Premier League clubs to discuss rule changes after City legal challenge
Premier League clubs will meet today to discuss changes to the top flight’s financial rules in the wake of a legal challenge by Manchester City.
Clubs will consider how to include shareholder loans within the league’s associated party transaction (APT) rules, after an arbitration panel said the rules breached competition law because they excluded such loans.
Today’s meeting is the first gathering of all clubs since the panel judgement was published on October 7.
City accused the league of “misleading” clubs about what the judgement meant, with the four-in-a-row champions arguing all the APT rules are now void.
The Premier League has sought clarification from the arbitration panel over the implications of its judgement, but in the meantime is pressing on with addressing the aspects of the rules the panel said were unlawful.
The APT rules seek to ensure commercial deals between clubs and entities linked to their ownership are done at fair market value (FMV), to avoid such deals being artificially inflated to boost revenue.
Clubs were asked to supply information to the league by October 10 about the mix of shareholder loans and loans converted to equity they currently have, and have had in the last three years.
The understanding among clubs is that only new shareholder loans could be assessed for FMV, rather than existing ones. An FMV assessment might look at what rate of interest would be charged on such a loan in the open market, which could vary from club to club depending on their credit score.
Crucially, this interest cost would then need to be included within a club’s calculation under the profitability and sustainability rules (PSR) and potentially put more clubs at risk of breaching those rules.
Premier League vote?
The PA news agency understands there will not be a vote on any rule changes at today’s meeting.
The rules must also be changed to give clubs an opportunity to access databank information being relied upon as a comparison by the Premier League board while it is making an FMV assessment, so that clubs can make representations based on that data before a decision is made.
The tribunal found it was procedurally unfair not to allow clubs to comment on the data before the league’s board makes a decision.
Some amendments to the rules voted through in February are also set to be rewound to the wording prior to that vote.
The proposals to be discussed by clubs on today have already passed through two league working groups, including the financial controls advisory group (FCAG) which features the City Football Group’s chief financial officer Ingo Bank.
Jamie Gardner, PA