Arsenal ‘points deduction’ mooted as Man City APT verdict could spark ‘chaos’ – ‘world’s gone mad’
Premier League giants Arsenal ‘could face a points deduction’ after the verdict of Manchester City’s APT hearing was reached at the start of this month.
At the start of 2023, Man City were charged with breaching over 100 of the Premier League’s financial fair play rules. This followed a four-year probe into their conduct between 2009 and 2018.
If found guilty, Man City could be given a huge fine, points deduction, transfer ban or expulsion from the Premier League.
Pep Guardiola’s side have insisted on their innocence and battled back against the Premier League earlier this year. This came as they launched an unprecedented legal battle against the league as they campaigned for the removal of Associated Party Transaction (APT) rules.
While the FFP hearing remains ongoing, the APT case concluded earlier this month. It has been suggested that each side had success, but Man City “won on penalties”.
Arguably, the main success for Man City was that they forced a change to the Premier League’s rules regarding interest-free loans from shareholders.
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This could take Premier League clubs over the Profit and Sustainability limit and Arsenal and Liverpool will have a ‘problem’ if they are ‘retrospectively’ punished for breaches after taking loans from their owners. The two sides owe their owners £259m and £137m respectively.
Former Everton chairman Keith Wyness thinks it would cause “absolute chaos” if Premier League clubs are retrospectively punished as Arsenal ‘could face a points deduction’.
“Clubs can turn these shareholder loans into equity quite quickly,” Wyness said in an interview with Football Insider.
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“But if the Premier League come down on them retrospectively, and all clubs who had these loans are charged by new commissions – then you’ll see Arsenal, Brighton and more getting points deductions.
“It would be absolute chaos. I just don’t think it could happen. If it does, then I’m afraid the world has gone mad.”
Earlier this month, Wyness said: “The big issue about the interest rate being charged and just so that people understand, owners can put money into their clubs and they don’t charge any interest. Man City were saying that’s just as equivalent as an inflated sponsorship.
“What they’re saying is that now the interest must be added at market rate to any of those loans and, if that was to be retrospectively charged, then that would give a lot of clubs some big problems and would probably make them fail PSR.
“The big question is ‘Would it be retrospective?’. I don’t believe it will be, but if it was to be the case, that would create mayhem within the Premier League and, with the backlog of legal cases and tribunals, that would be incredible.
“I think common sense must prevail and I think legally there must be a way to make sure that because that was not the rule at the time, they can’t do this retrospectively. That’s still not finalised yet, but that’s one big area that could open up Pandora’s box.”