Premier League urged to be more transparent in legal battle with Man City | OneFootball

Leading sports lawyer Nick de Marco KC believes the “absolute secrecy” is a problem

The Premier League have been urged to make the outcome of their legal battle with Manchester City over associated party transaction (APT) rules public.

A two-week private arbitration hearing took place in June over APT rules, which are in place to ensure that sponsorship or revenue deals between a club and entities linked to their owners are done at fair market value.

In February, clubs voted to approve tougher rules regarding how such deals are valued. That has been challenged by City, who have argued it contravenes competition law.

Premier League clubs met on Thursday for a shareholders’ meeting in central London and it was the first time they had convened since the private arbitration in June.

A vote to amend the Premier League’s APT rules was withdrawn from the agenda ahead of the meeting, which led many to interpret City had secured a victory in their league battle.

Other reports, however, argued this was not the case. The Premier League and City both declined to comment.

It is understood Premier League chief executive Richard Masters told clubs on Thursday that a number of rules were not going to be voted on due to various feedbacks from clubs ahead of the meeting.

The speculation over City’s legal battle with the Premier League has led to leading sports lawyer Nick de Marco KC calling for the outcome to be made public.

De Marco, who acted on behalf of Leicester when they successfully appealed against an alleged breach of the Premier League’s Profit and Sustainability rules last month, believes more transparency is needed.

“Everyone is now speculating about the alleged outcome of the MCFC v PL Rule X arbitration, and who might have won what,” he wrote on X.

“But nobody can know what the result is (if indeed there has been one) or how it was reached, because the Premier League cling on to absolute secrecy.

“It does their reputation no good at all, at a time the government is considering the powers of a new independent football regulator, to keep such important matters of football regulation, that affect the whole competition, secret. If there is a decision of the very learned panel, it should now be published.”