Everton were in ninth after taking the lead against Sunderland. By the full time whistle at Tottenham Hotspur they had endured a costly slide
Everton’s drop down the Premier League table will cost the club millions of pounds in merit payments.
At half-time in their penultimate game of the season, the Blues were leading Sunderland thanks to Merlin Rohl’s deflected strike. At that moment they sat in ninth place, separated from eighth and a place in Europe on goal difference alone.
The second-half collapse that followed, combined with the defeat to Tottenham Hotspur, left the Blues in 13th - the same position they occupied at the end of last season, and where they would have finished the previous season without being hit with points deductions.
As well as costing the club a shot at a return to Europe, the slump down the table will lead to a significant reduction in merit payments - hundreds of millions of pounds handed out to clubs depending on where they finish.
The figures set to be allocated this year have not been confirmed by the Premier League but over the past two seasons each extra place has been worth around £2.7m. Last season, ninth-placed Bournemouth earned £31.9m while 13th-placed Everton took in £21.2m - a difference of £10.7m when assessing where Everton stood during the break against the Black Cats.
The fees are expected to increase this year with the Athletic projecting the disparity between ninth and 13th will be £15m. As such, that will be £15m lost by Everton across the final 135 minutes of the season.
Such fees are just one of the knock-on effects of Everton’s slip down the table, with Europe having appeared within reach after the demolition of Chelsea in March. Seven winless games followed, meaning the club will not be one of the eight English sides in Europe next season - nine if Crystal Palace win the Europa Conference League this week.
David Moyes said a lack of European football hindered Everton’s efforts in the transfer market last summer. He will now face the same challenge over the coming months.
Another challenge will be the anti-social scheduling Everton will once again be subject to. As one of the clubs outside Europe, their schedule will have the flexibility to place them on Monday night duty - a slot they have occupied seven times this season and which has felt like a contributory factor to the club’s poor home form and initial struggle to settle at Hill Dickinson Stadium.