If you think the rivalry between Man City and Arsenal is merely a petty quarrel on the pitch or an intense clash between two giants of the Premier League, it’s time to reconsider.
The tense 2-2 draw at the Etihad last month, where substitute players clashed after the final whistle and directors refused to shake hands, has become a symbol of a simmering internal conflict that could tear English football apart.
Now, with both City and the Premier League employing sophisticated media strategies to declare victory in their legal battle over the Affiliate Partner Transactions (APT) regulations, the divisions are clearer than ever.
This is evident in the ruling, particularly in the witness list section: “For the plaintiff (Man City): Chelsea, Newcastle United, Nottingham Forest, Everton. For the defendant (Premier League): Brighton, West Ham, Manchester United, Liverpool, Tottenham, Arsenal.” At every level, this is a classic case of two tribes at war, each with fundamentally different views on establishing and exercising power.
However, deeper concerns among City’s rivals revolve around the forces this ruling may unleash. Is this the moment the Premier League becomes a game for the wealthy, a proxy war where Gulf monarchies spend ever-increasing sums through state-owned companies to project soft power on the international stage?
This model has worked brilliantly for City, with 4 of their 9 top sponsors – Etihad Airways, Abu Dhabi Tourism, Emirates Palace, and telecom company E& – being direct tools of the state funding the blue giant. Emirates Palace, for those who don’t know, is a luxury hotel in Abu Dhabi so extravagant it has a gold ATM in its lobby.
Now, thanks to City’s success with APT regulations, the astonishing generosity of these affiliated companies threatens to turn into a massive cash flow into certain Premier League clubs. Clearly, the balance of the league – if only relatively – is shaking more than ever. It’s likely that ultra-rich clubs, as imagined in science fiction, will emerge.
Smaller clubs like Leicester, who won the English title? You can discard that notion from today onward. Any repeat of the 2016 miracle has been thwarted by City’s recent legal maneuvers, ensuring that future champions may be determined by the depth of the sovereign wealth funds behind them.
It feels like the essence of the game, rooted in the idea that clubs cannot be separated from their communities, is being distorted by City’s latest triumph. While City is seen as the traditional choice of true Mancunians, Newcastle United proudly describes itself as “standing proudly at the center of an iconic city—and in the heart of a unique community—for generations.”
A claim that City denies is that they concealed payments made by Sheikh Mansour through third parties, disguising them as sponsorship revenue.
Years ago, following Saudi Arabia’s takeover of Newcastle, the Premier League sought to tighten regulations surrounding APT, mandating that these transactions must have fair market value. But in the face of City’s strong challenge to this principle, their defense against 115 allegations seems significantly stronger.
This explains why a chill has swept through the power corridors at Arsenal, Liverpool, and all the other clubs that have tried and failed to rein in City’s dominance during the Abu Dhabi era. The fear is that they have lost not just the match but the entire war.