Premier League told APT rules rushed through in wake of Newcastle United takeover were unlawful and void

Manchester City recently claimed a victory in a tribunal against the Premier League around the lawfulness of the Associated Party Transaction rules, but rather than scrap the rules entirely, the Premier League made some minor adjustments, which were voted through by a majority of PL clubs.

The lawyers for Manchester City wrote to the other clubs in the league to implore them to vote down the changes, but 16 teams opted to toe the party line.

Now Man City are taking the Premier League back to the same tribunal to get the amendments, and therefore the entire APT rule thrown out, and after the tribunal results were made public last night, it may just happen.

The Premier League last night admitted that the initial rules, brought in in December 2021 following the Newcastle United Saudi-backed takeover, were indeed unlawful and have now been declared void.

Manchester City are now trying to get the entire APT rule ripped up

After the rules blocked Manchester City from making deals with Etihad Airways and First Abu Dhabi Bank, which are both owned by the club's owners, the Premier League champions decided to fight back.

Newcastle United supported CIty in their case and are likely to do so again when the case continues as the Magpies could seriously benefit if the APT rules are lifted completely.

For now, it's expected that clubs who had deals blocked or significantly reduced from December 2021 to November 2024 are likely to seek compensation for lost revenue in terms of what they lost in the partnership deals but also how it may have affected their performance.

Newcastle could have missed out on tens of millions of pounds thanks to unlawful APT rules

Newcastle United haven't made any deals for the training kit or training ground, while they've also contemplated a stadium sponsorship deal, which is yet to have come to the fore. The feeling has been that they were waiting to see the outcome of this case, and now things are starting to go our way; we may finally see some movement.

The infuriating thing is that we have no idea whether we had any deals lined up with PIF-backed companies and how much those could have been worth. We've seen a few Saudi-based companies back the club, obviously, but how much were those deals knocked down due to APT rules?

That will, of course, have had an effect on PSR and why Newcastle haven't made a significant first-team signing in the last three transfer windows.

This admission by the Premier League and the subsequent tribunal, which Man City are confident will go their way, could be massive for Newcastle.