Aston Villa to support Manchester City in voting against Premier League APT rule changes, says co-owner Sawiris

Aston Villa co-owner Nassef Sawiris says his club will join Manchester City in voting against the Premier League’s amended associated party transaction (APT) rules.

The 20 clubs were scheduled to vote on the proposals in September but that was withdrawn ahead of the meeting, which still went ahead. This latest vote is scheduled to take place on Friday, November 22 and Villa are the first club to go public with their voting intention.

In October, an independent three-person tribunal found that the Premier League’s APT rules and amendments, which were introduced in December 2021 (two months after the Saudi Arabia-backed takeover of Newcastle United) and February 2024 respectively, were found to be “unlawful” and in breach of UK competition law as they deliberately excluded shareholder loans — when a club borrows money from its ownership group, usually interest-free.

The Premier League has maintained that “discrete elements” of the rules can “quickly and effectively be remedied” with minor alterations but that will require the backing of a two-thirds majority of clubs when they convene on Friday.

Sawiris, who co-owns Villa with American businessman Wes Edens, told The Telegraph that his club “will be voting against the proposed APT rules”, citing potentially “astronomical” legal fees and the need for clubs to present a “united front” ahead of the introduction of the UK government’s Independent Football Regulator.

Both the Premier League and City claimed victories after October’s ruling; the league admitted that the ruling identified “a small number of discrete elements” of the APT which do not comply with competition law but claimed it “(endorses) the overall objectives, framework and decision-making of the APT system”. City’s view was that the tribunal had found that the Premier League “was found to have abused its dominant position” with the APT rules and amendments.

The tribunal’s ruling came after the case — which is separate from the one regarding City’s more than 100 alleged financial breaches of the Premier League’s rules — was heard by a panel for two weeks, after City brought the legal challenge against the league’s amended rules in June.

The league’s APT rules are aimed at stopping clubs from signing inflated sponsorship deals with firms that are linked with them, as well as preventing them transferring players for less or more than their market value between teams in the same ownership group.