Major Premier League U-turn confirmed as Newcastle United receive emergency meeting update
An emergency meeting called by the Premier League this week following the outcome of a legal battle with Manchester City has reportedly been postponed.
The Premier League invited Newcastle United, Man City and the 18 other member clubs to a meeting to discuss possible changes to its financial rules. It came after Man City claimed to have won their legal battle against the Premier League’s Associated Party Transaction (APT) Rules last Monday.
Although many of Man City’s legal challenges were unsuccessful, it was deemed that aspects of APT Rules introduced three years ago were ‘unlawful’.
According to various reports, two meetings with the Premier League’s Legal Advisory Group and Financial Controls Advisory Group due to take place on Thursday have now been cancelled.
It comes after Premier League chief executive Richard Mastered warned clubs that there would be ‘no quick fix’ to the rules in a message to clubs to inform them that they would be taking ‘the necessary time to develop our proposals and the associated draft rule amendments’. It comes as a U-turn from the Premier League after calling the meeting and releasing an initial statement claiming that APT Rules ‘can quickly and effectively be remedied by the league and clubs’.
BBC Sport claim that clubs have been informed that the meetings have been rescheduled to take place early next week as the Premier League and its clubs attempt to reach a conclusion to the issues surrounding APT Rules. The rules were introduced just weeks after the Newcastle takeover by the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund in 2021. Official documents released earlier this month cite the takeover as the catalyst that led to the rules being introduced.
Newcastle have since agreed major sponsorship deals with PIF companies but have had to have them ratified by the Premier League as being of ‘Fair Market Value’.