Newcastle are backing Manchester City as they wage war on the Premier League

Manchester City are taking legal action against the Premier League over the current associated party transactions (APT) rules, which restricts the commercial revenue that clubs can receive from a company they have a connection to.

It's hardly a surprise that Newcastle United stand with Manchester City on this one especially as this rule was a direct response to the Saudi PIF's controversial takeover of the club.

The PIF have connections to some of the biggest businesses in the world and as a result, the Premier League were panicking that the Magpies could exploit that by creating over-inflated sponsorship deals as a way of getting around Financial Fair Play rules.

Seeing as the PIF can't just directly pump their own money into their own club to spend how they see fit, they have to be creative in finding ways to increase revenue to unlock spending, but because of the APT rules, they're even restricted in what commercial partnerships they can strike up with all deals having to reflect fair market value. However, what's fair for one isn't fair for another. Newcaslte's partnership with Adidas which officially gets underway tomorrow when the new kit is launched, nets the Magpies a suspected £40million a year, but Manchester United's deal with the same company is worth £90million a year. Why is it "fair" for them to net £50million a year more?

The hearing will start on Monday and last for two weeks

The Daily Mail has listed Newcastle, Aston Villa and Chelsea as the three clubs set to back Manchester City in their legal fight which will be a huge topic of discussion today at the Premier League Annual General Meeting (AGM) at Harrogate.

Manchester City's case against the Premier League will start on 10th June and is set to last two weeks.

There are plenty of clubs who are backing the Premier League, however, "somewhere between 10 and 12 clubs have provided information in support of the Premier League and its rules in what is being viewed as a civil war. Sources say that group includes the likes of Manchester United, Arsenal, Fulham, Wolves, Brighton and Tottenham. Some have provided witness statements while others have provided letters," according to the Mail.

It looks like we're backing Man City again

Fortunately, unlike the vote on whether to scrap VAR, there's no vote on this movement and the matter is going ahead regardless of what comes out of the AGM today.

Newcastle will definitely be watching on with interest as if Manchester City win their case it could be a total gamechanger for the Magpies.

My big worry is, we backed Manchester City in the FA Cup final too and look how that turned out.