It was recently reported that Manchester City looked to have won their arbitration case over the Premier League concerning Associated Party Transactions.
An agenda item regarding APTs was removed from the list shortly before the last Premier League meeting which many took as a sign that the recent arbitration case had ruled in Manchester City’s favour.
Today that result has been confirmed and the case has gone mostly in City’s favour which many have claimed will greatly benefit Newcastle United too.
The Associated Party Transaction rules were hastily thrown together just days after Newcastle United was taken over by the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund amid fears that the new owners could pump some of their seemingly unlimited wealth directly into the club via inflated sponsorship deals with other PIF-owned companies.
Interestingly, both sides are claiming a victory
While Manchester City claimed the victory in their official statement, it’s worth noting that the Premier League are claiming victory also as pointed out by The Chronicle.
So while the laws around APTs have been deemed unlawful and a response to a fear-mongering campaign led by certain other Premier League clubs, they are set to remain in place in some guise it seems.
Newcastle, who gave a statement on behalf of Manchester City in the case, may still need to tread lightly while the dust settles.
We may be wise to wait on announcing a mega sponsorship deal
Initially it sounded like the perfect time to have a huge PIF-owned company announce their sponsorship of St James’ Park for an extraordinary amount of money, but with both sides claiming the win, it might be wise to hold off for now.
Clearly there’s still going to be some benefit for Newcastle after this ruling, but it might not be the big win we were all hoping for.
It could, though, just be the first domino to fall as this could start something which sees the likes of APTs and Profit and Sustainability Rules put under the microscope even further, especially when you consider that Manchester City still have to try and defend against their 115 PSR breaches soon.
