Manchester City have written to every top club challenging the Premier League’s statement after the legal battle between the two over sponsorship rules was concluded.
In a stunning, unprecedented move that underlines the civil war that has erupted in English football, the champions have accused league bosses of ‘misleading’ teams by providing ‘inaccuracies’.
City claimed a historic victory after a tribunal found competition rules surrounding commercial deals with parties linked to club owners unlawful.
However, in a subsequent statement of more than 1,200 words on Monday, the Premier League played down the significance of the verdict.
They claimed that the tribunal had overall supported their Associated Party Transaction (APT) rules, but had identified ‘a small number of individual elements… which, in their current form, do not meet the requirements of competition and public law’ .
Manchester City has written to all nineteen Premier League clubs following Monday’s victory
In the email, the club accused league bosses of ‘misleading’ teams by providing ‘inaccuracies’
Premier League rivals Arsenal were among eight teams to provide evidence against them
The move clearly sparked outrage from City, who on Monday evening accused the Premier League of misleading information in an email sent to all its clubs – and to the league itself.
Although the Premier League declined to comment, officials rejected any view that their statement was misleading or inaccurate as the row continued.
In the message, seen by Mail Sport, City’s general counsel Simon Cliff says bluntly: ‘unfortunately the summary (of the competition) is misleading and contains several inaccuracies’.
“Of even greater significance,” Cliff adds, “is the Premier League’s suggestion that new APT rules should be adopted within the next ten days.
‘When the Premier League consulted and proposed the original APT rules in late 2021, we pointed out that the process (which took several weeks) was rushed and ill-conceived and would result in rules that were anti-competitive. The recent Award has fully validated these concerns.”
Cliff informs clubs that the panel found APT’s rules, designed to prevent clubs from making inflated deals with companies linked to their owners, to be unlawful and that, contrary to comments from the top flight, the decision made all rules ‘null and void’ makes.
The club’s general counsel, Simon Cliff, sent the email – which was seen by Mail Sport – on Monday evening
“In recent correspondence,” Cliff writes, “the Premier League agreed with MCFC that this is an issue for the Tribunal to resolve. It is therefore notable that the Premier League is now seeking to involve its member clubs in a process to change the APT rules, at a time when it does not even know the status of those rules.”
It is understood City have already received ‘several’ responses in support of the email from other clubs.
The blistering missive takes another swipe at the Premier League and warns of further, potentially costly, legal action.
“This is the time for careful reflection and consideration by all clubs, rather than a knee-jerk reaction,” Cliff said. ‘Such an ill-advised course of action would likely lead to further legal proceedings involving further legal costs. It is crucial that member clubs feel they can have confidence in their regulator.”
City then clarified a number of points that directly contradicted the top statement. It rejects their claim that the decision ‘endorsed’ the rules nor declared them to be ‘necessary’.
Cliff added that the Premier League’s claim that ‘certain individual elements’ of the rules had been identified as having been changed was ‘not correct’.
The series winners took legal action against Associated Party Transactions (APT) sanctions in February.
The Premier League (CEO Richard Masters in photo) will invite all clubs to an emergency meeting next week to discuss next steps
The finding, he says, means the rules are “null and void and cannot be enforced.”
In summary, Cliff then informs the clubs that the Tribunal found that the rules were unlawful because they constitute a restriction of competition, an abuse of the Premier League’s dominant position and are discriminatory because they exclude shareholder loans made to clubs by owners and investors at preferential rates .
“If affiliated clubs have any questions about the Award, we would like to help them as best we can,” Cliff concludes.
The Premier League will invite all its clubs to an emergency meeting next week to discuss the tribunal’s findings and next steps. However, a rule change is not expected to be voted on.