Newcastle United blocked as ‘civil war’ breaks out – Keith Wyness
Everton’s former chief Keith Wyness believes some Premier League clubs have tried to block Chelsea and Newcastle United’s progress after presenting evidence against Manchester City.
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 things are getting problematic for the Premier League after a “civil war” has been fought through the courts.
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”.
Chelsea, Newcastle and Everton all acted as witnesses for Man City, while Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal, Tottenham, Brighton and West Ham provided evidence for the Premier League.
Premier League clubs want to constrain Chelsea and Newcastle
Wyness believes those six clubs would have been looking to constrain Man City, Chelsea and Newcastle.
He told Football Insider‘s Inside Track podcast: “I sense that there isn’t quite the same sort of thinking that the other three clubs against it had.
“I think there’s more about trying to constrain Man City in those situations and possibly constrain Newcastle and Chelsea for that case.
“I think that’s more of a defensive posture that they’re taking.
“And this is where it starts getting really problematic for the league going forward when you get into this sort of stage of civil war being fought through the courts.”
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