Man City: APT ‘new challenge’ mooted with upcoming Premier League ‘vote unlikely to solve dispute’
A football finance expert has warned the Premier League that Manchester City may ‘launch a new challenge’ against Associated Party Transaction (APT) rules.
Man City has insisted on their innocence after being accused of breaching more than 100 of the Premier League’s Financial Fair Play rules.
Pep Guardiola‘s side were charged at the start of 2023 after the Premier League conducted a four-year probe into their conduct between 2009 and 2018.
This case was subsequently referred to an independent commission. The hearing is currently ongoing and could drag on until next year.
Earlier this year, a further spanner was thrown into the works as Man City launched a legal battle against the Premier League to campaign for APT rules to be removed.
Man City’s APT case has already concluded. Each side is understood to have had success, but the club reportedly “won on penalties” due to one ‘main success’.
Last week, former Man City advisor Stefan Borson backed the Premier League to perform a ‘U-turn’ as new “changes will take us back to the original 2021 associated party rules” after a couple components of the current regulations were deemed unlawful.
“It’s not a huge surprise in terms of the changes proposed,” Borson said.
“What we know is there is going to be a vote on 22 November to consider effectively changes that will take us back to the original 2021 associated party rules.
“It will effectively unwind those changes that have been made in 2024 that the tribunal deemed to be unlawful.
“The interesting part of it is we don’t yet know if any additional questions were put to the tribunal in terms of whether the fix can be as proposed here by the Premier League.”
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In an interview with Football Insider, Borson has tipped Man City to ‘launch a new legal challenge’ as the Premier League vote on November 22 is ‘unlikely to solve the dispute’.
He said: “We will see whether the changes get through.
“It will be interesting to see what happens and whether this is just going to end up being a bit of a rerun of what happened in December 2023, where Man City said ‘We don’t think this stuff is legal and, if you go ahead, we may challenge it legally’. Ultimately, City were right.
“It will be interesting to see. I think it’s likely to just be the first step in the process as opposed to a complete solution to it.
“But it may be that just in this notice period before the actual vote, it may be that we get some official notification of what the tribunal has said in supplemental questions, but let’s see.”