Man City to cause 'mayhem' amid new points deduction fear - Keith Wyness

Everton’s former chief Keith Wyness believes the Manchester City associated party transactions (APT) ruling could cause “mayhem” and lead to clubs landing points deductions. 

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 top-flight sides with interest-free shareholder loans could be facing “big problems” following the verdict. 

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 commission ruled that shareholder loans shouldn't be excluded from the Premier League’s profit and sustainability rules (PSR). 

It means the likes of Arsenal and Liverpool, who owe their owners £259million and £137million, are now facing the prospect of having to pay commercial interest rates on those loans. 

Premier League charges shouldn't be handed out after Man City verdict

But Wyness has insisted there should be rules brought in to ensure clubs aren’t charged retrospectively. 

He told Football Insider‘s Inside Track podcast: “There is a Premier League meeting being called for next week. 

“The big issue about the interest rate being charged and just so that people understand, owners can put money into their clubs and they don't charge any interest. 

“Man City were saying that's just as equivalent as an inflated sponsorship. 

“What they're saying is that now the interest must be added at market rate to any of those loans and, if that was to be retrospectively charged, then that would give a lot of clubs some big problems and would probably make them fail PSR. 

“The big question is ‘Would it be retrospective?’. 

“I don't believe it will be, but if it was to be the case, that would create mayhem within the Premier League and, with the backlog of legal cases and tribunals, that would be incredible. 

“I think common sense must prevail and I think legally there must be a way to make sure that because that was not the rule at the time, they can't do this retrospectively. 

“That’s still not finalised yet, but that’s one big area that could open up Pandora’s box.” 

In other news, “enormous” offers expected for Kevin De Bruyne and Mohamed Salah. 

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