The delayed verdict on Manchester City’s alleged breaches of the Premier League’s financial rules has given the impression they can act with “impunity”, according to Javier Tebas
Javier Tebas has torn into the Premier League(Image: Oscar J. Barroso/Getty Images)
La Liga chief Javier Tebas has delivered a double blast at the Premier League. Tebas called it a “failure” that Manchester City’s case has still not been resolved more than three years after they were hit with 115 charges.
And Tebas also warned the Premier League’s new financial rules will cause huge transfer and wage inflation across Europe. It came as Premier League chief executive Richard Masters sidestepped the City issue once again as he said: “I can’t talk about it and talk about the timing of it. Having spent three years not talking about it, I’m not going to stop now obviously.”
But Tebas did not hold back at the Premier League taking such a long time to reach a conclusion on the City case, even though Everton and Nottingham Forest were dealt with quickly and issued points deductions.
Tebas said: “It’s a failure of Premier League governance. Other clubs are looking at and watching this and seeing what’s going on. They are being fined and having points deductions and that’s fine, if you don’t abide by the rules.
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“But City appear to have impunity. I speak to a lot of English clubs and the majority of them don’t understand this either. It makes the institution of the Premier League weaker.”
The tribunal on City’s alleged 115 breaches of the Premier League’s financial rules concluded in December 2024, but the independent commission are still deliberating.
Tebas, talking at the FT Live’s Business of Football Summit, also let rip at the Premier League’s financial and spending rules. Top flight clubs voted to replace the current Profitability and Sustainability Rule with a new system of Squad Cost Ratios from next season.
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They will be able to spend up to 85 per cent of their season’s revenues on wages and transfers but can go up to 115 per cent, just as long as they balance their books within three years.
Tebas added: “In Spain we have special and strict rules on Financial Fair Play. FFP is what everyone has to apply at home. You can’t spend more than our revenues. But then new regulations here will cause more inflation and more problems. If you allow clubs to spend 85 per cent of revenues but aren’t taking into account expenses, no fair play rules are of any use at all.
“English football has got the highest turnover, revenues double the amount of Spanish League or Bundesliga. Clubs have twice the capacity to invest of any other league. We cannot compete financially, We can sign better players and have better coaches but they have these enormous capital contributions from the owners.
“What will happen to the market? It’s not rocket science. The English system of 85 per cent SCR plus transfers, which means clubs can go to 115 per cent of revenues, that will cause inflation, I’m sure about that.
“I don’t know where they get these figures from. I’m really surprised. We should harmonise FFP in Europe, that’s the way forward.”
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