Everton have not won silverware since 1995, yet under modern financial regulations they are being told to shut up and accept mid-table mediocrity.If a club outside the established elite dares to dream into breaking English football’s top tier, the current system is engineered to slam the door straight in their face.The last time Everton competed in European football was in 2017/18GettyThe Toffees were docked eight points in the 2023/24 season after breaching the Profit and Sustainability Rules – a penalty driven largely by the soaring costs of financing their new stadium.The threat of relegation could have proved fatal to the historic club’s ongoing existence.Meanwhile, Chelsea made more than £47million in secret payments to help build a team that achieved immense success – titles, domestic glory and two Champions League triumphs. Their punishment? A £10.75m fine and a transfer ban that is unlikely to come into effect.Additionally, Manchester City are still waiting to hear the final verdict of their 115 financial charges – and it has now been 21 months since a three-person commission concluded its initial hearing.Everton were dangerously close to the drop for two consecutive campaigns following their point deductions, but they have since found stability under the returning David Moyes, finishing safely in 13th for the last two seasons.It should not be forgotten that the Merseyside-based team were a part of the original ‘Big Five’ – alongside Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal, and Tottenham – that helped form the Premier League in 1992.However, they inevitably fell behind after they missed the early commercial boom and were overtaken by the billionaire owners of Chelsea and Man City.Reflecting on the glass ceiling facing historic clubs like Everton, talkSPORT’s Gabby Agbonlahor explained how they could never disrupt the status quo with the current setup.He said: “I think Everton will always be stuck in mid-table, it’s really hard now to try and challenge the top six because if you do… the rules go against you, and I’m sick of talking about it.”The harsh reality facing modern football is that under current financial regulations, ambition becomes an unsustainable habit. Once a club tastes success, they are financially penalised for attempting to maintain the spending required to remain at the top table.Everton managed to stay up twice consecutively on the final game of the season following their points deductionsGettyPerhaps, under these rules, remaining in mid-table is the safest option?Villa and Newcastle forced to sellLook no further than Aston Villa and Newcastle. Both clubs have made heroic pushes into the Champions League in recent campaigns and ended long silverware droughts.Eddie Howe guided Newcastle to the Carabao Cup and Unai Emery led Villa to Europa League glory.However, both sides have found themselves constrained by spending rules, forced to sell key players to ‘Big Six’ rivals simply to balance the books and avoid severe points deductions.Villa perspectivetalkSPORT writer and Aston Villa fan Alex Conrad says:Imagine winning a European trophy, qualifying for the Champions League, and finishing fourth in the Premier League. Pretty good, right? Now imagine the core of the squad that helped achieve all of those things has been ripped out, simply to help balance the financial books. That is, tragically, the price of success for Aston Villa. Youri Tielemans, Lucas Digne and Morgan Rogers have all departed, with Ezri Konsa set to follow them out the door. The high-profile exits may not be done just yet, with Ollie Watkins and Emi Martinez both facing uncertain futures.If losing up to six of your starting line-up is the reward for the best season in recent history, what is the point of reaching for the stars? How can clubs genuinely aspire to win the Premier League, like Richard Masters says, when the ‘Big Six’ can weaken their domestic rivals when they feel like it? Yes, there is the argument that those same teams have built strong revenue streams, and I have no issues with that. But Villa, Newcastle or any other club who boast sufficient financial and competitive strength to upset the apple cart do not deserve to have their ambitions quashed by a set of outdated financial rules. By not altering them, it only fuels the argument that the Premier League has well and truly become a closed shop.Despite these concerns, the CEO of the Premier League Richard Masters, maintained that financial restrictions do not prevent ambitious clubs from mounting title challenges.Speaking to talkSPORT, he said: “Either you take the view that there should be no financial rules, or you should be able to spend as long as you can show you can afford it – I think our league would look very different.Masters is hopeful the new squad cost ratio rules will improve the Premier LeagueGetty“Premier League clubs don’t want that, they do want financial regulation but they may all have a different version of the financial rules they would want for themselves. “Villa have been in Europe four times in a row, twice in the Champions League, they won their first trophy for a very long time, I know they would like to kick on from here but they’ve had fantastic success.