Manchester City have taken aim at Arsenal in their ongoing battle with the Premier League over them “lobbying in the background” to swindle them.
Following Newcastle United’s Saudi-led takeover in 2021, the Premier League proposed rules on APTs as they aimed to prevent clubs like the Magpies and Man City from signing inflated sponsorship deals to avoid a financial breach.
Any deal deemed inflated was denied, with the Citizens taking legal action after sponsorship deals with Etihad Airways and First Abu Dhabi Bank were blocked.
Man City challenged the rules in court, stating that they were unfair and unlawful, and were vindicated in February when a tribunal declared the regulations entirely void, with clubs who have been blocked deals potentially able to sue the Premier League.
Three elements of rules, which ran from December 2021 to November 2024, were declared ‘unlawful‘, including ‘the fact that shareholder loans were not subject to the same fair market value tests included in the APT rules’.
In a new statement earlier this week shared with Premier League clubs, Man City claim the new rules ‘fail to meet the requirements of transparency, objectivity, precision and proportionality and are liable to distort competition’.
The Citizens accused the Premier League of distorting the competition in favour of Arsenal and other rival clubs who have benefited from huge loans from their owners.
Stefan Borson, City’s former financial advisor, claims the club’s accusation centres around Arsenal “lobbying in the background”.
He told Football Insider: “I think City are making the point that certain clubs may not be voting on a purely objective basis in some of these votes about putting in place new rules, and they may be instead looking to make decisions that perhaps attack certain clubs.
“City cannot have any issue with a club who votes in the way that it sees fit. Nobody would suggest otherwise. A club can do whatever is in its interests.
“That said, City obviously wanted to make the point that certain clubs are perhaps not solely thinking about their self-interest but thinking about how they can damage one or two other clubs. I think that’s what the accusation is.
“Not that the Premier League are doing it. I don’t think there’s been any allegation that the Premier League has applied its own rules in an unfavourable way to City at this stage. That may have happened in the 115 case, and it may well happen in the future.
“But at the moment, what City have alleged in the main hearing is that the rules are unlawful and discriminatory.
“But I think what they were talking about in terms of noting Arsenal’s position is that it’s really just about the way Arsenal have been acting and perhaps lobbying in the background as opposed to anything else.
“I think it’s a bit of a storm in a teacup. There are bigger issues that the Premier League has got between warring clubs. Clubs are always going to be competitive with each other.
“As long as they don’t overstep the mark in terms of outright illegal acts or sort of a pure favouritism from the Premier League, I don’t think there’s that much of a big deal.
“It’s perfectly reasonable for City to raise their objection, but I think they’re making a point about getting things minuted, for example.”