Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Man City, Man Utd and Spurs to be hit by ‘substantial fines’
The Premier League is set to hit the division’s ‘Big Six’ clubs with ‘substantial’ fines following their attempts to form a breakaway league. The European Super League collapsed after just two days last month after initially signing up 12 of the continent’s biggest clubs.
Manchester United, Manchester City, Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal and Tottenham all signed up to be founding members before backtracking 48 hours later after a backlash.
Supporters of all six clubs responded angrily to the proposals, which would have seen the clubs leave the Champions League to play in a closed shop alongside other founding members Real Madrid, Barcelona, Atletico Madrid, Juventus, AC Milan and Inter Milan.
Uefa responded by threatening the clubs with lifetime bans from its competitions, while Fifa said any players involved would be unable to compete in the World Cup.
The Premier League’s 14 other clubs held a meeting last month to discuss how best to punish the ‘Big Six’ after they performed U-turns.
The Telegraph now reports that they have decided to hand out fines to the clubs, after no momentum was found to hit the teams with points deductions in the Premier League.
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The report states that the Premier League’s legal team have been working on the process ever since the Super League fell apart on April 20.
It is not yet clear whether the fine will be payable immediately or will be deducted from future Premier League broadcast income.
The Premier League is on firm legal footing because the six clubs have broken rule L9, which requires shareholders to gain written approval from the Premier League to join any new competition.
In the aftermath of the collapse there were many calls for points deductions, but under the Premier League’s rule E33 are reserved for clubs who suffer insolvency.
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