Everton want to agree huge deals after backing Man City – Keith Wyness
Everton’s former chief Keith Wyness has revealed he was “surprised” to see the Merseysiders back Manchester City in their associated party transactions (APT) case.
Speaking on the new edition of Football Insider’s Inside Track podcast, the 66-year-old – who served as CEO at Goodison Park between 2004 and 2009 and now runs a football consultancy advising elite clubs – suggested Everton could be looking to allow prospective owner Dan Friedkin more flexibility to agree sponsorship deals.
Man City took legal action against the Premier League regarding the APT rules currently in place at an arbitration hearing in June.
Both sides have claimed a victory in the case after the arbitration panel’s decision was published on 7 October, where two aspects of the rules were deemed to be unlawful.
The Premier League welcomed the tribunal’s findings, saying it rejected the majority of Man City’s challenges and “endorsed the overall objectives, framework and decision-making of the APT system”.
But Pep Guardiola’s side have since written to the 19 other top-flight clubs criticising the governing body’s summary of the panel’s ruling, claiming it contains “several inaccuracies”.
Everton were joined by Chelsea and Newcastle United in acting as witnesses for Man City, while Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal, Tottenham, Brighton and West Ham provided evidence for the Premier League.
Everton believe sponsorship rules are unlawful after backing Man City
Wyness suggested Everton clearly felt the way sponsorships were being valued was wrong after supporting Man City.
He told Football Insider‘s Inside Track podcast: “I could understand Chelsea and Newcastle, certainly with Newcastle having the Saudi owners and Chelsea having access to pretty big funds in private equity.
“I was a bit more surprised about Everton.
“They obviously felt that the way that sponsorships were being valued was wrong.
“There may still be some aggravation from Everton against the Premier League, bad feeling against the way they were handled before.
“It may also be that they’re thinking, ‘Well, we want any new owner coming into Everton to have the flexibility to do more with these sort of sponsorship deals’.”
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