In the process of getting one over on the Premier League by persuading an independent commission that their sponsorship rules are ‘unlawful’, Manchester City have put many of their fellow top-flight clubs in danger of falling foul of profit and sustainability (PSR) regulations.
Both City and the Premier League quite reasonably claimed victory in statements released on Monday.
The basic APT rules system has been broadly upheld under competition law, and the regulations are not viewed as anti-competitive; they may actually be strengthened as a result. A win for the Premier League.
But the one exemption, the bit that was described as ‘unlawful’ – which has allowed the Citizens to laud their lawyers’ success – was how interest-bearing shareholder loans are considered in financial complications.
In layman’s terms, if a club were to borrow money from a bank they would be charged interest and City successfully argued that if shareholder loans are included in PSR calculations, so too should the interest, as the club would otherwise be benefiting from an APT.
This now means that the Premier League has to consider the finance costs of shareholder loans in their calculations, which is bad news for some clubs and very bad news for others.
It’s been claimed that ‘half the clubs could now be in breach’ if this had been an original part of the PSR accounting practice.
Here are the shareholder loans as of the end of the 2022/2023 season, from least to most, with advice as to how the clubs can pay back their shareholders. The missing seven clubs have no debts to pay.
To be clear, we know they don’t need to. It’s just a bit of fun.
13) Fulham: £1m
Sell roughly 333 season tickets at £3000 a pop.
12) Aston Villa: £10m
Bring Jhon Duran off the bench in at least four more Champions League games and secure a place in the last 16.
11) Nottingham Forest: £23m
Sell another second/third-choice goalkeeper to Newcastle.
10) Crystal Palace: £38m
Go cap in hand to Newcastle and accept the first of four offers for Marc Guehi.
9) Brentford: £61m
Slap a release clause on set-piece coach Keith Andrews.
8) Wolves: £65m
Allow Gary O’Neil to take the Manchester United job and assume the recruitment geniuses at Old Trafford will allow him to sign as many Wolves players as he likes before it all blows up in his and their faces.
7) Liverpool: £71m
Persuade Trent Alexander-Arnold to room with Jude Bellingham on England duty.
6) Bournemouth: £115m
Sell two more Dominic Solankes.
5) Leicester: £132m
Avoid relegation and receive the TV revenue in 2024/2025.
4) Chelsea: £146m
Win the new Club World Cup and sell a hotel to a company which definitely has nothing whatsoever to do with Chelsea Football Club.
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3) Arsenal: £259m
Win the Premier League this season, and the four seasons after that.
2) Brighton: £373m
Keep answering phone calls from Chelsea.
1) Everton: £451m
Get new owners to wipe what is more than 25% of the collective Premier League debt. Excellent timing, assuming The Friedkin Group get a wriggle on.
