Ahead of the Game: Manchester City row delays EFL New Deal
Manchester City’s ongoing legal battle with the Premier League has dealt another blow to EFL clubs, who are fearful of further delays over reaching an increased funding settlement from the top-flight which was billed as the so-called New Deal for Football.
The Premier League was pushing its members to agree an £836m package for the EFL earlier this year but talks were put on hold in March following a rebellion from the clubs, who wanted to prioritise making changes to their own competition’s financial regulations.
Top-flight teams subsequently agreed to trial a new system of squad cost control rules including the concept of “anchoring”, whereby the spending of the top clubs is directly linked to the income of the league’s bottom club, but even those discussions have been put on the back-burner due to the fallout from Manchester City’s associated-party transaction (APT) challenge last week.
An emergency club meeting has been called for tomorrow to discuss the implications of the Manchester City situation, which will include significant revisions of the APT rules and the requirement for interest to be added to shareholder loans when calculating a club’s spending.
The Premier League wrote to clubs last Friday warning that it would be “taking the necessary time” in assessing how to respond to the Manchester City judgement.
There will be no votes held at tomorrow’s meeting, and the process of revising the rules is expected to drag on for several months.
Agreeing the New Deal for Football has slipped even further down the Premier League’s pecking order as a result, leaving EFL clubs worried that they may never get an offer of increased funding.
Nike shirty at Chelsea sponsor absence
Chelsea’s relationship with their kit manufacturer Nike is being tested by the club’s failure to secure a shirt sponsor this season.
The US sportswear giant is convinced that the lack of a sponsor cost it shirt sales in the summer, with many fans waiting to see if Chelsea would land a late deal, as they did last year when a one-year contract with Infinite Athlete was agreed on 30 September.
Sports technology company Infinite Athlete was switched to Chelsea’s training kit sleeve sponsor last May however, with the club’s executives looking for a more lucrative front-of-shirt deal that has yet to materialise.
Sources with knowledge of the process told CityAM that Chelsea were initially looking for around £60m-a-year from a new sponsor, but with two months of the season having elapsed would accept around half that figure for the rest of the campaign.
Chelsea have held talks with Riyadh Air without reaching an agreement, with the club’s absence from the Champions League for a second successive season thought to be a major factor in depressing the value of the deal.
The club are halfway through a 15-year kit contract with Nike which is not thought to be in jeopardy, but sluggish sales at the start of the season have caused concerns. Nike declined to comment.
Wimbledon go own way over Hawk-Eye
Wimbledon has deviated from the Premier League by retaining Hawk-Eye to operate its ball-tracking technology at the All England Club, which last week announced it will not have line judges at next summer’s Championships.
The Premier League rejected a bid from Hawk-Eye in the tender to run the new semi-automatic offside [SAOT] system that will be introduced to the top-flight later this season, with American company Genius Sports winning the contract, but Wimbledon chiefs are staying with the technology partners they have used since 2007.
The ATP and WTA tours are also removing line judges from next year, while the US Open and the Australian Open previously scrapped them and have contracts with Hawk-Eye.
The French Open does not use ball-tracking technology at all however, making it the only Grand Slam tournament to employ human officials beyond the match referee.
FA chief avoids the R word
FA chief executive Mark Bullingham raised eyebrows at Wembley last week in a speech to stakeholders to announce details of the governing body’s new four-year strategy to 2028 by omitting to mention the looming prospect of independent regulation of football.
Bullingham spoke about the challenges of hosting the 2028 European Championship, England’s aspirations to win the tournament, the importance of the FA Cup and plans to continue the growth of women’s football.
But many in attendance were surprised that there was no reference to the Football Governance Bill, which will be introduced to Parliament in the coming months.
VAR from appealing prize
The Premier League has generously provided almost £1m in financial support for music therapy charity Nordoff-Robbins over the past decade, although one of the raffle prizes it offered at the annual Legends of Football dinner last week caught the eye.
Alongside other prizes donated by clubs, including “Breakfast with Sean Dyche at Everton”, the Premier League put forward a trip to the VAR Hub at Stockley Park.
Given the lukewarm response, many attendees were left wondering if the person responsible for the prize-giving had reviewed their own decisions.