Thank you for following our live text throughout the day. We will back first thing tomorrow morning, but in the meantime, all of the latest fall out from today's news, plus the results of tonight's Fifa The Best awards, will be covered across the BBC Sport website.

To recap today's top story:

• Everton and Nottingham Forest charged with breaking financial rules by Premier League
• Why is Premier League charging clubs with breaking spending rules?

Elsewhere, Reading's owner has been urged by the English Football League to either fund the club or sell.

Everton podcaster Warren Doyle, speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live: "I hope that like it did last time it can unite the fanbase. We know Everton haven't been a well-run team, we had protests outside Goodison about this, we know things needed to change. We don't want football clubs in general, never mind Everton, to be run poorly.

"We feel it's a bit unfair what's happened to us and there seem to be no real rules or guidelines on the sanctions they've given. They've definitely picked on the wrong club. We along with the club I'm sure will put on a united front to keep Everton going where we should be."

Professor Rob Wilson
Football finance expert at Sheffield Hallam University speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live

This is clearly the Premier League looking to stave off the cause nationally for an independent regulator in football and show that they can regulate and govern the game accordingly.

This is on the backdrop of clubs going into liquidation and insolvency. It wasn't too long ago that we were talking about Bury FC. We really need to get to grips with the financial sustainability of football clubs more generally.

These two alleged breaches have hit the fans very hard. Everton used the term deficiency and I think that's a fair adjective to use when describing this additional breach. The problem of this is we've got the collapsing of two seasons of data as a consequence of Covid. Really this shouldn't happen on an ongoing basis but unfortunately for Everton they've got caught up in this post-pandemic recovery again.

Everton podcaster Warren Doyle, speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live: "Talk about kicking us when we're down. Do you remember when we used to talk about players who had goals and skill? Now all we seem to do is talk about finance and we don't really want to be talking about.

"It's been a kick in the guts again today. We're still feeling the effects of the sanction earlier in the season. A lot of fans will be worried about the sanction today and where that will lead us.

"The timeline will say we won't find out until later this season what this punishment is. It's a lot of waiting, a lot of worry, to add to what us Everton fans have had.

"I hope the Nottingham Forest fans understand how we've been feeling recently and what we've had to go through. It's worrying times."

Reading Football Club

Elsewhere, another big story has broken this afternoon involving Reading.

Reading owner Dai Yongge must either "fund the club adequately" or "make immediate arrangements to sell", the English Football League has said.

The Chinese businessman has been fined a further £50,000 for failing to meet financial deadlines over wages.

Royals fans forced the abandonment of Saturday's League One match with Port Vale in protest at Dai's ownership.

Read the full story here.

Everton boss Sean Dyche said on Sunday that he was unaware if the club were facing a new charge regarding an alleged breach of the Premier League's financial rules.

Them and Nottingham Forest have been charged over alleged Profit and Sustainability breaches.

Everton are appealing against a 10-point deduction from a previous charge.

"You don't know until you know," Dyche said.

"The last time, the news came out of the blue. I'll explain further if and when the news comes through."

BBC Sport has a dedicated Everton page packed with news, analysis and fan views - get it here

Image source, Getty Images

In case you've just joined us, here is today's top story.

The Premier League has charged Everton and Nottingham Forest with breaching its financial rules.

Both clubs have been referred to an independent commission for alleged breaches of profit and sustainability rules in their accounts for 2022-23.

Under Premier League regulations, clubs can lose a maximum of £105m over a three-season period, or £35m per campaign, before facing sanctions.

Clubs that breach those rules are at risk of a fine or a points deduction.

Everton are currently appealing against a 10-point deduction from a previous charge.

The Premier League said in a statement that Everton and Nottingham Forest "have each confirmed that they are in breach of the league's profitability and sustainability rules".

• READ MORE: Everton and Nottingham Forest charged with breaking financial rules by Premier League.

Image source, Getty Images

Simon Stone
BBC Sport

Nottingham Forest's statement around their Premier League financial breach was exceptionally low key.

It seems like a pre determined tactic not to stir the pot and annoy the decision makers.

It is thought one of their defences will be arguing their sale of Brennan Johnson to Tottenham was delayed until after the 30 June reporting deadline in order to maximise the transfer fee they could generate.

