Premier League clubs will vote on amendments to associated party transactions later this month
In a London hotel later this month, officials representing the 20 Premier League clubs will convene to vote on what has become a thorny issue.
Earlier this year, Manchester City launched legal action against the Premier League and its associated party transaction rules (APT), with the reigning champions having made the move after deals with Etihad and Abu Dhabi First Bank were blocked due to existing APT rules.
APT, introduced in 2021, was designed to ensure that any commercial deals struck between clubs and entities where their owners had ties, were conducted at a ‘fair market value’, with its introduction coming on the back of the takeover of Newcastle United by the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund (PIF).
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Those rules were amended in February, and it is the amended rules to which City have taken umbrage. Indeed, the independent commission that heard the case that City made agreed on two points, the most notable being that interest-free shareholder loans should be included in the scope of APT and count towards a club’s profit and sustainability (PSR) position.
Various reports last week stated that the Premier League had communicated with member clubs over proposed amendments, with a vote to be taken on November 22.
There had been some suggestion that amendments would kick the door open to the likes of Manchester City and Newcastle being able to flex their financial muscle to a far greater extent, with the proposals meaning clubs would only have to demonstrate a deal ‘could’ rather than ‘would’ be agreed by another company that did not have links to ownership.
For Liverpool, riding high at the summit of the Premier League under Arne Slot, and having opened up a five-point gap on Manchester City, what happens with Pep Guardiola’s side is always of concern.
But the Reds shouldn’t be unduly concerned about City, or the likes of Newcastle, going out and bringing in an avalanche of huge deals well above fair market value.
The reason for that is that the amendments to be made relate to the current regulations that arrived in February, not the ones that were brought in back in 2021, which were the ones that were used to block Etihad and Abu Dhabi First Bank Deals.
That means that the same level of regulation remains around APT and the interpretation of fair market value, and a massive influx of hugely inflated deals is not anticipated by Premier League clubs following the November 22 vote.
While the independent panel that heard the City case agreed with a couple of points that were made by the club’s legal team, they were of the opinion that APT was a required regulatory mechanism.
For now, Liverpool and owners Fenway Sports Group won’t have too many concerns about the commercial deals of such rivals being super-charged in the short term.
