Major Man City Premier League legal battle 'update' emerges as Everton and Liverpool 'denied vote'

Manchester City look to have won their legal battle with the Premier League regarding Associated Party Transactions [APT] rules. This case is separate from the 115-charge hearing that is currently in progress.

The Times states that a members' vote on amendments to APT regulations was dropped from Thursday's Premier League meeting, inferring that a wider reformation of the rules may follow. The regulations were established in 2021 amid Newcastle's takeover by the Saudi Public Investment Fund.

Current APT rules allow the Premier League to oversee deals between entities connected with club owners to ensure fees are not inflated above 'fair market value', which would thereby give more headspace within spending rules. Man City say the regulations are discriminatory and in June sued the Premier League citing loss of damages.

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The hearing for the APT legal battle concluded over the summer and the outcome was expected to be learnt today. A vote on adjustments to APT rules - which would have included Liverpool and Everton - was supposedly scheduled for Thursday's meeting but its apparent removal from the agenda has led to suggestions that the Premier League might be loosening its grip regarding the rules.

There will be fears that doing so would allow the richer owners of the Premier League the potential to funnel more wealth into their clubs and ensure they remain within cash limits despite frivolous spending, creating a greater chasm between the wealthiest outfits and the rest of the league. The installing of any new or adjusted rules would need to be voted in favour of by at least 14 of the 20 member clubs.

Should the aforementioned report be accurate, this would denote another legal defeat for the Premier League. Earlier this month, it saw an independent commission rule that it had no right to charge Leicester City with finance breaches for the timeframe it had specified.

This follows another independent panel judging in February that the League was unjust in handing Everton an initial 10-point penalty for cash breaches, reducing it to six. Separately, the hearing involving the 115 allegations against Man City commenced last week.

Man City adamantly deny all of the charges and have vowed to clear their name. The hearing is expected to last for around 10 weeks but a verdict might not be delivered until early next year due to an anticipated lengthy deliberation period by the independent commission.

If found guilty, the range of punishments that could be imposed on Man City is thought to be limitless given the unprecedented scale of the case. It would mean heavy points deductions and league expulsion are possibilities.

The severity of the punishment will likely depend on which and how many of the charges the club are found guilty of. Meanwhile, a win for Man City would tarnish trust in the Premier League's governance of its own rules.

Such a scenario would mean that the League would have brought forward serious charges without the required evidence, and proof, to back them up. This could swell more support for a football regulator, with a Government bill on the watchdog already drafted up.