It remains to be seen whether the argument will cut any ice with the commission when it hears the case at the beginning of April.

A knee-jerk response from those assessing profit and sustainability charges tends to be 'what about Manchester City?'.

City were charged in February 2023 with over 100 offences relating to their spending, which date back to 2009 and include allegations of hidden payments and non-co-operation. It is thought unlikely there will be a resolution until the end of the 2024-25 season.

Because these are historic charges, over multiple years, all of which are contested, the case is fundamentally different to the recently announced ones which are regarded as more straightforward, with the arguments over breaches likely to centre around differences of opinion over actual spending or the amounts that can be claimed back.

Alex Howell
BBC Sport

Chelsea have always believed that they are compliant with football's financial rules, even with the massive outlay on transfers over the past 18 months under the Clearlake ownership group.

The Blues have spent around £1bn on incoming players but the way they have gone about it has changed the way transfers are dealt with in the Premier League.

The offering of extra-long term contracts, for example the Enzo Fernandez eight-year deal following his £106m transfer, meant that the club could stretch the payment of the fee over the length of his contract.

That tactic is called 'amortisation' and after Chelsea did it with a number of their signings, Premier League clubs have voted to limit the time a club can spread the cost of a transfer over the players contract to five years.

Chelsea would also point to the £450m in player sales that they have brought into the club. The selling of academy graduates, such as Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Mason Mount and the loan deal involving Lewis Hall has seen the club be able to put a huge amount of ‘pure profit’ in their books.

Conor Gallagher has been linked with a move away and if the club were needing to get some financial breathing room they would have the option to sell Gallagher, Ian Maatsen and Armando Broja.

Everton were charged in March 2023 over alleged profit and sustainability breaches. Their hearing wasn't held until October. They were deducted 10 points in November and have appealed against the punishment.

Last spring, the clubs threatened with relegation over that period - Nottingham Forest, Southampton, Leeds, Leicester - and Burnley, who had been relegated at Everton's expense the season before threatened legal action because the potential punishment was not going to impact the period when the rules were said to have been broken.

In response to this, the Premier League brought in new rules which meant clubs had to make their P&S submissions by 31 December. Any charges have to be brought within 14 days (that would have been a Sunday, which is why the announcement has come today).

Any hearing has to be concluded within 12 weeks, or 8 April. There is an appeals process, which means the new cases may not be concluded before the final Premier League games are played on 19 May. However, any points deduction would apply to this season's table.

Linda: Financial rules aren't fit for purpose anymore. They just allow the big 6 to spend what they like and punish anyone else who dares to compete. Put an annual transfer cap on every club, make it fair.

Simon: There's something wrong with FFP and P&S rules. It's not encouraging competition its creating a closed shop which is almost impossible to challenge and needs changing before it kills the game. What is the point in trying? Where is the hope?

Matt: If football wants parity introduce salary caps. Otherwise let the clubs and owners spend what they want and reap the rewards or the downfalls accordingly.

The Premier League’s profitability and sustainability rules were introduced in 2015-16, although the demand to 'do something' to save clubs from overspending can be traced back to Portsmouth who, in 2010 became the first - and so far only - Premier League club to go into administration after failing to find a buyer who would pay off spiralling debts of around £60m.

The current rules limit the losses clubs are allowed to make, although the figure can be inflated by external owner driven funding.

However, the rules are due to be switched so, like UEFA, spending is linked to turnover. Opponents of the rules argue they prevent significant investment from wealthy backers and, by definition, maintains the status quo of the biggest clubs remaining the richest and most successful.

It's been difficult for Everton fans of late.

They were docked 10 points for breaching the Premier League’s financial rules earlier this season.

The Toffees were handed the punishment - the biggest in Premier League history - by an independent commission in November.

The club have lodged their appeal with the Premier League's judicial panel, and the appeal will be heard and concluded before the end of this season.

Now they've been charged with another breach of the rules.

It all comes after a turbulent 2022-23 campaign featuring the sacking of Frank Lampard, off-pitch protests, and escaping relegation by just two points.

• Everton: The inside story of a turbulent 2022-23 season for the Toffees - BBC Sport
• Everton receive 10-point deduction for financial rules breach

Image source, Getty Images