Stefan Borson drops strong verdict after Man City ‘victory’ v Premier League
Manchester City and the Premier League are unlikely to know the verdict yet in their associated party transactions (APT) case.
That is the view of former Man City financial adviser Stefan Borson, who exclusively told Football Insider the ruling might never be made public unless the two parties agreed for it to be published before the hearing started.
The English champions have taken legal action against the Premier League regarding the APT rules currently in place, with the club claiming the regulations are “unlawful”.
After a two-week private arbitration hearing took place in June, a decision is now expected to be delivered by the end of September.
The Times reported on 12 September Man City’s legal team are anticipating “some form of victory” after believing the hearing went well from their perspective.
Man City decision ‘incredibly difficult’ for anyone to know
But Borson insisted it’s “incredibly difficult” for anyone to know what the panel is going to decide.
He told Football Insider: “In terms of whether City had any success and when the verdict is due, I think we should all realise by now that nobody knows because the number of different times that apparently the decision was about to come out seems to have moved quite a lot.
“To be honest, I don’t think it’s clear there will be a published decision in respect of it. The rules don’t say that there should be, so it would have needed the parties to agree that the decision should be published.
“It’s quite possible the parties have already got the decision and it’s just that we don’t know about it.
“It’s quite possible that City have already lost because there have been no changes to the Premier League rules.
“It’s quite possible that the only way we will ever know if there has been a win for City will be some kind of subtle change to the Premier League rules in a new addition of them that is published on the website.
“There is a lot of uncertainty in respect of that. I would just urge a bit of caution in terms of believing what you read in the press.
“I suspect not even the parties know the decision that’s been made by the arbitration panel and, therefore, how could anybody else have a clear steer for what the findings have been.
“It could only be at best a perception as to how the hearing went, which is always incredibly difficult anyway when you have got three different people that are going to decide.
“You might have a feel for how maybe one of the panel was more vocal than the rest, but you are not going to know where the overall panel is going to land on the particular points.
“I would take it all with a pinch of salt.”
In other news, Man City in pole position to sign Jamal Musiala as boss breaks silence.
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