Premier League at risk of civil war after Everton and Nottingham Forest charges
A leading sports lawyer tells i that Premier League clubs could face legal action from rivals for breaching Financial Fair Play regulations
One of Richard Scudamore’s greatest achievements leading the Premier League for almost two decades was somehow maintaining harmony between its member clubs.
Arguably, it was more important even than transforming the tip of English football’s pyramid into one of Britain’s leading global exports and a multibillion pound industry that has become the envy of the footballing world.
Without that underlying cohesion between the clubs, the “product” as it has become known in a business sense, may not have been as universally appealing as it became.
And that was no easy task. The top flight is a world of competing factions, egos, politics, ruthlessness and backstabbing that would not look out of place in a HBO series. But, even when the seams appeared to be weakening, Scudamore managed to hold the pieces in place.
Could all that be about to change?
The Premier League is entering a new era of accountability, with charges of varying degrees currently levelled against Manchester City and Nottingham Forest, and in two separate cases against Everton.
Chelsea also remain under investigation for potential financial breaches during Roman Abramovich’s ownership that were self-reported by the current owners when discovered during diligence as part of the takeover in 2022.
Simon Leaf, one of the country’s leading sports lawyers, told how the outcome of the Premier League’s various cases could open the “floodgates” for legal action to be pursued by aggrieved rivals.
What happens next in the months and years ahead hangs in the balance but it has the potential to create a new atmosphere of hostility and add an extra dynamic to the playing field.
The outcome of Everton’s appeal, which began on Wednesday, against a 10-point deduction for the club’s first alleged financial breaches will impact the hearing into their second, given much of the same accounting periods were included.
Everton’s second charge and Forest’s first, and any appeals, will be concluded before the end of this season.
Premier League chief executive Richard Masters told a parliamentary committee recently that a date for an independent commission to hear City’s long-protracted case has been set. City have been charged with more than 100 Financial Fair Play breaches. The club have always denied any wrongdoing.
