So this is what football looks like in the season 2023-24 — the year of the pencil. Of the lightly drawn asterisk. Of the draconian sanctions that might be terminal to a campaign, but could also be rubbed away in a hearing and no hard feelings.
We don’t know how the situations with Everton and Nottingham Forest will play out. We don’t know if those charges issued by the Premier League on Monday will translate into deductions, just as we don’t know if Everton’s original 10-point penalty will diminish, disappear or endure in its entirety via the appeal process.