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Daily Mirror
29-04-2025
- Business
- Daily Mirror
Man City 'demand sensitive information' from Arsenal as Premier League feud turns ugly
Manchester City are still awaiting to hear the verdict of their ongoing legal battle with the Premier League - but the dethroned champions have made a demand that involves their top-flight rivals Arsenal could become one of a host of clubs embroiled in Manchester City 's ongoing feud with the Premier League following a fresh demand from lawyers. City have been at the heart of a spat with league chiefs relating to their sponsorship deals for some time. They won a landmark ruling last year when an independent panel adjudged that the Premier League's Associated Party Transaction rules (APT) which monitored loans from shareholders between December 2021 and November 2024 were null and void. The Premier League were forced to write up a new set of regulations but City have argued that the new regulations continue to discriminate. And last season's champions have now argued that a host of their rivals should be obliged to provide 'sensitive and key financial information' regarding their own shareholder loans, as claimed by Mail Online. It is suggested that Arsenal, Brighton and Everton are all among the clubs at the heart of City's request - all of those sides having benefitted from shareholder loans over recent seasons. Arsenal received around £259m from their shareholders in the 2022/23 campaign, while Liverpool reportedly owed their owners £71.1m in 2023. Brighton and Everton's figures sit at an eye-watering £406.5m and £450m for the 2021/22 and 2022/23 season respectively. City have reportedly suggested that shareholder loans give clubs who bank them unfair advantages as they are not put under the microscope compared to other commercial deals. And as a result, they want the Premier League to use its own Rule B18 which states that clubs 'shall comply promptly with any request for information'. An independent panel will consider the request at a hearing in mid-October. City's latest request is separate to that of their 115 alleged breaches, with a verdict on that case still to come. Speaking in February, Pep Guardiola suggested he was awaiting a verdict imminently - albeit that is yet to arrive. And he fired back at suggestions that City had overspent. Talking in February, Guardiola said: "My words will not convince people. I know with this club it is always 'just about the money'. "But in the past five years, we are the last among the top six for net spend. Even after what we have spent in this transfer window, we are away from Chelsea, [Manchester] United, Arsenal, Tottenham. Even from Liverpool. The only reason why is we sell a lot in the last seasons." City have endured a difficult season under Guardiola having lost their crown to Liverpool - albeit they could still win the FA Cup and secure a spot in next season's Champions League.
The Sun
25-04-2025
- Business
- The Sun
Man City's Premier League rivals to be forced into paying out £5MILLLION each if Man City win legal battle
MANCHESTER CITY'S Premier League rivals each face a £5MILLION bill — if the dethroned champions win their crunch legal battle with League bosses. Under Prem rules, costs are taken away from the amount distributed between top-flight clubs from broadcast and commercial deals. 3 3 3 While a verdict on Pep Guardiola 's City's 130 alleged breaches of financial rules is yet to come, it is anticipated the total legal bill for both sides could reach £100m. Earlier this month, it emerged 'administrative expenses', including legal fees, hit £200.2m last season. It was initially understood legal bills for the campaign would be around £8m. But Prem chiefs were caught in a series of rule disputes and challenges against City, Everton, Nottingham Forest and Leicester. City's win in the first Associated Party Transaction case in February saw Etihad bosses demand the Prem meet the club's £10m legal costs in addition to their own bills. City faced 130 allegations when their financial rules case was heard by a commission last autumn. If the charges are proved, it is understood there will be a separate 'sanctions hearing'. But a City win would almost certainly result in the club demanding a full recovery of their costs. CASINO SPECIAL - BEST CASINO BONUSES FROM £10 DEPOSITS This would see the legal bill split between the 19 other clubs, who stand to lose £5m each. It would be a hefty hit with Profitability and Sustainability Rules in place until next season at least.
