Everton must accept their punishment and focus on fighting relegation, Neville Southall has urged after the Toffees were hit by a ten-point deduction.
A Premier League Commission has sent the club into the dropzone after an investigation into their finances found they had breached financial fair play rules across the three-year period ending in the 2021-22 season.
Everton have said they will appeal against the decision but goalkeeper Southall, who made 578 league appearances during his 17 years at Goodison Park, believes they should move on from the most severe sanction in Premier League history if they are guilty.
"All we've got to do is galvanise the players, the manager and the fans into one, which will be a good thing for them," he told BBC Radio Five Live.
"They must appeal because that's what everyone does. It will go on until after Christmas, which will just push it further down the road.
"If I was them now I would go, 'Fair enough, let's take it now and let's finish with it'. They're playing well, they're doing OK, so there's no reason why they can't."
Everton sit 19th after the deduction, above Burnley on goal difference and only two points from safety.
Southall, 65, continued: "The Premier League isn't a great league from the bottom half down so they've got half a chance of winning that half of the league.
"It sounds harsh and it sounds horrendous, but if you broke the rules you broke the rules and you've got to suck it up and say, 'Fair enough'.
"You can look at the argument about other clubs, but at the end of the day you look after your own business and if you've done it, you've done it."
