Latest Leicester City news from LeicestershireLive as fallout continues after tribunal verdict, with Manchester City now claiming rules are unlawful. Manchester City have accused the Premier League of “misleading” teams in a legal lawsuit involving top-flight marketing arrangements. On Monday night, City wrote to the other 19 clubs and the league, including Leicester City, to question the outcome’s interpretation and to assert that all associated party transaction (APT) laws were now void.
“Regrettably, the summary is misleading and contains several inaccuracies,” wrote the club’s general counsel, Simon Cliff, in an email obtained by the PA news agency. “Of even greater concern, however, is the Premier League’s suggestion that new APT rules should be passed within the next 10 days.”When the Premier League consulted on and proposed the first APT measures in late 2021, we argued that the process (which took several weeks) was hasty and ill-thought-out, resulting in anti-competitive measures. The current win fully verified those fears.
“The tribunal deemed the APT rules to be illegal. According to MCFC, this means that all APT rules are void and have been since 2021. City filed a legal challenge to the APT rules earlier this year, claiming they violated competition law. The APT guidelines are intended to ensure that commercial transactions with businesses related to a club’s owners are conducted at fair market value and not artificially inflated.
The arbitration panel ruled that the restrictions were illegal since they excluded shareholder loans, and the city declared victory. Cliff informed clubs it was “unusual” that the league stated in its summary that City had failed in the bulk of their challenges. “While it is true that MCFC did not prevail on every point raised in its legal challenge, the club did not need to demonstrate that the APT regulations are illegal for a variety of reasons. It is sufficient that they are illegal for a single reason. In the end, the tribunal determined that the APT restrictions are illegal for three distinct reasons,” Cliff stated.
The league stated that modifications to the regulations resulting from the tribunal decision could be made “quickly and effectively” and is reported to have scheduled a club meeting to consider those adjustments. Cliff, on the other hand, stated that now was not the time for a “kneejerk reaction” in altering the guidelines, which could result in additional legal action. He stated that there should be “careful reflection” on how to proceed.
The Premier League declined to comment, but it stands by its summary, rejecting any claims that it was wrong or misleading. According to league sources, the club meeting scheduled for next Thursday will only be an opportunity to review the regulations and will not include any votes on rule revisions. The league’s summary stated that the tribunal finding “endorsed the overall objectives, framework, and decision-making of the APT system” and only deemed “discrete elements” of the regulations to be illegal, which could be “quickly and effectively remedied” by clubs. “Manchester City brought a wholesale challenge to the legality, design, framework and implementation of the APT rules,” the executive summary stated.
“The club was unsuccessful in most of its challenges. Significantly, the Tribunal decided that the APT regulations are required, serve a legitimate purpose, and were implemented to ensure that the Profitability and Sustainability regulations (PSR) are effective, thereby supporting and delivering sporting integrity and sustainability in the Premier League.” The tribunal found the rules unlawful not only because they excluded shareholder loans, but also because they were procedurally unfair, in that clubs are unable to comment on the data used by the league to determine whether a deal was done for fair market value.
The tribunal also overturned the Premier League board’s decisions on the value of sponsorship deals with Etihad Airways and First Abu Dhabi Bank on the grounds that City were unable to see or respond to the data used in making those decisions before they were relayed to the club.
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