Ian Wright gives ‘crazy’ verdict on Manchester City sponsorship row as Gary Neville makes Newcastle claim

Newcastle United fans are waiting to see how the recent Premier League sponsorship ruling will impact them after Manchester City declared victory in their tribunal.

Both Manchester City and the Premier League believe they were the winners, as a panel ruled on associated party transactions.

Those rules were changed after the Newcastle United takeover, with Premier League clubs acting to ensure that PIF could not agree over-inflated sponsorship deals that would increase the club’s revenue and allow them to spend more.

It was a clear attempt to stunt Newcastle United following the change of ownership, with clubs fearful of another superpower emerging in English football. However, it was Manchester City who went down the legal route and challenged the Premier League, rather than Newcastle.

Manchester City have stated that the tribunal found that the Premier League’s rules regarding APT were unlawful. Meanwhile, the Premier League have stated that the tribunal found that the APT rules are necessary, despite some changes needing to be made.

Ian Wright and Gary Neville react to Man City sponsorship hearing

It is a very complicated and messy situation, and it could only get messier in the eyes of Gary Neville.

He has been speaking about the Manchester City vs Premier League ruling on the latest episode of Stick To Football alongside Roy Keane, Wayne Rooney, Jill Scott and Ian Wright.

In the eyes of Wright, it is ‘crazy’ that clubs can agree sponsorship deals with associated partners.

Wright: “For them to want associated partners to be able to just sponsor and say whatever they want without saying well it doesn’t cost that much. It’s crazy. You can’t allow that. It would be crazy. You could do anything you want. That’s what they want. They want to be able to do anything.”

Neville: “It was stopped. That’s what Newcastle were not allowed to do – those type of deals. It was stopped a few years ago.”

Wright: “That shouldn’t have happened in the first place, and this is the problem. We’ve went down the road of countries owning football clubs and they want to what they do. It used to be business against business. Now it’s business against country. What chance have you got? Of course they want more, because they’ve got more. They want to put more in, they’re going to find any way they can to put more into their team.”