Manchester City’s court case with the Premier League began on Monday and will continue for the next two weeks after the club took legal action against the league’s Associated Party Transaction (APT) rules.
It is the first of two hearings involving City and the Premier League set to take place in the second half of this year. The other one, over the club’s 115 charges for alleged financial irregularity, will be in November.
A decision from that case is unlikely to come until next summer, but the outcome of this first hearing could impact the second regardless of the result. While both issues are separate, they are related to one another to the extent that how this arbitration ends may affect City’s future case.
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Will this month’s hearing impact the 115 charges?
While separate issues, the club’s legal action could cause a ripple effect on their charges. That is because a significant number of the charges they face relate to APTs and allegedly using them to enhance their commercial income during the mid-2010s
Therefore, how strong a case City make this month should aid them in front of the independent commission later this year. Confirmation of the club’s claims that the rules are “unlawful” this summer would seemingly stand them in good stead for the future.
What is it that are City challenging?
City are challenging the revised APT rules passed in February and claiming they breach competition law. The club has never supported their introduction in the first place, and the tightening of these rules earlier this year led to the threatening – and following through with – legal action.
Before that, a fair market value test came into force in late 2021 after the temporary suspension of APT rules entirely, days after the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund (PIF) finally completed its takeover of Newcastle United. Over the last 18 months, clubs have had to prove commercial deals with companies deemed to have links to their owners are financially justifiable.