Simon Leaf comments on Leicester City's PSR appeal

Innovation Partner, Simon Leaf, has provided commentary on the outcome of Leicester City's successful appeal against charges of breaching the Premier League's profitability and sustainability rules (PSRs).

Simon Leaf explained the significance of the ruling to City AM, calling the appeal verdict, "a significant and indeed embarrassing blow to the Premier League and its Rule Book."

"Leicester and the club’s legal team have exploited a significant lacuna in the PSRs, which effectively confirms that relegated clubs that have a financial year that ends in June have a free pass when it comes to complying with the PSRs."

"For three extremely senior lawyers to all agree that the PSRs ‘would seem to have been drafted without taking [some of the other Premier League Rules] into account’ demonstrates that urgent action will need to be taken to plug this gap."

Simon also discussed the possibility of a dispute between Leicester and the EFL as a result of the ruling. Speaking to PA Newswire, he said, “It would now seem highly unlikely that the EFL could pursue a case against Leicester given how both the EFL and PL rules are drafted”

“Interestingly, and something that has not been widely highlighted to date, is the fact that the PL’s own rules did try to address the issue of how to deal with a relegated club in what is currently rule E.80.

“That rule makes it clear that if a relegated club is ‘engaged in a dispute with the League’ over PSR then the ‘conduct of that dispute may pass to the EFL’.

“However, the issue here was that it doesn’t appear that at the point of relegation a ‘dispute’ had crystallised.

“For too long regulators (including the PL and EFL) have tried to rely on catch-all sweeper provisions, such as general obligations to ‘act in good faith’ and ‘not bring the game into disrepute’ to ensure compliance, and this whole episode may well mark an important turning point to how these types of regulations are drafted and enforced going forwards, which will hopefully provide all participants with greater certainty.

“This can only be a good thing for all involved.”