Premier League clubs have voted through changes to the competition’s Associated Party Transaction (APT) rules in a move that will see changes to how commercial deals are governed.
That means Manchester City have been defeated in their attempts to stop the new rules coming in, despite their APT victory in a tribunal earlier this year when an independent panel found aspects of the Premier League’s rules to be unlawful.
The vote took place at a meeting in London on Friday morning, with Premier League clubs taking just 30 minutes to approve the changes. The clubs voted 16 in favour and four against, with City and Aston Villa two of the sides to vote against the measure.
But what does now mean for Manchester City, as the hearing into the club’s 15 charges continues? Manchester City News spoke exclusively to GRV Media’s finance expert Adam Williams about what the outcome of the vote will mean going forward.
What today’s APT vote means for Manchester City
Williams has explained the impact this will have on City, plus the rest of the Premier League, as he doubts that there are any ‘clear winners’ from the case.
“For City, this isn’t the outcome they were hoping for and at one point seemed like they might be on track to get,” he told MCN.
“It looks like a couple of the clubs that City previously thought they might have been able to rely on have pulled their support.
“Ultimately, everyone is acting in self-interest. Ideally, Wolves and Everton would have liked to have voted with City, but it seems like the soft loans issue has meant they have had to go the other way.
- Man City 115 charges explained: Date of hearing, possible punishments and what Pep Guardiola has said
“Soft loans – that’s interest-free loans from shareholders – were collateral damage from the APT case.
“Basically, City successfully argued that soft loans should be treated as a form of subsidy and that a commercial interest rate should be applied for the purposes of PSR.
Man City’s ‘own goal’
“In this vote, City wanted that interest rate to be applied retroactively, which could have been devastating for clubs like Wolves and Everton who have substantial soft loans and who are already at the upper limit of PSR.”
“I can’t help thinking that’s a bit of an own goal from City in that they have inadvertently forced these clubs to remove themselves from the alliance they have formed.”
What it means for Man City going forward
“In terms of how the new APT rules will affect City and their ability to negotiate bigger deals with the likes of Etihad, we will have to wait until we see the actual drafting of the rules.
The Premier League has said that the databank – which is the database of all commercial deals that is used to assess the fair market value of sponsorships – will be made more accessible to clubs.
“That might give City the ammunition to get a bit more out of their deals with associated parties like Etihad, but I don’t think it will move mountains.
“I don’t think there is a clear winner from this saga. If City have won at all, it is a Pyrrhic victory. In fact, besides a few minor plusses for City, I think everyone has come out worse off in regulatory terms and with their wallets a few million pounds lighter in legal fees.”
