Talk of takeovers, FFP, and deductions might lead to a football match between Everton and Manchester United.

Now that international football is on hold until March, this weekend marks the return of the Premier League, which promises to be a grand feast to quell domestic football fever.

A match between Everton and Manchester United on Super Sunday would be a true highlight and a suitable representative of the ‘Best League in the World,’ especially in light of the events of the past few weeks.

To be fair, we should give the league, clubs, and media outlets credit for their excellent work during the most recent protracted hiatus from club play; it has helped us focus on things other than the numerous qualifications that are dead rubber and Jordan Henderson’s most recent embarrassing international cap.

The extraordinary 10-point deduction Everton received for violating the Premier League’s profit and sustainability regulations was undoubtedly the talking point of the day. It was determined that the Toffees had lost £19.5 million over a three-year period, exceeding the £105 million cap.

“Shocked” by the ruling, Everton announced in a club statement that they will “also monitor in with great interest the decisions made in any other cases” in addition to filing an appeal. Translated roughly, it means that Chelsea and Manchester City will be under observation.

More revelations surfaced during the break regarding Roman Abramovich’s alleged unlawful activities while running Chelsea, which the team has self-reported since Clearlake acquired the team in 2022. The Blues have already received a modest fine from UEFA for violating Financial Fair Play regulations, but the Premier League’s potential punishment would chill everyone at Stamford Bridge.

Like it will at the Etihad Stadium, that is. Following the publication’s freedom of information request, The Athletic revealed this week that it had read emails obtained from the UK Foreign Office and that the league had “agreed to settle their differences” with Saudi Arabia and the Public Investment Fund in order to allow the takeover of Newcastle United to “go ahead” – with “legal binding assurances” of no state influence.

In their defense, City says they have “irrefutable evidence,” but if that’s the case, why wouldn’t they cooperate with the league’s investigation—Everton, to be fair—and try to stall the proceedings? Why would they want 115 charges to loom large over the club’s accomplishments like a menacing cloud and the love child of an asterisk?

With the United Arab Emirates (UAE) being a commercial partner of the United Kingdom and a fund supported by them attempting to acquire the Daily Telegraph (a move that even some Tory MPs are opposing), can comparable “differences” be resolved to prevent geopolitical fallout, or are we in for an English football equivalent of Lance Armstrong? What an awful string of phrases that is.

Everton’s problems are also somewhat geopolitical (what Premier League team isn’t affected by geopolitics?). Alisher Usmanov, a Russian oligarch who has been a longstanding business partner and benefactor of owner Farhad Moshiri, is one of the many Russian oligarchs that have been sanctioned following Vladimir Putin’s unlawful invasion of Ukraine.

As a result, the team was compelled to sever connections with USM Holdings, the club’s primary sponsor, who supported Everton’s women’s squad, training facility, and Goodison Park matchdays. Additionally, the company had purchased the exclusive naming rights to the new stadium at Bramley Moore-Dock, which was expected to generate a sum of money in the nine figures to assist with building costs.

Since then, smaller agreements have been reached, but no large-scale replacement for naming rights has been secured. Once more, it raises the question of how any of these individuals are permitted to play in English football and how international events and the deeds of despots and dictators may control football teams, supporters, and their destiny.

The explanation is straightforward: money. Since the Premier League’s creation in the middle to late 1990s, commercialism has dominated all aspects of English football. This explains how Abramovich and Abu Dhabi were able to enter without any questions asked in 2003 and 2008, respectively, and explains why the 2004 “fit and proper owner test” is so pliable and easily manipulated.

It also explains why the Big Six were fined a pitiful £22 million in total following their scandalous and disorganized attempt to enter the European Super League. What a crazy two days that was.

If they did it again, harsher penalties were assured—that should teach them a lesson! It demonstrated how meaningless the idea of self-government is and how enthralling the league is to these clubs. The timing of City’s charges, which followed a four-year probe, with the government’s announcement of proposals for an independent regulator is not coincidental. nor that Everton was treated with such gravity.

Given that Jermain Defoe, Portsmouth, and Spurs allegedly “dealt with an unlicensed agent during the negotiations” for the player’s return to North London in January 2009, let’s see what happens with them as well. The FA has since revisited the investigation. Insert references to a can of worms or a Pandora’s box being opened as needed.

The takeovers of City, Chelsea, and Newcastle have clearly helped them succeed on the field; however, the same cannot be said for Everton or United, who have both been badly managed by Moshiri and the Glazer family, respectively.

The Toffees’ financial difficulties were caused by frivolous spending, but United has a well-established habit of throwing things at the wall and seeing what sticks.

United has had five permanent managers, three caretakers, and one interim manager since Sir Alex Ferguson retired in 2013. After seven years of Moshiri control, Everton has somehow become even more capricious, with seven permanent managers (and four caretakers).

Given that American investment firm 777 is considering purchasing the club, the number seven seems appropriate. Since its establishment in 2015, those investors have been the subject of serious inquiries and accusations of fraud. Josh Wander, another co-founder, entered a plea of not guilty to a narcotics allegation in 2003. Everything was extremely healthy, and there was one real “beefed up” owners’ and directors’ exam.

Conversely, United is on the approach of having Sir Jim Ratcliffe assume “sporting control,” whatever that implies, by acquiring 25% of the club’s shares. Although the fans of the Glazers do not want to be completely exiled, this is a positive step in the right direction and far preferable to any government intervention, even in light of the fact that Hamas houses and funds Qataris, and that is just the beginning of their violations of human rights.

The two prospective owners/investors already own clubs: Ratcliffe’s Lausanne-Sport, Nice, Genoa, Standard Liege, and a minority interest in Sevilla for 777. It will introduce even more ownership structures involving many clubs to the Premier League, which recently decided to approve loan agreements between these sister clubs.

I mean, really, could English football possibly have any more problems?

It is a shame that the fanbases of Everton and United, two of the original “Big Five” who spearheaded the secession to form the Premier League in 1992, have been so mistreated by the very body tasked with safeguarding them, as well as by the Football Association and the British governments. In football, leveraged buyouts are no longer permitted, mostly as a result of the Glazers’ takeover of United.

With everything going on, it’s easy to forget that this Sunday’s game of association football is actually happening at Goodison Park, where there will undoubtedly be a boisterous crowd. Everton needs to win to begin their season, while United needs to win to begin theirs. Oddly enough, both teams need to win.

With 10 points in the last five league games, Erik ten Hag’s team has managed to accumulate the most points out of any team in the league. Given how important these points could be, Everton has started to resemble a legitimate Sean Dyche team. To add to the oddities surrounding both clubs, the two teams have the identical goal differential (-3), even though they are 13 positions apart (United in sixth, Everton in 19th).

This tells you everything you need to know about the current status of English football: regardless of what transpires in a match between two of the most illustrious and historic clubs in the nation, events at the ownership level and in courtrooms/commission hearings in the upcoming weeks will ultimately receive greater attention.