Man City bring more legal action against Premier League as APT rules STILL ‘unlawful’
Manchester City have launched another legal challenge against the Premier League, claiming the new sponsorship rules are still “unlawful”.
City launched a legal challenge in June against the Premier League, insisting the Associated Party Transaction (APT) rules – designed to put a brake on how much companies associated with clubs can feed money to them – to be part of “a tyranny of the majority”.
They were successful in that challenge as an independent arbitration tribunal concluded that some of the rules were indeed unlawful, at which point City warned that further legal action would follow if the Premier League “rushed” their amendments.
And that is now the case, with City’s barrister Lord Pannick – who’s also leading the English champions’ defence against the Premier League charges brought against them for their alleged breached of financial rules – requesting a new arbitration after the club was defeated in November by a majority of clubs, who voted in favour of the changes to the APT rules.
In a letter to clubs on Thursday afternoon, reported by The Times, Premier League chief executive Richard Masters revealed the latest development.
‘On January 20, 2025, Manchester City FC began a further arbitration to challenge the APT rules,’ he wrote in advance of a shareholders’ meeting next Thursday.
‘As you will see, the new challenge relates to the amendments to the APT rules that clubs approved at the 22 November 2024 shareholders’ meeting. Manchester City FC seeks a declaration that the amendments approved by clubs in November (and therefore the current APT rules in force) are unlawful and void.
‘The Premier League remains strongly of the view that the amendments passed in November were lawful and the APT rules comply with all competition law requirements. We consider that the new arbitration must be resolved as soon as possible and, to that end, have agreed that the same tribunal should be appointed to hear the new case. The parties are currently corresponding in relation to further directions.
‘The APT rules remain in full force and effect and clubs remain required to comply with all aspects of the system.’
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It is understood City’s key issue is focused on the treatment of shareholder loans — made to clubs from owners or directors — within the new APT rules.
City accused the Premier League of ‘misleading’ clubs with ‘inaccuracies’ in a letter sent to summarise the outcome of the original arbitration.
General counsel Simon Cliff claimed the Premier League’s interpretation of the tribunal’s ruling was “not correct” and warned of further legal disputes if clubs bowed to pressure to make some swift amendments, arguing that no vote should take place.
Aston Villa owner Nassef Sawiris came out in support of City, but 16 of the 20 clubs voted in favour of the Premier league proposal, with only Villa, Newcastle and Nottingham Forest in opposition with City.