Manchester City have been in the headlines for the recent verdict that has emerged about their battle with the Premier League over their Associated Party Transactions (APT) rules.
Manchester City released an official statement on their website claiming that they “succeeded” in their claim as the rules in place were found to be “unlawful.”
Damningly, the statement also claimed that “the Premier League was found to have abused its dominant position.”
One of City’s claims is that two of their sponsorship deals were held off and yet, club owners providing shareholder loans were “deliberately excluded” from the APT rules.
The Premier League’s official website also released a statement, claiming that Manchester City were “unsuccessful in the majority of its challenge.”
However, it was acknowledged in the statement that some of the rules in place “do not comply”, in their current form with UK competition and public law requirements.
Wright shares his honest verdict on Man City after ATP rules challenge
It seems like both parties are confident that largely, they have emerged victorious.
The Daily Mail reported that City had unequivocally triumphed in their challenge of the APT rules, claiming that Chelsea, Newcastle United and Everton were in support of the Premier League winners.
The rules were put in place in 2021 after Newcastle takeover by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) and since then, they have been active with Manchester City challenging them earlier this year.
The Sky Blues are in one of two legal battles with the Premier League as the club’s alleged 115 financial breaches are not related to their challenge of the APT rules in their current form.
On The Overlap’s Stick To Football, the situation was being discussed by a panel of Ian Wright, Gary Neville, Wayne Rooney, Roy Keane and Jill Scott.
Wright was left baffled by Pep Guardiola’s side cannot simply comply with the Premier League’s rules.
“Listen, every law or anything that can be changed or rules, it has to be the clubs. It’s the clubs that change what’s going on so I can’t understand why City can’t get involved with this democratic system. Why do they want it changed?”
“And then the Premier League get a lot of stick about the fact that, oh, it’s the Premier League versus City. City have to get in line with everybody else.”
“For them to want associated partners to just sponsor and say what they want without…it can’t cost that much surely, it’s crazy! You can’t allow that. It’d be crazy. You can do anything you want.”
Ian Wright explained why he reckons Manchester City wish to challenge the APT rules, saying: “That’s what they want. They want to be able to do anything.”
“That shouldn’t have happened in the first place and this is the problem we went down the road of countries owning football clubs and they want to do what they do. It used to be business against business. Now it’s business against country.”
“What chance do you got? Of course they want more because they’ve got more. They want to buy more, they want to put more in, they’re going to find any way they can to put more in.”
What Manchester City general counsel said about APT challenge
Simon Cliff, Manchester City’s general counsel had his say on the club’s challenge of the APT rules.
Cliff was quoted by The Guardian: “Regrettably, the [Premier League’s] summary is misleading and contains several inaccuracies.”
“While it is true that Manchester City did not succeed with every point that it ran in its legal challenge, the club did not need to prove that the APT rules are unlawful for lots of different reasons. It is enough that they are unlawful for one reason. In the event, the tribunal found the APT rules are unlawful for three different sets of reasons.”
“Given the findings in the award, this is the time for careful reflection and consideration by all clubs, and not for a kneejerk reaction.”
“Such an unwise course would be likely to lead to further legal proceedings with further legal costs. It is critical for member clubs to feel that they can have trust in their regulator.”
“When the Premier League consulted on and proposed the original APT Rules in late 2021, we pointed out that the process (which took several weeks) was rushed, ill-thought-out and would result in rules that were anti-competitive. The recent award has validated those concerns entirely.
“The tribunal has declared the APT rules to be unlawful. Manchester City’s position is that this means that all of the APT rules are void, and have been since 2021.”
Simon Cliff also stressed that if the rules are imminently changed, that should be “of even greater concern” to the clubs.
