Source: REUTERS/Lee Smith
[Saba Sports News] Recently, the hearing regarding the 115 charges against Manchester City has officially begun. In June of this year, Manchester City also filed a counter-suit regarding the Premier League’s related party transaction rules. This rule mainly targets related parties that provide sponsorship to clubs, which may artificially inflate values to evade the Profitability and Sustainability Rules (PSR). Manchester City claims that the new related party sponsorship rules have subjected them to “discrimination,” asserting that it amounts to “the tyranny of the majority.” It is reported that when initiating the dispute resolution process, Manchester City and the Premier League had private meetings for negotiations before the hearing. There is a mechanism in place where Manchester City’s lawyers can closely monitor the Premier League’s lawyers during the lawsuit. They informed the Premier League that if they continue with their litigation plans, Manchester City is ready to drag the Premier League down and demand hundreds of millions in compensation, which the Premier League cannot afford. Manchester City will continue to litigate against the Premier League for the next 5-10 years until they prevail. If Manchester City wins the counter-suit and the Premier League’s rules are proven illegal, many of the charges against Manchester City will be significantly weakened. Now that the hearing has started, both sides have a long way to go.