MANCHESTER-Prior to the start of the new season, Manchester City will be under intense scrutiny as their rivalry with the Premier League intensifies.
Will Man City’s legal woes impact Liverpool’s season?
There have been 115 Financial Fair Play (FFP) complaints against the City since February 2023. According to the Premier League, the Manchester club failed to assist with the subsequent inquiry and gave false financial information on player and management salaries between 2009 and 2018. When the matter is ultimately heard, City will have ‘irrefutable proof’ to clear their identity, they have always maintained, denying any wrongdoing. The club has launched an assault on the Premier League over its affiliated party transactions regulations in the meantime.
These rules concern the amount of money that an owner’s company may contribute to a team through a sponsorship agreement. For City, it has to do with the fact that Etihad Airways is their main sponsor. City is suing the top division for damages because it feels that the Premier League’s regulations clearly violate UK competition laws. The Premier League’s case against the team on FFP is unrelated to this one, therefore theoretically, the ruling should stand.
Can Liverpool escape repercussions from Man City’s FFP verdict?
The other Premier League opponents of Liverpool and City are still in the dark about what is going to happen in all of this legal muddle. The ECHO has looked at what three attorneys and experts believe will happen in the verdict in an attempt to predict what will happen next. “I read through the 115 charges press release and it didn’t read like any of those charges related specifically to what is happening in these next two weeks,” Grey stated in an interview with The Sports Agents podcast.
The majority of the charges are pre-2021 and pertain to a variety of different topics, including the UEFA FFP laws, manager compensation, the obligation of collaboration, and compliance with PSR (Profit and Sustainability Rules). These new rules were implemented after 2021. If Man City wins, some might argue that this is only the beginning of the process to have the accusations dropped. The reality is that I believe them to be quite different. This is a fairly specific debate regarding the appropriate valuation of business contracts between parties connected to a club. If this were not related to sport, no one would give a damn, but when we talk about Manchester City and the Premier League, everyone takes an interest.
Is a guilty verdict looking for Man City?
According to uksports, In their legal battle with the Premier League over Associated Party Transaction (APT) rules, Manchester City and former finance advisor Stefan Borson have voiced worries that the club may lose. Borson has noted that, despite these concerns, Manchester City’s continuing legal battle over the 115 accusations of Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR) violations launched by the Premier League in February 2023 which the team adamantly denies is unlikely to be impacted by the decision. Monday marked the beginning of the hearing for City’s fight against APTs. As top-tier competitors like Arsenal, Chelsea, and Tottenham observe, the club argued that the APTs are unlawful. The Premier League can examine sponsorship agreements with organizations connected to team owners because of these regulations. As reported by liverpoolecho, These rules, which were implemented in 2021 in the wake of Newcastle United’s takeover, are meant to stop agreements between related parties from being overvalued, since this might provide a club an unfair edge when it comes to meeting PSR requirements. In the event that City prevails in this lawsuit, the Premier League would lose its authority to regulate these kinds of agreements and they would be free to move forward unhindered.
Will Liverpool be next in the FFP crosshairs?
Nonetheless, Borson indicates that the club will face a significant battle in trying to reverse the APT regulations. “I just think arguments of this nature regarding competition law are esoteric, fine-margin calls, so the chances of them overturning a set of rules that have been put in place following a vote is going to be a challenge for the City,” he said. Borson has already stated that the 115-charge case against Man City, which comprises accusations of illicit income sources and lack of cooperation between 2009 and 2018, will not be materially impacted by the conclusion of the APT hearing. He emphasized that there was no clear contradiction between the two cases because APT restrictions were only implemented in 2021, which was far later than the claimed violations by the City.
