Arsenal won’t be liable for millions more in interest on existing loans from their owners, despite fearmongering in the media over the last 24 hours.
In the initial aftermath of the verdict on Manchester City’s legal case against the Premier League, there were claims made that Arsenal could have reason to be concerned by the judgements on shareholder loans.
Mike Keegan wrote for the Daily Mail that the ruling “could spell trouble for others – not least rivals Arsenal”, given City had successfully argued that the Associated Party Transactions rules should extend to loans from owners and shareholders.
Yet the reality is that the Gunners have little to worry about on that front.
Ben Rumsby reports for The Telegraph that Arsenal (and others) will escape immediate liability for millions in interest on loans from their owners, as the Premier League have confirmed that will only apply to shareholder loans after the rules are changed.
Existing loans will not be retrospectively reviewed, so nothing will change with regards to Arsenal’s £259m shareholder loans.
It would be surprising if the league took any other approach, given 19 of the 20 clubs voted for shareholder loans to be excluded from the APT rules.
Manchester City were one of those 19 clubs, only performing a U-turn later for obviously self-interested reasons.
For anyone visiting Keegan’s Daily Mail article and wondering where the segment on Arsenal’s concerns has gone, it has since been removed in an update.
Unfortunately, the facts don’t appear to support the claims made in the original piece, which is still available via web archives.
