Premier League call emergency meeting as Newcastle United & PIF eagerly await outcome
The Premier League is set to host an emergency meeting next week to discuss potential changes to Associated Party Transaction (APT) rules.
On Monday afternoon, shockwaves were sent through English football after Manchester City claimed to have won their legal fight against the Premier League’s APT rules, which were introduced in the wake of Newcastle United’s £305million takeover by the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia three years ago.
In the legal case that is separate to the hearing into Man City's 115 alleged breaches of Premier League financial rules, the Etihad outfit argued APT rules are unlawful and are being used to stifle their success, and are therefore seeking “damages for the losses.
A two-week arbitration hearing, where Newcastle gave evidence supporting the case, was heard in private in June in front of an independent panel - and Man City have claimed a victory.
“Following today’s publication of the Rule X Arbitral Tribunal Award, Manchester City Football Club thanks the distinguished members of the Arbitral Tribunal for their work and considerations and welcomes their findings,” a statement read.
“The Club has succeeded with its claim: the Associated Party Transaction (APT) rules have been found to be unlawful and the Premier League’s decisions on two specific MCFC sponsorship transactions have been set aside.
“The Tribunal found that both the original APT rules and the current, (amended) APT Rules violate UK competition law and violate the requirements of procedural fairness. The Premier League was found to have abused its dominant position.
“The Tribunal has determined both that the rules are structurally unfair and that the Premier League was specifically unfair in how it applied those rules to the Club in practice.
“The rules were found to be discriminatory in how they operate, because they deliberately excluded shareholder loans.
“As well as these general findings on legality, the Tribunal has set aside specific decisions of the Premier League to restate the fair market value of two transactions entered into by the Club.
“The tribunal held that the Premier League had reached the decisions in a procedurally unfair manner.
“The Tribunal also ruled that there was an unreasonable delay in the Premier League’s fair market value assessment of two of the Club’s sponsorship transactions, and so the Premier League breached its own rules.”
As a result, Premier League will invite all 20 clubs to an emergency meeting next week to discuss the extent to which it will need to change its rules.
And any potential changes could benefit Newcastle and their PIF owners amid their ambition to compete with the ‘top six’ both on and off the pitch, and comply with Premier League Premier League Profitability and Sustainability Rules (PSR).
At this stage, however, the devil is still very much in the detail.