Stefan Borson shares ‘big’ Man City verdict after confirmed trial news
Premier League officials will have to instantly delete some of the associated party transaction (APT) rules after Manchester City recorded “big wins” in the case.
That is the view of former Man City financial adviser Stefan Borson, who exclusively told Football Insider the English champions always warned the Premier League and the rest of the top-flight clubs they would challenge the “unlawful” rules.
Man City took legal action against the governing body 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 warned Premier League clubs APT rules were unlawful
“One of City’s big wins was in relation to a matter they always warned the Premier League teams about, which were the new rules that came in in February of this year,” Borson told Football Insider.
“Those rules had only a few tweaks in terms of the drafting, but it was found in the hearing that the drafting changes were material in terms of moving the likelihood of false appraisals by the Premier League and false rejections of commercial deals, moving those in the wrong direction.
“They were effectively unwound as being unlawful.
“City in October when these were first proposed by the Premier League did say to people around the table ‘We are not sure these are lawful and, if you proceed, not only will we vote against them, but we reserve our rights to challenge them legally’.
“The Premier League and the clubs carried on, and City did launch the legal challenge that we see now.
“What’s also interesting is that, even with that legal challenge that’s been made by City, it only just got through on the vote.
“It only got through on the vote because of two teams abstaining, not because they voted for it, so only 11 teams actually voted for those changes that are now found to be unlawful.
“That particular element was a big win for City because those rules went too far, and the tribunal agreed with them.
“They will have to be deleted because they are unlawful.”
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