The Labour Party’s Liverpool West Derby candidate Ian Byrne has insisted that it would be the ‘end of football’ if Manchester City won their legal case against the Premier League.
This week it was confirmed that City would look to sue the Premier League regarding their Associated Party Transaction rules. Currently, these rules restrict companies connected to the owners of clubs from artificially inflating the market value for sponsorship agreements.
The Blues’ main sponsors are Etihad Airways who are owned by Sheikh Mansour. City argues that these rules are contradictory to the UK’s ‘competition laws’ and are pursuing damages from the Premier League.
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In February, City were charged by the Premier League with 115 historic breaches of Financial Fair Play (FFP) rules. City have always maintained their innocence and stress they have ‘irrefutable evidence’ to support their claims.
In an interview with the Liverpool Echo Mr Byrne, who was an MP before Rishi Sunak called a general election last month, has issued a warning in regards to the legal action being taken by City. He said: “I think it is utterly terrifying what we’re seeing with Man City.
“And what they are actually doing is an existential threat to football itself because if they get away with what they want to do, they have the ability for sponsors to put unregulated amounts of money into the game then it gives carte blanche for a certain number of clubs to carry on doing what they’re doing. And then the 115 charges being faced suddenly become irrelevant, so it is all around that sort of thing.
“It’s extremely worrying and for me it shows that unfortunately football hasn’t got the ability to regulate itself and now you have nation states coming into play and global politics and that is why I have been so passionate about defending a regulator, sitting on the bill committee, before Parliament was put on hold before the election, and we have fallen at the very last hurdle because the election was called, so it never got over the line. That was so disappointing for so many people.
“The news that has broken this week has proven that football’s protection is so paramount, for so many, and there needs to be an independent regulator to ensure football stays competitive and a part of our heritage. Because if this battle is won by Manchester City, I genuinely think it is the end of football as we know it.”