Richard Masters accepts the legal cases facing Premier League champions Manchester City and others create “uncertainty and frustration” heading into the new season but said: “There is no happy alternative to enforcing the rules.”
An independent commission is set to rule on the 115 charges facing City at some stage during the season ahead, with The Times reporting on Monday that the hearing could begin as early as mid-September.
There are also cases outstanding involving Leicester and Everton related to alleged breaches of the league’s profitability and sustainability rules (PSR), while the league is also understood to be investigating Chelsea over possible rule breaches that took place under their former owner Roman Abramovich.
Asked about the significance of all these matters and whether they were a big issue for the league, its chief executive Masters told Sky Sports: “It does matter, and I understand it creates uncertainty and some frustration but there is no happy alternative to enforcing the rules, which everyone has agreed at the beginning of each season.
“They have looked each other in the eye and shaken each other’s hand and said ‘we will abide by these rules’. So the Premier League has to enforce rules.
“Whatever difficulty or frustration that creates is part of maintaining and protecting the Premier League’s competition, its core values, competitive competition. And that’s really my role, and that’s what I want to continue doing.”
City have won two league titles since the charges, which they vehemently deny, were laid in February last year.
“I think it does need to be resolved,” Masters said, as he again refused to be drawn on any timescales related to that case.
“It’s not in our hands. It’s in the hands of an independent panel. They are in charge of the timing and the running of the process, and we must let them get on with it.”
City’s alleged breaches relate to rules requiring the reporting of accurate financial information, the submission of details of manager and player pay information within the relevant contracts, a club’s responsibility as a Premier League member to adhere to UEFA’s financial regulations and to the league’s own profitability and sustainability regulations.
The club are also alleged to have breached rules requiring them to co-operate and assist with the Premier League’s investigation into those breaches, which the league said began in December 2018.
Everton and Nottingham Forest were docked points for PSR breaches last season, and those rules remain in force for the campaign ahead, requiring clubs to limit losses to a maximum of £105million over three seasons.
Masters said the league would continue to enforce the PSR “fairly and proportionately”.
“I can’t speculate on (whether there will be charges related to the 2023-24 PSR assessment period).
“You can only really adjudicate on it when you have audited accounts and that process doesn’t start until towards the end of the year.”
