A composite image of Khaldoon Al Mubarak, Ferran Soriano, Thomas Tuchel, Ange Postecoglou and Ruben Amorim. Photo Credit: Justin Setterfield/Getty Images and Gareth Copley/Getty Images
In his exclusive column for CaughtOffside, former Aston Villa attacker Stan Collymore discusses some of football’s biggest talking points, including why Man City have opened a can of worms with the APT decision, why Liverpool and Villa will be happy with a draw, why Thomas Tuchel won’t spark an England revolution and much more.
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Man City have opened a can of worms with APT victory
Manchester City chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak with chief Executive Ferran Soriano during the Premier League match against West Ham United FC at Etihad Stadium on January 04, 2025 in Manchester, England. (Photo by Gareth Copley/Getty Images)
First and foremost, I think that the Premier League should be pretty much one man, one vote, with the majority winning in terms of what they’re going to bring in and what will be voted out.
Whether there’s going to be semi automated or fully automated offsides, what the amount of parachute payments will be… that should be down to the 20 clubs to decide.
If 17 clubs say “we do not want Aston Villa football club to benefit over and above the market rate from associated partnerships with their two owners companies,” I don’t see what’s wrong with that, because competition law says that we all live by varying tiers of laws every day.
I failed to see why the Premier League can’t make those rules as they wish, but the problem is, of course, that you then you get into very murky waters in terms of contract law, human rights law, overlapping laws, etc.
With the recent APT decision going in Man City’s favour, I think what that means moving forward, is we’re now saying you can get money directly in a pipeline from Riyadh or Abu Dhabi or Dubai or wherever, that’s going to kill the game, because it just enables a space race that only a few can really enter.
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