Legal twist 'almost inevitable' after Newcastle United, Man City and Aston Villa vote

Manchester City will 'almost inevitably' take further legal action after a vote on the Premier League's sponsorship rules went against the champions and Newcastle United.

That is according to Yasin Patel, a leading sports barrister, after 16 Premier League clubs backed the amendments to the top-flight's associate party transaction (APT) regulations. Newcastle, Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest joined Manchester City in voting against the changes during a meeting of top-flight shareholders in London last week.

Simon Cliff, Manchester City's general counsel, wrote to member clubs earlier this month to warn them that voting for the 'unlawful' amendments 'entailed material legal risk' while Aston Villa, in a separate letter, claimed it was 'abundantly clear that any vote (if passed) will result in immediate further litigation'. Now that the dust has settled, a few days on, Patel suggested further litigation was 'almost inevitable'.

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"I would anticipate that we're going to be going further in terms of litigation," he told talkSPORT. "This is not going to end here. This is linked with the 130 breach charges but, more importantly, it's linked to what Manchester City and other clubs are saying in breaking the monopoly of the big clubs and their control.

"What they're suggesting ultimately is they should be allowed to decide what kind of sponsorship deals they have, how much should be allowed in and what new money comes into the game as opposed to the same clubs having the monopoly and control of the transfer markets and what other new money comes because PSR rules do control a great deal of what money does come in. It's a way of controlling wages, how much money comes into clubs, and if you want to be really cynical about this, it's a way of controlling who has power at the top."