Premier League to proceed with vote on APT rules despite Villa’s call for delay

The Premier League has told Aston Villa it plans to press ahead with a vote to amend financial rules on Friday despite the club calling for it to be postponed.

The league has been consulting for more than a month with clubs on changes to its rules on associated party transactions (APT) after an arbitration panel found aspects of them unlawful. Clubs are to vote on those changes at a league meeting in central London on Friday, despite Manchester City, whose legal challenge to the rules led to the arbitration panel being convened, warning amendments should not be rushed through.

Villa are understood to now have joined those calls for a postponement, while criticising the way the APT row has been played out in public. The league is understood to have written back to Villa, agreeing with the sentiments around maintaining the privacy of the process while saying it is sticking to its plan to hold a vote on Friday. The league’s chief executive, Richard Masters, is continuing to speak to clubs this week.

Villa’s letter calls for an end to the “acrimonious back and forth exchanges” over APT, arguing they “weaken” the league’s leadership, club executives and the Premier League as an organisation. In order for the rule changes to pass a majority of 14 clubs must agree, or two-thirds of votes cast where there are abstentions.

The most significant change being proposed is making the rate of interest on shareholder loans subject to the fair market value (FMV) test. The rule amendment will not require fair market value interest charges to be backdated to the time the loan was first issued. However, it is understood the proposed amendment would mean an effective interest rate would be applied to any existing loan in future after a grace period – not just to new loans.

During the grace period, club owners and shareholders who have put in loans will have the option to convert them to equity, though doing so makes taking their money out less straightforward. Some amendments voted through in February are to be rolled back. One involves replacing “would” with “could” in the wording of what constitutes fair market value within the rules, which is anticipated will provide more wriggle room to clubs.

Clubs are also to be granted access to databank information held for comparison purposes by the league before calculations are made on whether any deal has been done for fair market value.