla Grist, who is contending with unimaginable pain as she lives with the condition epidermolysis bullosa, also known as ‘butterfly skin’.

The £4.5million that a team of us raised earlier this year in a cross-Channel swim has allowed my charity Debra to fund the first drug-repurposing clinical trial to help people like Isla, but the fundraising effort goes on. To that anonymous reader — thank you, from the bottom of my heart.

To make a donation, go to: donate.giveasyoulive.com and search for Debra

IT’S ALL KICKING OFF! 

It’s All Kicking Off is an exciting new podcast from Mail Sport that promises a different take on Premier League football.

It is available on MailOnline, Mail+, YouTube, Apple Music and Spotify.

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