Manchester City have launched ‘unprecedented legal action’ against the Premier League in a dispute that is shaking up top-flight English football.
City are still awaiting an outcome for 115 charges for allegedly breaching financial rules – that are strongly denied by the club – with a hearing now set for November.
However, while they await the hearing, which is expected to last six weeks, the Premier League champions have reportedly taken legal action against the division.
According to The Times, City were looking to end the league’s Associated Party Transaction (APT) rules, which they claim are unlawful.
It was reported in February that City were warned of the threat of legal action against the league’s APT rules and the outlet have confirmed the club went ahead with it – with a date for the hearing now set for June 10th.
The rules – introduced in December 2021 – are designed to maintain competitiveness by preventing top-flight clubs from inflating commercial deals with companies linked to their owners.
However, inside a 165-page legal document, City claim that the rules have been approved by rivals to stifle their success on the pitch as a ‘tyranny of the majority’.
The club have accused rivals of ‘discrimination against Gulf ownership’ – after the rules were implemented shortly after Newcastle United’s Saudi takeover.
City also claimed the rules were ‘deliberately intended to stifle commercial freedoms of particular clubs in particular circumstances, and thus to restrict economic competition’.
The Times’ report further states that City were suing the Premier League for damages and argued the system of requiring at least 14 clubs to vote over a matter gives ‘the majority unacceptable levels of control’.
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