“Newcastle have had a season of change, players are leaving but they signed new ones, new manager, who knows what’s going to happen. That’s the excitement of the Premier League, everyone should be able to aspire and that’s been proven in the last four to five seasons.”However, ex-Crystal Palace owner Simon Jordan questioned that defence, exposing the system as a way to force ambitious sides to dismantle their squads the moment they ‘overachieve’.The Newcastle team that won the Carabao Cup has completely changed nowGettyHe said: “Masters doesn’t get challenged properly, tell me how you can expect non big six clubs to compete. Aston Villa have been sanctioned by UEFA and they’ve had to sell their best players to balance their books. Top clubs do not have to do that.”He added: “Aston Villa have got an excellent manager that will eventually be poached by a bigger club than them. They’ll go back round in a circle. “They’ll sell their best players like Newcastle have been forced to do. Like Aston Villa have often been forced to manage their books. To manage their circumstances.Newcastle perspectivetalkSPORT writer and Newcastle fan Jack Cunningham said: PSR or SCR (or whatever stupid acronym they use these days), the true killer of dreams unless you are part of the ‘big six’.I am going to take you back to March 2025 and Newcastle United have just ended 70 years of domestic pain by winning the Carabao Cup. It is a moment that generations of Toon fans will hold onto forever, and increasingly, it is looking as if that is as good as it will get.And if that is the case, then I wouldn’t change it for anything, but when your club’s owners are worth around £320billion that first trophy should be the start of something great, a new force in the Premier League.Instead, Newcastle have sold Alexander Isak, Bruno Guimaraes and Sandro Tonali all to direct Premier League rivals, strengthening them and weakening us, forcing the club to plump for as yet, unproven talent.Now, last summer’s transfer window was a failure, with a lot of the players signed struggling in black and white, but because of some arbitrary rules about revenue dressed up to ‘protect clubs’, Newcastle have been forced to sell while we’ve seen Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United waste money, not have to sell their best players and go again.It means there are no real consequences for those clubs, while Newcastle have been essentially punished for daring to challenge the establishment, and a season of transition awaits, while those they want to catch get stronger.I am not advocating for a free-for-all as Newcastle would then blow everyone out of the water, but a relaxation in the rules to allow us to compete and create a better product with eight or nine clubs fighting for the Champions League spots and title every year would elevate the Premier League to another level.“Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester United – they don’t have to manage their books do they? They go out and spend like drunken sailors because they’ve got the turnover.“How do Newcastle or Aston Villa get a £600million turnover? They might be able to do it in ten years time when the turnover of Liverpool, Man United, Man City becomes £900million.”Everton can demand what they wantUnlike the two sides who are caught in a desperate juggling act to maintain European football, Everton have instead been stuck in neutral.Aston Villa won their first trophy since 1996, and have somehow lost four of their key players from the starting 11 in the Europa League final, with another two players looking likely to leaveTNT SportsWhile Villa secured Champions League qualification and lifted the Europa League, they fell into a severe financial bottleneck. After breaching spending thresholds, Villa were placed under a strict ‘one-in, one-out’ transfer policy via a UEFA Settlement Agreement.Emery’s side are subject to harsher restrictions of keeping their squad cost below 70 per cent of their revenue due to qualifying for European football, while Everton missed out – meaning they only have to comply with the Premier League regulatory body.Ironically, the Toffees have the ability to negotiate transfers on their own terms simply because mediocrity has protected them from the harsher European spending traps catching out top-six challengers.You don’t see Moyes selling Everton’s key assets of Iliman Ndiaye or James Garner because he is not forced to sell them and able to value his players at whatever price he wants.The Leicester warningLook at Leicester City. The Foxes pulled off the greatest miracle in modern sporting history by winning the Premier League in 2016, yet the system eventually caught up with them.Leicester have started the new season in the third tierGettyThe financial strain of trying to organically bridge the gap to the elite ultimately triggered their painful downfall to League One. If Villa or Newcastle were to break the rules, things could become nasty similarly to the previous champions of England.While the current financial framework appears setup for non ‘big six’ clubs to fail, teams must also exercise internal responsibility to ensure sustainable operation.Leicester perspectivetalkSPORT writer and Leicester fan Jack Johnson said:Leicester City were Premier League champions a decade ago and at the top of the world, toppling the Big Six and making history. But 10 years later, they’re all the way down in League One. Now, some may think that came from the strict Premier League rules and ‘making sure the Big Six aren’t beaten again’. But in Leicester’s case, it’s almost all self-inflicted. Their mismanagement of finances from the top of the club has doomed them, with monstrous losses being recorded every single year from 2021 onward. PSR rules did lead to multiple charges for the Foxes, which eventually led to a points deduction last season, however, there was not much to complain about when looking at their horror figures.While financial regulations currently seem structured to protect the traditional elite, regulators must be careful not to simply expand the hierarchy into an artificial ‘Big Eight’.Equally, ambitious clubs and owners should not be punished for wanting to invest and compete at the highest level.So… with a tongue in cheek, maybe it’s best for Everton that they don’t win anything anytime soon.