The Premier League is moving to make changes to elements of its financial rules to ensure they comply with competition and public law.
An emergency shareholders’ meeting has been called for next Thursday after an arbitration tribunal declared that some of the Premier League’s Associated Party Transaction (APT) rules were unlawful and procedurally unfair.
Manchester City had challenged the legality of the APT rules after they were tightened following a vote of the 20 member clubs in February.
The Premier League has written to its 20 member clubs to tell them they will be updated on Monday about next week’s plans.
In a 175-page report published this week, the tribunal of three retired judges determined the APT rules were unlawful because they did not cover loans made to clubs by shareholders.
Clubs have provided the league with details of their shareholder loans over the past few days as proposals are drawn up to amend the APT rules.
The rules were introduced in 2021 to stop clubs boosting their revenue by signing inflated commercial and sponsorship deals with companies connected to their owners and shareholders. Clubs, including City, voted against incorporating shareholder loans in the rules.
City believe all the APT rules are now void following the tribunal’s findings, while the Premier League says the panel of three retired judges “endorsed the overall objectives, framework and decision-making of the APT system”.
The league thinks it can comply with competition and public law by changing the existing rules but City have warned against such a course of action.
Next week’s meeting is likely to see the 20 clubs divide into the same groupings which lined up behind City or the Premier League at the two-week arbitration hearing in June.
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Chelsea, Newcastle and Everton acted as witnesses for City in the hearing, while the Premier League was supported by Arsenal, Manchester United, Liverpool, Tottenham, Brighton, West Ham, Brentford, Bournemouth, Wolves and Fulham.
The hearing into City’s alleged 115 breaches of the Premier League’s financial rules is continuing at the International Dispute Resolution Centre in St Paul’s.
Source : Sky Sports
