Everton, Chelsea and Wolves were attracted by the Premier League’s shareholder loans proposal following the recent vote on the associated party transaction (APT) rules.
That is the view of former Man City financial adviser Stefan Borson, who exclusively told Football Insider those clubs were likely concerned about the shareholder loans being applied retrospectively after backing the governing body.
Man City took legal action against the Premier League regarding the APT rules at an arbitration hearing in June, with two aspects of the regulations deemed unlawful when the panel published its findings in October.
The Premier League issued proposed amendments in early November, with the top-flight clubs approving those changes at a meeting in London on 22 November.
It is believed 16 sides voted in favour of the proposals, ensuring the governing body received the required two-thirds majority, as only Man City, Aston Villa, Newcastle United and Nottingham Forest rejected the motion.
In a statement, the Premier League said the changes relate to “integrating the assessment of shareholder loans” and “include the removal of some of the amendments made to APT rules earlier this year”.
The Guardian reported on 28 November Everton owner Farhad Moshiri has agreed to convert his £451million loan into shares if the club has not been sold by the time the new regulations come into force on 11 January.
Premier League made smart move to secure Everton and Chelsea backing
“I think the Premier League did something quite subtle and quite smart in that they put all of the amendments in one basket,” Borson told Football Insider.
“That meant your only choice was not to vote for independent pieces of it.
“You couldn’t say ‘I don’t mind that clause there, but I’m not accepting that clause there’.
“You had to vote either all for them or all against them and what that meant was anybody that liked the look of the shareholder loans provisions, which basically said that everything historically you could ignore if you effectively unwind it before 11 January, that was quite attractive I think to Everton, Wolves and Chelsea.
“All of those teams voted in favour.
“I think they did that because they were concerned that if they didn’t vote through these rules, there was a possibility that shareholder loans ends up being retrospective.”
In other news, Everton star’s loan could be terminated.
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