Revealed: Three clubs named as acting witnesses in support of Manchester City against Premier League | OneFootball

Three clubs from within the Premier League showed their support for Manchester City in their battle over Associated Party Transaction rules, it has been revealed.

Monday afternoon saw the official release of the Award document in relation to Manchester City’s challenge of the Premier League’s Associated Party Transaction (APT) rules, which are aimed at the value of sponsorship deals with companies linked to clubs’ owners.

From the side of Manchester City and the statement issued from the Etihad Stadium, the Premier League champions had some complaints upheld, with two aspects of the APT rules deemed unlawful by a tribunal.

However, from the side of the Premier League, the English top-flight claimed that the tribunal rejected the majority of City’s challenges and “endorsed the overall objectives, framework and decision-making of the APT system”.

It has also since been confirmed that the witnesses for the Premier League against Manchester City included Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur, Brighton & Hove Albion, and West Ham United.

Additionally, all of Brentford, Bournemouth, Fulham and Wolverhampton Wanderers wrote letters in support of the rules. Now, it has been disclosed which teams specifically acted as witnesses for Manchester City.

As confirmed by BBC Sport, all of Chelsea, Newcastle United, and Everton acted as witnesses for Manchester City against the Premier League and its Associated Party Transaction (APT) rules.

In light of the Premier League’s publicly issued statement, Manchester City have now written to every top-flight club rubbishing the top-flight’s release on the legal battle over Associated Party Transaction rules.

Manchester City, via an email issued by the club’s general counsel Simon Cliff, accused the Premier League’s bosses of ‘misleading’ teams across the division by providing ‘inaccuracies’ in their statement.

Whilst the Premier League declined to respond to City’s letter to clubs publicly, they privately insist that there will be no vote on amendments to the Associated Party Transaction rules at next week’s emergency meeting of clubs.