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Manchester City have contacted the other 19 Premier League clubs to argue against the league’s review of their legal battle over Associated Party Transactions (APT).
On Monday, an independent panel reached a verdict on the case, which revolved around the Premier League’s regulations on business deals with companies with pre-existing ties to clubs. City were the first to go public with a statement, claiming victory in the case, before a Premier League declaration suggested most of City’s arguments had been rejected.
As first revealed by The Times, and later backed up by numerous other sources, City‘s general counsel Simon Cliff penned a letter to the other 19 clubs in the division to warn them against the Premier League’s “misleading” account of the verdict.
Cliff claimed the Premier League’s statement was simply “not correct” and littered with “several inaccuracies”.
“When the PL consulted on and proposed the original APT rules in late 2021, we pointed out that the process (which took several weeks) was rushed, ill-thought-out and would result in rules that were anti-competitive,” the letter reads. “The recent award (conclusion of the panel) has validated those concerns entirely.
“The tribunal has declared the APT rules to be unlawful. MCFC’s position is that this means all of the APT rules are void, and have been since 2021.
“In recent correspondence, the PL agreed with MCFC that this is an issue which will need to be resolved by the tribunal. It is therefore remarkable that the PL is now seeking to involve the member clubs in a process to amend the APT rules at a time when it does not even know the status of those rules.
“The APT rules . . . have been found to be unlawful, as a matter of competition law and public law. This means that they are void and not capable of enforcement. This has very significant consequences for APTs that have been entered into to date and APTs that are currently being negotiated by clubs.”