Journalists at ODDS over major Man City court ‘victory’ that could CHANGE football

Liverpool will be among those watching closely as tries to figure out exactly what happened in Manchester City’s court case.

Manchester City might have secured a major victory in court today as they look to change Premier League rules. Might.

It's not exactly clear what's happening, with journalists from major publications at odds over a perceived outcome. It's important to note that this isn't the main court case of City's 130 charges but instead is a charge they've brought against the Premier League over Associated Party Transaction (APT) rules.

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APT rules prevent associated parties - i.e. companies owned by the same people as the club - having free reign over sponsorship. Without them, City could conceivably charge AP's whatever they want for sponsorships, raking in unfathomable money with little to no oversight.

They want to change those rules, which would in turn strengthen their argument in the main court case that the Premier League's charges are unlawful in the first place.

A vote on ATP's was scheduled to be held at a Premier League club's meeting on Thursday but it was scrapped at the last minute. The suggestion by The Times is that the only realistic reason this would be scrapped was because City had secured a victory in court on Monday that those rules shouldn't exist.

That would be a serious blow to the Premier League's argument in the 130 charges case.

However, the Athletic's Tariq Panja suggests that while City have 'won' their argument there, it may not be all that significant. He believes it could merely be that they've changed access to a sponsorship database. It would be enough that a vote on ATP's would be postponed, but not enough to actually affect arguments down the line.

Liverpool and co. wait and watch

This is obviously a massive court case - or at the least, the one relating to 130 charges is - that will change football. That's no hyperbole, either.

Victory for City would open the door for them to access the unfathomable wealth their owners hold in ways they've previously had to, allegedly, hide. It would also mean Newcastle United could do the same - everyone can expect their spending to skyrocket if City are victorious.

That would essentially shut the door for other clubs in the Premier League. No one can contend properly with City as it is, let alone if restrictions were eased on their spending.

It remains to be seen whether they actually secured something of a win on Thursday. We'll just hope Panja is correct and that the 'victory' City fans were celebrating earlier was for relatively nothing.