Nick De Marco KC is preparing the PFA’s case against Premier League financial rules
The Premier League is still facing another legal challenge to its financial regulations despite settling a long-running dispute with Manchester City over associated party transactions this week.
Legal action remains pending from the Professional Footballers’ Association over the Premier League’s plans to introduce new squad cost ratio (SCR) rules next season, which would limit clubs to spending a set percentage of their income on transfer fees, salaries and agent fees.
Top-flight clubs have been obliged to operate SCR rules on a trial basis with no enforcement since last season, and the Premier League had initially wanted to introduce them in practice for the start of this campaign.
But, faced with the PFA’s legal threat, it opted to delay for 12 months, with the existing profit and sustainability rules (PSR) remaining in place for one more season.
Discussions are continuing between the clubs on further spending restrictions, including so-called anchoring, which would tie the amount top clubs can spend to a multiple of the revenue earned by the Premier League’s bottom side the previous season.
The PFA regards both proposed new measures as a de facto salary cap, and has engaged Nick De Marco KC to prepare their case. While the PFA has also called for consultation, City AM has been told that it will activate its claim as soon as the Premier League formally votes to introduce the new rules, with little prospect of a negotiated settlement.
The PFA enjoyed a big win in a similar case five years ago, with De Marco leading a successful arbitration challenge against the EFL’s plans to introduce salary caps in League One and League Two in the aftermath of the clubs’ Covid-19-induced financial crisis.
An independent panel ruled that the EFL had breached the Professional Football Negotiating and Consultative Committee’s constitution by failing to properly consult the PFA before introducing the caps, leading to their immediate withdrawal.
Tottenham mull ditching Rothschild
Tottenham Hotspur are considering replacing Rothschild as the club’s retained bankers following the sudden departure of executive chairman Daniel Levy last week.
Levy engaged Rothschild in April 2024 with a remit to advise Tottenham on potential external investment, but that process was stopped during the summer, with majority owners the Lewis family instead choosing to inject around £100m of additional equity into the club themselves.
Tottenham announced on Sunday night that they had “unequivocally rejected” two expressions of interest in buying the club from Amanda Staveley’s PCP International Finance and Chinese/American consortium Firehawk Holdings Limited, and that they are not for sale.
With the club no longer running an investment process, the club are understood to be reviewing their contracts with third-party advisors in light of Levy’s departure, and Rothschild could be let go.
Levy stuck with Spurs stock
In addition to losing his position as chair and an annual income of over £3m in salary and bonuses, Levy is unlikely to receive any dividends on his 30 per cent shareholding in Enic, the company that owns 86 per cent of Tottenham.
As majority shareholder, the decision on whether to pay any dividends rests with the Lewis family, who have not paid or taken any to date.
Under the terms of his severance agreement, Levy is free to sell his stake although, given that Lewis aides have made clear they have no intention of selling, it is unclear whether he would receive significant offers for a minority shareholding with no influence, no dividends and little immediate prospect of profiting from a sale of the club.
ECB cedes control of England stars
The England and Wales Cricket Board has signed over control of its centrally contracted England players for the duration of The Hundred to the eight franchises, who can now dictate when the likes of Ben Stokes and Joe Root are selected during the competition.
Until this year the ECB had the right to pull players out of The Hundred but, under the terms of the new participation agreement signed last month, they can now only be withdrawn in the event of injury.
Stokes missed all of The Hundred this summer due to a shoulder injury, while Jamie Smith, Ollie Pope and Jamie Overton sat out London Spirit’s first game as it took place the day after the conclusion of England’s five-Test series with India, but otherwise England’s players were virtually ever-present.
Netflix muscles Dazn out of Saudi contract
Netflix provided the latest example of the daunting combination of its growing interest in live sport and financial firepower by outbidding Dazn for the rights to the Six Kings Slam, the exhibition tennis tournament in Riyadh which is also the most lucrative event in the sport.
Carlos Alcaraz, Novak Djokovic and Jannik Sinner will be among those competing for a prize of £4.5m in just days at the ANB Arena next month, with the event forming the main sporting highlight of Riyadh Season, the Saudi Arabian cultural festival.
Dazn broadcast the first Six Kings Slam last year, when Sinner beat Alcaraz in the final to take home the bumper prize money and, given their close relationship with Saudi Arabia, had expected to retain the rights.
While Dazn made a competitive bid, Netflix is understood to have blown their streaming rivals out of the water in an attempt to add more tennis fans to a global subscriber base of around 300m people.