The Premier League spent approaching £30million on legal counsel in actions against its own clubs last season.
The present figure in the league’s accounts for use of external counsel is listed as £22million, but is projected to rise to £28million. It represents a startling escalation of costs to implement the new Profitability and Sustainability Rules (PSR), and includes only the beginnings of the case brought by Manchester City against the Premier League in February.
The cost of the first prosecution of Everton under PSR — there was also a second hearing, after an appeal — was £5million, and at times involved as many as 20 lawyers from the legal firm Linklaters London. Bird & Bird, international law specialists, were also regularly engaged by the Premier