‘They want to’ - Arsenal legend issues scathing attack on Newcastle United and Man City

An arbitration panel declared Associated Party Transaction rules - introduced by the top flight following Newcastle United’s takeover - to be “unlawful” earlier this week. Despite this, the Premier League were ambiguous about what happens next, seemingly declaring their own victory.

Toon chiefs are understood to be closely keeping tabs on the situation - with many predicting the outcome could “supercharge” the Saudi-backed takeover. Current APT rules force sponsorship deals that involve close ties to be of “fair market value” - decided by the Premier League board.

An example would be Newcastle’s front-of-shirt agreement with Sela, also owned by the Public Investment Fund. The potential for the Magpies to strike further deals with Saudi Arabian companies could help alleviate FFP/PSR pressures.

Speaking to The Overlap, former Arsenal striker Wright bemoaned how clubs struggle to compete against those owned by Gulf states. That is despite current financial regulations allowing established Premier League heavyweights more wiggle room on the balance sheet.

“For them to want associated partners to be able to just sponsor and say whatever they want without saying well it doesn’t cost that much,” Wright said. “It’s crazy. You can’t allow that. It would be crazy. You can do anything you want. That’s what they want. They want to be able to do anything.

“That (being allowed to inflate deals with associated parties) shouldn’t have happened in the first place - and this is the problem. We’ve gone 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 have you got? Of course, they want more, because they’ve got more. They want to put more in, they’re going to find any way they can to put more into their team.”