Manchester City supplied all relevant documentation that gained approval from the PL, when PIF were asked to do the same, they pulled out.
FYI from the interview with Richard Masters the following question was put forward :-
3. The scope of the Test
Supporters are baffled that a process that has a willing seller, a willing buyer and a willing fan base has lasted as long as it has without a conclusion one way or another? Many fans understandably assume that if they are not able to take control of the club, you should fail these prospective owners and directors to allow closure on the matter? That so long could be spent on the test without a clear decision being made one way or the other appears to Supporters to give credence to the idea that the prospective owners can’t fail the test or that the League is seeking to protect itself from an appeals process or legal action? Any clarity on this would be helpful.
(a)
Can the League understand why supporters are mostly baffled by a process which has reportedly broken down because the League require a sovereign state of 45 million people to sit an owners and directors test? This may be a gross simplification of this process but clarity here would allow many fans to better understand what has happened and the Premier League’s perspective on matters.
This was answered as the following :-
- Regarding Question 3 that the Trust put to the PL, the Premier League passionately defended it’s Owner and Director Test and confirmed that it had gone beyond the scope of the Test to try and offer the buyers a resolution process on the disagreement over who would control the football club.
- The buyer in this instance declined to take up that option, instead withdrawing from the process. The Premier League could not make a decision on the Test ultimately because the PIF withdrew from the process. Arbitration would not have been on any other aspect of the Test but this key impasse between the PL and the PIF and the issue of which entity would own the club.
- The Premier League confirmed that as the buyers had publicly withdrawn their bid to buy the club that it was not for the Premier League to speculate on the next steps for parties that were not the Premier League.
- However the door remained open for any takeover bid, this one or otherwise, who wished to complete the test. In terms of communication about the future of the football club then the PL stressed that was for the club to communicate to it’s supporters
Manchester City were not involved in a piracy scandle which was needed to be clarified in order to differentiate between who 'ultimatley' would be running the club and breaches of the PL rules.
