Aston Villa owner could sue Premier League over spending rules

larryehu

6 months ago

Aston Villa owner Nassef Sawiris has said he is considering taking legal action against the Premier League over its Profit and Sustainability rules (PSR), claiming the financial restrictions “do not make sense.”

The regulations stipulate that a club can lose no more than £105 million ($132.54m) over a three-year period.

In an interview with the Financial Times, Sawiris said: “Some of the rules have actually resulted in cementing the status quo more than creating upward mobility and fluidity in the sport.

“The rules do not make sense and are not good for football.”

British media reports said Aston Villa had a request to increase the threshold for allowed losses to £135m rejected at the Premier League’s AGM last week, with just one other team voting for the motion.

ESPN have reached out to Villa for comment.

“Managing a sports team has become more like being a treasurer or a bean counter rather than looking at what your team needs,” Sawiris added.

“It’s more about creating paper profits, not real profits. It becomes a financial game, not a sporting game.”

In the 2023-24 season, both Everton and Nottingham Forest faced points deductions for breaching PSR. At the AGM, clubs agreed to trial a new financial system alongside PSR, with Squad Cost Rules (SCR) and Top to Bottom Anchoring Rules (TBA) “in shadow,” as per a Premier League statement last week.

A hearing begins this week after Manchester City took legal action against the Premier League’s Associated Party Transaction rules (APT), which are designed to regulate clubs signing sponsorship deals with companies linked to their owners.

Source:www.espn.com