Man City in line for stunning £180m windfall after confirmed news – Keith Wyness
Everton’s former chief Keith Wyness has insisted Manchester City could claim up to £180million in damages following the ruling 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 – revealed the English champions have had three sponsorship deals blocked by the Premier League.
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”.
Man City are eligible to claim damages after panel’s ruling
Wyness revealed Man City are now eligible to claim for damages on earnings lost as a result of the tribunal’s findings.
He told Football Insider‘s Inside Track podcast: “They have got a chance to get damages for the sponsorships that were withheld.
“Now, we know that there were three big sponsorships.
“One for Etihad Airlines, one for the Emirates Palace Hotel, and then another one for the First Abu Dhabi Bank.
“That’s three big sponsorships. The increase could be something in the order of about maybe £60million a year.
“I’m guessing at this, but I think that would be an estimate.
“That means for three years, there is about £150-£180million of potential uplift in those sponsorships that City have been denied, and they have been given the right to seek damages against that as well.
“The Premier League will say ‘No, actually the rules were upheld and there must be some sort of system to monitor the fair market value of these deals, so we just need to tweak a few things to make sure we get the rules back into shape, so they are not falling foul of the law and we will carry on as normal’.”
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