Manchester United against proposed changes to Premier League finance rules

By Simon Peach, PA Chief Football Writer

Manchester United are set to oppose proposed new squad cost rules at a meeting of Premier League clubs on Monday, the PA news agency understands.

The top flight’s profitability and sustainability rules (PSR) have been in the headlines this season after Everton and Nottingham Forest had points deducted for breaching them.

Earlier this month Premier League club unanimously voted in support of squad spending caps linked to revenue being a key principle in the new-look cost control system, similar to UEFA’s financial sustainability regulations.

The Premier League’s current financial rules are set to be phased out by the season after next and “anchoring” is a layer of the new proposal, which would cap the richest club’s wage bills as a multiple of the television money earned by its bottom club.

Manchester United are understood to be opposed to the new proposal, so too reportedly are reigning champions Manchester City.

Crystal Palace chairman Steve Parish said last October that the Premier League is looking at a cap on a club’s wage bill in order to keep the top-flight competitive.

“As far as competitive balance (is concerned), people need to be bold,” he said.

“I think there is change afoot. UEFA’s squad-cost caps are one idea. Maybe something that is a bit more rigid than that, with a hard cap at the top, that doesn’t take turnover into account, where there are vagaries of how that turnover comes about.

“There are really positive conversations going on about it. We also have to be very careful because there are also unintended consequences. Hopefully we will get somewhere that will be beneficial, not just to the clubs in the Premier League but to the whole pyramid and their ability to compete.

“We are voting for our competitors to be able to do better and challenge us.”

PA understands that if the rules are agreed in full by the time of the league’s annual general meeting in June, clubs have accepted their introduction in shadow form for next season before coming into force in 2025-26.