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With the second international break of the Premier League upon us, focus could again turn to off-field news for Manchester City and their rivals, with the hearing over 115 charges for alleged breaches of financial rules continuing, as well as a big update on another case between City and the Premier League.

On the pitch, Pep Guardiola’s men were back to winning ways in the league over the weekend. After having to settle with a 1-1 draw against Newcastle the previous week, City came out as 3-2 winners over Fulham, who have had a strong start to the season.

City are back in action on Sunday, 20 October when they take on bottom-of-the-table Wolves at Molineux. While we wait for that game, here is a look at the latest off-the-field developments at the Etihad Stadium, with legal matters playing a big part.

APT case success

City were successful in their legal action over the Premier League in regards to the Associated Party Transaction (APT) rules. The panel rules that the rules were ‘unlawful’, but the case is separate to that of the ongoing hearing for an alleged breach of 115 financial rules.

Both City and the Premier League released statements after the findings were published. Both seemed to indicate victory, but the Premier League did say that the elements of the rules can ‘quickly and effectively be remedied by the league and the clubs.’

Expert comment

It can be hard to sometimes get your head around what this all actually means. Therefore an expert in the field has given his comment.

Christopher Allen, Partner at law firm Memery Crystal and a football regulation expert has explained what impact the ruling may have. “Whilst we have not had sight of the full judgement, based on the reported findings of the Tribunal, it is a little difficult to reconcile both parties claiming some form of victory in this matter," he said.

"In footballing terms, it feels very much like a Manchester City win, with the Premier League scoring a consolation goal. I say consolation goal as the Tribunal did not appear to find that the principle of having rules around associated party transactions (APT) in and of itself to be unlawful.

“In other words, the aim and the principle of regulating APT is fine. The issue for the Premier League is that both of its attempts to date to bring in rules on the subject have been found to be unlawful.

"The unlawful nature of the current APT rules represents two problems. First, with Manchester City having now taken the seismic step of being the first club to bring a claim against the Premier League, it could open the door for other clubs who might have had transactions vetoed by the Premier League as part of the old APT rules to seek redress.

"Second, and a point which is being widely reported from the Tribunal judgement, is that interest free shareholder loans perhaps ought to be part of any new APT rules which the Premier League now brings in.

"We suspect that this could be of concern to up to nine Premier League clubs which are believed to have received such loans. However, changing the Premier League’s rules may be difficult – typically, it requires the consent of 14 of its members, and it may now be even trickier to persuade clubs to agree on a new set of APT rules.”

What next?

The ruling now means that City, as well as other Premier League clubs impacted by the implementation of the rules could potentially seek damages. It could also have an impact on the Profitability and Sustainability rules (PSRs), with the point of clubs shareholders being able to pump money in via loans that were below market value, while APTs were closely monitored as part of the calculations.

While the ruling will not have an impact on City’s hearing that is ongoing over the 115 charges, it could cause a change in the rules around APTs and Profitability and Sustainability over the next few weeks with the league said to have called clubs into a meeting to discuss the impact.