Premier League clubs to be banned from selling assets to themselves to circumvent financial rules

Premier League clubs to be banned from selling assets to themselves to circumvent financial rules

Premier League clubs will be banned from selling assets to themselves to circumvent financial rules after they agreed to new regulations from next season, per BBC Sport. 

Chelsea sold two hotels to a sister company last year to avoid breaching Profitability and Sustainability Rules (PSR). 

Everton followed the West Londoners’ lead as they sold their women’s team to the parent company in July. 

However, top-flight clubs can no longer do that as the new regulations will end the loophole of selling capital assets to themselves. 

Premier League clubs held a shareholders’ meeting in London on Friday, where they considered three proposals to replace PSR. 

The Squad Cost Ratio(SCR) was approved after 14 votes in favour and six against. 

Under SCR, clubs must limit their spending to no more than 85 percent of football-related revenue and net profit/loss from player sales. 

The new system will not worry the biggest clubs with the best commercial operations, but it is certainly not attractive to those with less financial income. 

This is the reason that Fulham, Brighton & Hove Albion, Brentford, Bournemouth, Crystal Palace and Leeds United voted against the move. 

Anchoring, which would restrict the amount of money a club can spend to a multiple of the bottom team’s income, failed to get the necessary support. 

Only seven clubs voted in favour, with twelve against and one abstention. 

The Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) had threatened to sue the Premier League if anchoring was introduced. 

Many feared the new system would rob the English league of its status as the best in the world. 

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