- Clubs will vote on Friday over changes to the Premier League’s sponsorship rules
- Aston Villa have written to ‘strongly recommend’ that the ballot is postponed
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Aston Villa have called on the Premier League to call off Friday’s vote on changes to sponsorship rules – in a significant show of support for Manchester City as their war with the competition continues.
The Midlands club has written to all top-flight sides in an email ‘strongly recommending’ the proposed ballot, set to take place in London, is postponed.
Villa, previously known to be sympathetic to City’s cause, have raised three reasons behind calling for the delay. They highlight fresh potential legal challenges, ongoing uncertainty and further changes to the rules following the introduction of an independent regulator.
In what is a key development, Villa have acted after City wrote to clubs last week to urge a delay to the vote, claiming the Premier League’s proposed changes to the rules remained ‘unlawful’ and raising the prospect of further legal action.
While the Premier League declined to comment, Mail Sport believes the competition is determined to press on with the vote.
City initially took the league to a tribunal following amendments to its regulations on associated party transactions (APTs) – commercial deals with parties linked to club owners – this year.
In September, a panel ruled sections of the rules unlawful, in the most part because shareholder loans – monies lent to clubs by those with stakes of more than 5 per cent – were excluded from the league’s fair market value (FMV) test.
Following the verdict top-flight chief executive Richard Masters assured clubs that amendments could be made ‘quickly and effectively’. That claim was rubbished by City’s legal counsel Simon Cliff, who accused Masters of attempting to mislead in his own email to clubs.
In a letter City shared with the other 19 sides, the Premier League attacked City’s position, accusing its own champions of making ‘repeated and baseless assertions’.
Villa are also thought to have questioned what they believe is the ongoing leaking of information, which it claims is ‘unhelpful’.
