Man City tipped to agree three huge deals immediately – Keith Wyness
Everton’s former chief Keith Wyness has tipped Manchester City to immediately agree three huge sponsorship deals after the decision in their associated party transactions (APT) case has been published.
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 were previously denied deals with Etihad Airways, the Emirates Palace Hotel and the First Abu Dhabi Bank.
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”.
Any changes to the rules could see Man City agree sponsorship deals with companies linked to their Abu Dhabi-based owners.
Man City deals could be worth up to £60m after decision published
Wyness revealed the three deals in question could be worth up to £60million to the club.
He told Football Insider‘s Inside Track podcast: “City won on three big areas.
“They were right about the way the sponsorships had been challenged wrongly and this again points to the Premier League not drafting their rules properly or executing their rules properly as in the Leicester case.
“There were also criticisms about drafting and interpretation in the Everton and Forest cases as well, so that’s a really big black mark for the Premier League there.
“City also won on the fact that owner funding should now be carrying a charge of interest with it. That’s a big win in terms of this for City and that’s got big ramifications for quite a few other clubs.
“And thirdly, they’ve 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.
“That could be something in the order of about maybe £60million a year. I expect it to happen soon.”
In other news, Man City told to pay “£70million” to complete midfielder deal.
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