'No deterrent' - Hatters chief says Everton 'punishment doesn't fit the crime'

Luton Town chief executive Gary Sweet feels Everton's punishment for breaching financial regulations "doesn't fit the crime".

On Monday it was announced the Toffees would be deducted two points for breaking Premier League profit and sustainability rules.

Everton's second points deduction of the season sees them sitting two points and two places above the Hatters, who are in the relegation zone on goal difference.

Speaking to BBC Radio Three Counties, Sweet said: "It's quite astonishing really. One of the things that disappoints me is that the independent commission that value the level of the penalty clearly hasn't looked into it too deeply.

"If you look at what clubs do, we spend hundreds of thousands of pounds in data analytics to recruit the right players who are going to give us the goals, give us the points and defend the goals. So we know the value of a goal and the value of a point in monetary terms.

"If we know then it is not beyond the wit of man with such important decisions like this for an independent party to come up with that kind of data analysis to value an overspend amount and convert to points - and it is never two. It is much higher than two.

"From that perspective [I am] really disappointed that it is that little. The punishment simply doesn't fit the crime and ultimately what that means is it doesn’t become a deterrent."

Nottingham Forest - who are level on points with Luton - were also docked four points for financial breaches. Both them and Everton are in appeal processes.

"If you look at the Forest four [points] – which I was also disappointed with – two points off for co-operating is ridiculous," added Sweet. "You should have had two point added if you didn't co-operate - it should have been six.

"This is Everton's second time, albeit a smaller level - so it should certainly be a greater amount, but it is not for me to say how many that should be.

"As a club that has gone through a 30-point deduction for something I see as relatively less, then it is somewhere between the two. It has to be a punishment level that is a real deterrent."

Listen to the full interview on BBC Sounds