Man City APT ‘mayhem’ as ruling sparks ‘new points deduction fear’ amid Arsenal, Liverpool ‘problem’

It has been suggested that Manchester City’s Associated Party Transaction (APT) ruling could ’cause mayhem’ as Arsenal and Liverpool have a “big problem”.

Man City were charged with breaching over 100 of the Premier League’s Financial Fair Play rules at the start of 2023. If found guilty, they could be given a points deduction, a huge fine, a transfer ban or expulsion.

Pep Guardiola‘s side were changed following a four-year probe into their conduct between 2009 and 2018 but have insisted they are innocent.

Earlier this year, Man City fought back against the Premier League as they campaigned for the removal of APT rules. If they were successful, it would dramatically alter their FFP case as a large portion of their charges would become redundant.

While City’s FFP case is ongoing, the APT hearing recently ended and the verdict was made public earlier this week.

It’s claimed Man City and the Premier League had success, but the club are said to have narrowly ‘won on penalties’.

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A couple of aspects of the Premier League’s APT were deemed ‘unlawful’, with it found that shareholder loans shouldn’t be excluded from the figures for Profit and Sustainability.

In an interview with Football Insider, former Everton chairman Keith Wyness claimed Man City’s APT verdict could ’cause mayhem’ as it sparks a ‘new points deduction fear’.

While Wyness cannot see Premier League clubs being “retrospectively” punished, he explains why the shareholder loans change could “give a lot of clubs some big problems”. It is noted that Arsenal and Liverpool are at risk, as they owe their owners £259m and £137m respectively.

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Wyness said: “There is a Premier League meeting being called for next week.

“The big issue about the interest rate being charged and just so that people understand, owners can put money into their clubs and they don’t charge any interest. Man City were saying that’s just as equivalent as an inflated sponsorship.

“What they’re saying is that now the interest must be added at market rate to any of those loans and, if that was to be retrospectively charged, then that would give a lot of clubs some big problems and would probably make them fail PSR.

“The big question is ‘Would it be retrospective?’. I don’t believe it will be, but if it was to be the case, that would create mayhem within the Premier League and, with the backlog of legal cases and tribunals, that would be incredible.

“I think common sense must prevail and I think legally there must be a way to make sure that because that was not the rule at the time, they can’t do this retrospectively.

“That’s still not finalised yet, but that’s one big area that could open up Pandora’s box.”