Leicester City won its appeal Tuesday against Premier League charges of breaching Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR), which could have led to points deductions.
The league accused the club of spending more money than they made during the 2022-23 season, the year they were relegated down to the second tier.
Leicester, who were recently promoted back to the Premiership in May, argued successfully that the alleged questionable transactions occurred after June 30, 2023 — when the club was officially relegated — and that the league had no jurisdiction over its accounts past that point, according to a statement from the team.
The appeals board agreed and, thus, the charges were thrown out.
“Leicester City welcomes the Appeal Board’s comprehensive decision, which supports our consistently stated position that any action against the Club should be pursued in accordance with the applicable rules,” the club said in its statement.
Essentially, Leicester convinced the board using semantics that the league’s own rules created a loop hole for relegated clubs.
The Premier League began cracking down on club spending habits in 2023 when it handed out points deductions to Everton FC and Nottingham Forest over similar charges.
Everton withdrew its appeal against the charges in May, according to ESPN.
The league released its own statement Tuesday attempting to iterate its legal stance on the Leicester decision.
“The Appeal Board’s decision effectively means that, despite the club being a member of the League from Seasons 2019-20 to 2022-23, the League cannot take action against the club for exceeding the relevant PSR threshold in respect of the associated accounting periods.”
So, what does this decision mean for other teams who could be in the league’s crosshairs like Manchester City, who’s trial for its own PSR charges is set to begin Sept. 16?
The short answer: Not much.
Leicester’s case is an outlier in that the club figured out that it’s transactions happened to fall outside of it’s Premier League membership period. That was either really smart or really lucky.
Teams like Everton, Nottingham Forest and Manchester City were solidly within the Premier League when it’s alleged violations reportedly took place.
However, it’s worth noting loop holes have been used to get out of similar charges before. Specifically, Manchester City convinced the Court of Arbitration for Sport in 2020 that UEFA’s “Financial Fair Play” charges exceeded the statute of limitations and got the case thrown out.
One thing is for sure, this case could help the league tighten its case against Manchester City to avoid any further appeals like Leicester’s.
