Suspected of breaching more than 100 financial rules! The Independent: Manchester City s ruling on breaches may be announced this month

October 9th, the "Independent" reported that it is generally expected within the Premier League that the final ruling on Manchester City's violation of more than 100 financial rules may be announced this month.

Although this case is seen as a crucial moment for the future of English football, its actual impact on future regulation may have been diminished by the settlement of another case.

The key turning point was the settlement reached between Manchester City and the Premier League on the "related party transactions" (APT) rules. The APT rules are intended to limit the unlimited infusion of funds by state-owned clubs through related party sponsorship (such as signing high-value contracts with domestic companies) in order to maintain the competitive balance of the league.

Manchester City previously filed a legal challenge to this rule, which may have led to the collapse of the entire financial supervision system. In the end, the two parties reached a settlement, and the latest version of the APT rules was locked into effect. The Premier League successfully defended its core regulatory principles and avoided chaos.

Premier League insiders distinguish the two cases as: "The 115 charges focus on the past, while the APT rules are about the future." This means that even if the ruling of the "115 charges" brings huge news effect, the key battle (APT rules) that determines the future financial health and competitive landscape of the Premier League has ended with the victory of the Premier League. It is understood that the Premier League is now very confident that it can prevent clubs with national backgrounds from challenging the rules through huge related-party transactions.

Although the APT case and the “115 Charges” are judicially independent proceedings and do not affect each other, the pending resolution of the “115 Charges” has had a real impact on the league.

Fearing that the ruling may overturn existing rules, clubs are hesitant to implement new financial reforms (such as team cost ratios, "anchored" salary caps, etc.), resulting in the league reaching a deadlock on a number of major issues. At the same time, Manchester City also missed out on some potential business cooperation due to the delay in the case.

Therefore, although everyone is waiting for the "boot" of "115 accusations" to fall, the settlement of the APT rules has quietly built a "wall" for the future competitive landscape of the Premier League.