Manchester City Leads Opposition to Premier League's £1.5bn Offer to EFL

Manchester City are leading the opposition to the Premier League’s plans to offer £1.5bn to the English Football League in a landmark financial settlement which will be discussed at a meeting of the 20 clubs on Thursday. The Premier League wants to put its proposed offer, which would be spread over 10 years, to a vote in the hope of getting the matter resolved before the start of the season, but City are understood to have come up with a counterproposal amid concerns about how the package will be funded. A number of City’s misgivings are shared by other members of the so-called big six, who will be asked to pay more than other Premier League clubs towards the New Deal for Football, but it is unclear how many of them are prepared to back their rivals. City remain short of allies within the top flight as they wait for the much-anticipated judgment of an independent tribunal after being charged with 115 breaches of financial fair play rules, despite settling a long-running legal dispute with the Premier League over its associated party transaction rules last year. The Guardian has learned that City irritated several clubs by submitting a series of late amendments to proposed rule changes before the Premier League’s annual general meeting in June, which were defeated by 19 votes to one. City and other big clubs are understood to be unhappy with the Premier League’s proposal to fund the financial redistribution package by increasing the levy on transfer fees from 4% to 6%, which would leave the bigger spending clubs with a large bill. The Premier League will only ballot clubs on Thursday if it is confident of getting the 14 votes required for the proposal to pass, with sources describing executives as cautiously optimistic despite facing some opposition. At an average of £150m a year, the Premier League’s proposed contribution has not altered significantly since a similar offer of £750m over five years was put forward in September 2023, although it has doubled the length of the deal. If approved by the clubs and accepted by the EFL an initial payment of £100m would be made this season, with larger contributions to be made in subsequent years until the 2035-36 season. It is unclear whether the EFL would accept the Premier League’s first offer however, with its chair, Rick Parry, believed to be holding out for a bigger deal. If approved the EFL would allocate 80% of the New Deal to the Championship clubs, 12% to League One and 8% to League Two. City and the Premier League declined to comment.