Sean Dyche welcomes ‘clarity’ after Everton were handed back four points following deduction and backs players to move on – but admits ‘you are always greedy and want more’ with six points still docked

Sean Dyche says Everton and the rest of the football world have finally received clarity and can move on after the club was awarded four points out of the ten points deducted for financial violations on appeal.

The Toffees were docked 10 points in November for breaching the Premier League’s Profit and Sustainability (PSR) rules and exceeding the allowable losses of £105 million over a rolling three-year period by £19.5 million. This was reduced to six points on appeal this week.

Dyche had spoken out about how Everton were unable to reach a settlement as the case and subsequent appeal hung over them, with uncertainty preventing them and other clubs from predicting how many points they would need to achieve targets this season.

But the Everton boss now says he is happy with clarity. “We’re obviously happy to have gotten something back,” Dyche said this afternoon, ahead of the club’s match against West Ham at Goodison Park on Saturday.

‘You are always greedy and want more and more, but the points the club has put forward have been listened to and we have the four points back. We will take that with us and now it brings clarity to the situation, which is good for us and the players, but actually good for everyone.

Everton were awarded ten points in November for overspending, but four points were returned following an appeal

“Anything that helps provide a lift of any kind is good news.” Performance has remained solid, obviously we didn’t get the wins we wanted. Getting four back is a form of – boost is not the right word – but the adjustment to the table that is now becoming clear was necessary.

‘Everyone thought 10 was hard in the first place. Some would argue that perhaps we expected more in return. It’s done now and that’s all we were looking for. We wanted the points back, but the most important thing was clarity.

‘For us, but especially for everyone, we thought it was an “interesting” period.’ Everton of course have a second charge on the horizon, but Dyche insists the club is not thinking about that and is just focusing on moving forward.

He added: “There is nothing we can do about (the second case) at this point. The emphasis was mainly on this call and what resulted from it. We have certainly parked that now because it has become a fact: a line has been drawn under it and the players are clear about it.

‘We will approach the rest of the season with an open mind. The word galvanized was used because I didn’t think we needed it, but eventually it starts to creep in. To be fair to these players, it took a long time for that to happen.

“We wanted the points back, but the most important thing was to bring clarity,” Dyche explained

‘We were all waiting, the sound gets bigger and bigger – “when is it coming?” – and the players hear all that and I thought they’ve remained pretty steadfast in terms of performance levels. I have a lot of respect for the playing group, because all the outside noise eventually creeps in.

“And they did a good job of putting it aside and staying focused on the job at hand. The rankings look different and now it’s about using that wisely and moving forward. I thought it was starting to creep in the last few games, but the line has been drawn and we’re moving forward.”