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The case of Karen Murphy is still being considered by the European Court of Justice but in the meantime the High Court has quashed a conviction given to a licensee for screening foreign satellite football. The broader significance of these cases is that they put at risk a significant revenue stream for the Premier League.
Leyton Orient have served notice on the London Borough of Newham that they intend to apply for a judicial review of its decision to arrange a £40m loan for West Ham United to help them in their bid to move to the Olympic Stadium. The move came after Baroness Ford of the Olympic Park Legacy Company knocked on the head the possible compromise of a move to a new stadium at Eton Manor, although the final decision is not hers to take.
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) have failed in a bid to fast track a legal action against the Football League’s insolvency rule. The tax authorities believe that the football creditor rule is unlawful. It prioritises the payment of football creditors such as players, managers and clubs over all other creditors in an administration. They were disconcerted to get only 5p in the £ following the Portsmouth FC administration.
West Ham are preparing a victory press conference at a site overlooking the Olympic Stadium for later today. However, there may be yet another twist in this saga, as Tottenham Hostpur are thinking about seeking a judicial review of the Olympic Park Legacy Company’s widely leaked decision.
They may make a challenge under European competition law on the basis that the deal involved illegal state aid. West Ham would need to take out a £40m Treasury-backed loan from Newham Council to finance the cost of converting the stadium.
The Premiership business model and all the riches associated with it relies on the income from television rights. Two-thirds of this income is generated from the sale of UK rights, the rest elsewhere in the world, but more in Asia than in Europe.
What are the chances of a legal challenge to Uefa’s financial fair play regulations. Our legal eagle Duncan McHardy makes an assessment in a contributed article:
I have always thought it likely that sooner or later someone would launch a legal challenge to Uefa’s financial fair play regulations. A really big club could afford such a challenge if they thought their future was at stake, but an alternative argument is that the regulations constitute an illegal entry barrier to smaller clubs. Any rules of this kind have to be compatible with EU competition law, even though the European Commission h
Swindon Town has won a case in the Court of Appeal against former club advisor and shareholder Michael Diamandis. The case originally arose from Swindon Town going into administration in 2008. Mr Diamandis brought a winding up order against the company in the High Court last year, arguing that it owed him nearly £250,000.
The match fixing scandal in cricket has spilled over into football with allegations made that Ryman league club Croydon Athletic has been used for money laundering purposes. Originating from a merger of two clubs, and plagued by other financial scandals in its short history, it is reported that Mazhar Majeed has been arrested by Revenue and Customs.
As we have reported over the last few months, Revenue and Customs has been getting increasingly exasperated with the view of many football clubs that meeting their PAYE and other tax obligations is an optional extra. When clubs go bust, they have been particularly annoyed by the ‘football first’ rule which means that failing football clubs settle ‘football debts’ ahead of all others.