Kieran Maguire reveals Man City taking legal action against the Premier League
Man City will take legal action against the Premier League after a vote was passed to introduce stricter rules on associated party deals.
That is the view of finance expert Kieran Maguire, who spoke exclusively to Football Insider about City’s reaction to the latest Premier League vote.
Top-flight clubs met last week and voted to toughen rules on clubs agreeing commercial deals with companies closely related to their ownership.
It could have a knock-on effect for City’s agreement with Etihad – who are known to have close ties to the club’s UAE ownership.
As revealed by Football Insider, City renewed their deal with Etihad which was worth an initial £400million when the sponsorship deal was struck in 2011.
Man City acting in ‘self-interest’ to protect £400m deal after latest vote
Maguire believes City will take legal action against the Premier League over the decision as their relationship with the league and other top-flight clubs is already tense.
“I think Manchester City will have taken legal counsel with regards to the associated party deals decision,” Maguire told Football Insider’s Sean Fisher.
“They are still very sore that eight clubs wrote to the Premier League in 2019 when they were first charged by Uefa.
“They viewed it as those clubs trying to gang up on the club and Manchester City haven’t forgotten that.
“So there’s no love lost towards the Premier League as an organisation from the people at the Etihad.
“And there’s no love lost towards other clubs either for the way that they tried to get City effectively excluded from Europe as far as City are concerned.
“So we are seeing increased tensions within the 20 clubs.
“The old ‘big six’ versus other 14 rivalry no longer exists.
“Clubs are acting purely in self-interest rather than the broader interests of the game.“
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