Daily Mail
22-04-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
Manchester City's legal battle with the Premier League over sponsorship rules may not reach a verdict until NEXT YEAR - with a tribunal into latest proceedings set to start in October
Manchester City 's war with the Premier League over sponsorship rules could rumble on for another YEAR. The four-in-a-row champions launched a fresh legal assault on the competition after it amended regulations that City had previously and successfully challenged. Earlier on Tuesday, The Lawyer reported that a tribunal would not hear the arguments in the latest case until mid-October. While both the Premier League and City declined to comment, insiders believe the date to be accurate. When City challenged the previous rules, the panel sat in June and an initial verdict was not delivered until September - with a final ruling returned in February. Should the timeline remain similar, and there is no reason not to believe that will be the case, it could mean that a verdict on the rules which are currently in play would not land until next spring as the saga drags on. Lawyers for City initially argued that the new Associated Party Transaction rules - designed to stop clubs from signing inflated commercial deals with firms linked to their owners and introduced following the Saudi-led takeover of Newcastle United - contravened competition law. A panel ruled in their favour however, despite warnings from City, the Premier League pushed on with a number of tweaks. City then launched another legal challenge, claiming that the new regulations continue to 'discriminate' and highlighting a host of rivals, including Arsenal, who they say enjoy an unfair advantage. The same panel which sided with City on their original complaint will again rule on the latest dispute. Should City again emerge successful the Premier League could see its financial rules thrown into disarray with its clubs hit with another hefty legal bill. The previous case is thought to have cost more than £20m. The matter is separate from the 130 charges brought against City by the league for alleged breaches of financial rules.
Yahoo
27-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
No 'civil war' between clubs over PSR
Premier League chief executive Richard Masters insists there is no "civil war" between clubs over financial regulations. Earlier this month, plans to replace controversial profit and sustainability (PSR) rules were delayed amid legal challenges. Clubs had been expected to adopt the new squad cost ratio (SCR) system for the 2025-26 campaign, but a trial is now set to continue. "There's no civil war - that would not be the way that I would put it," said Masters, who was speaking at the Financial Times Business of Football Summit. "Alignment among Premier League clubs has never been easy. Maybe it's a little bit more difficult at the moment. "But to change to a new system, particularly with what's at stake, is a big decision. If clubs need more time to do it, then that's OK. We will carry on that path. "We've agreed in all probability on PSR in 2025-26 and then we'll look again during the course of that season at whether we'll make the move to SCR." Everton and Nottingham Forest were both docked points last season for breaching PSR, which was introduced a decade ago and allows clubs to post maximum losses of £105m over a three-year reporting cycle. SCR is similar to Uefa's existing financial sustainability rules, allowing clubs to spend up to 85% of their total revenues on squad-related costs, with any sanctions applied 'in-season', rather than at a later stage. One of the factors behind the decision to delay the switch was the uncertainty surrounding a fresh legal challenge by Manchester City against the Premier League over new rules governing sponsorship deals. Earlier this month the Associated Party Transaction rules between 2021 and 2024 were deemed unlawful by a tribunal panel, with a second determination on the updated rules pending. The Premier League is also awaiting the outcome of the hearing into City's 115 charges of alleged financial rule breaches. The club denies wrongdoing. When asked when there may be an outcome, Masters refused to be drawn on a date: "You won't be surprised to learn I won't be talking about this. I can't. "The disciplinary panel has heard the case and they must be left alone now to consider their decision, and given the time and space to be able to do that. And that's pretty much as far as I can go." Premier League clubs avoid 2023-24 PSR charges Premier League spending rules set to stay next season Masters also shrugged off an earlier claim by Crystal Palace chairman Steve Parish that the prospect of an independent regulator in English club football has "paralysed the game and driven it into the courts". "The league has wind in its sails, rather than [being] paralysed," said Masters. "I would reject that. "We'll function well next season under whatever financial system. We've got really strong fundamentals. If we were stalling in all areas I would be concerned, but we're not." However, Masters did say he had "concerns" about the football governance bill, which will establish a regulator and is still passing through parliament. "We are talking to the government at the moment about what sensible amendments can be made to the bill to help assuage those concerns some of our clubs have about it. "The general concern is about 'mission creep'. There are very few regulators over time that end up with the same brief they were written on day one, and I worry about that as well. "So if we can keep it light touch, and we can keep it growth-focused, then maybe it can help the game in the way that the people who put this together intended. "By the end of year we'll have a better view as to what 'personality' this regulator is going to have. If it wants to tighten financial regulation in future there's a danger it will go too far and stop the virtuous circle that the Premier League and the EFL have created, and that's our principle concern." Premier League index Premier League table Premier League fixtures Follow your Premier League club and get news, analysis and fan views sent direct to you
Yahoo
27-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Man City accused of ‘Enron-style' scandal and reported to European Commission
Manchester City have been accused of presiding over an Enron-style financial scandal by La Liga's president who has called in the European Commission to investigate. In incendiary claims vehemently denied by the Premier League champions, Javier Tebas alleges the club artificially kept their costs down through their Abu Dhabi state connections. He claims City, currently awaiting the outcome of their alleged 130 financial breaches battle with the Premier League, are being separately investigated in Europe over a complaint he filed in 2023. 'You remember the case in the USA, the Enron case,' Tebas then added in a question and answer session with reporters via a translator. 'They put losses into different companies. These are similar cases.' The astonishing comparison of City's finances with the multi-billion pound Enron scandal – the FBI's most complex white-collar crime investigation in the early 2000s – was immediately dismissed by sources close to the Etihad. Tebas had revealed La Liga filed its own complaint about City to the European Commission in 2023, having been left dismayed by City's successful appeal against a two-year Champions League ban. Referring to City appealing the previous Uefa sanction at the Court of Arbitration for Sport, Tebas said: 'We call it a 'court' but it's not really a court of justice. Manchester City were not condemned. Uefa was clear in the sanctions.' City strongly denied all claims from Tebas, an outspoken figure in European football with a long history of attacking the club. The club refused to comment, but pointed to their accounts as proof of no wrongdoing which are a matter of public record. During the most legally fraught years in the history of England's top tier, City have also launched two legal challenges against so-called Associated Party Transaction regulations, which effectively govern sponsorship deals. Tebas cited those cases in his attack on the club, criticising City's player dealings with other teams in the club's ownership group, including Girona who play in La Liga. 'When City Football Group bought Girona they sent five players on loan,' he said. 'We checked the valuations. We calculated they were 40 times higher than Manchester City claimed.' However, he said 'what worries me about Manchester City is something else' as he then accused the club of writing off losses on companies that are not officially part of CFG [City Football Group]. 'They have a group of companies outside of City Football Group,' he said. 'They saddle all their expenses to these companies. For example, they have scouting or marketing companies who accrue high expenses. They invoice Manchester City for low amounts. It allows Manchester City to have a structure that circumvents the rules. We have reported Manchester City to the EU. Even though they are an English team, and not part of the EU, they still have commercial activities in Europe. We first made the complaint in July 2023 and there are now regulations in place allowing the EU to look at companies like City Football Group.' It had previously only been known that La Liga had called in the commission over financial dealings by Qatari-owned PSG. That complaint followed the implementation of new European regulation on foreign subsidies that distort the internal market. The complaint about City, it can now be reported, concerned alleged 'financing mechanisms [that] cause a serious distortion in the internal market of the European Union (EU)'. Tebas said he believed the commission, which has been contacted for comment, was still looking at the case. La Liga's complaint – categorically denied by the club – was filed 'on the grounds that Manchester City has received foreign subsidies from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), allowing the club to enhance its competitive position and cause significant distortions across various national and EU markets'. Tebas added: 'I can't speak to any sanctions for Manchester City on this matter yet. All I can say is when a company in Europe, in general, is seen to have distorted the market, they often have to return funds. We want Manchester City to be sanctioned. The case is currently in the investigation phase. We haven't had a reply yet. Remember, the EU have lots of cases.' Tebas's attack on City comes as the club await the outcome of their landmark case brought by the Premier League into 130 alleged financial breaches. A verdict is imminent although an appeal by either parties – as has been seen in previous financial breach cases – could delay the process, potentially beyond May. The charges against City, who deny wrongdoing, include 54 failures to provide accurate financial information from 2009-10 to 2017-18, 14 failures to provide accurate details for player and manager payments from 2009-10 to 2017-18, five failures to comply with Uefa's rules including financial fair play (FFP) from 2013-14 to 2017-18, seven breaches of the Premier League's profit and sustainability (PSR) rules from 2015-16 to 2017-18 and 35 failures to co-operate with Premier League investigations from December 2018 to February 2023. Allegations came to light in leaked material published by German newspaper Der Spiegel. City have always said these leaked emails were obtained illegally and the club denies wrongdoing. In a 2020 judgment, Uefa banned City from the Champions League for two seasons and fined them €30 million (£25 million). However, the punishment was overturned by Cas. The unrelated Enron saga, meanwhile, was an accounting scandal sparked by an American energy giant filing for bankruptcy after news of widespread internal fraud became public in October 2001. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
