Saudis backed as Premier League enter 'civil war' that could be great news for Newcastle

As revealed by The Times, Manchester City are taking legal action against the Premier League as they believe they are the victims of 'discrimination against Gulf ownership' and want to be able to sign sponsorship deals without independent assessment.

City believe unlawful restrictions are being created to prevent spending and claim new rules were imposed based on the Saudi takeover of Newcastle, which saw the Premier League agree to 'safeguard the commercial advantages' of clubs that lobbied against PIF.

The two-week legal case starting on Monday has sparked a 'civil war' in the English top flight and could work massively in Newcastle's favour given the number of current restrictions, with similar limitations on spending, related-party transfers and related-party sponsorship deals impacting our Saudi-backed owners ever since a takeover was complete.

City believe they have a strong case and it's thought they have strong backing from one unnamed Premier League team, but it is currently unclear how the other clubs in the division will react to it.

Any sponsorship deals currently have to be assessed independently to ensure that they are done at a fair market value, but this proposition aims to scrap that and allow clubs to have associated parties as their sponsors.

https://twitter.com/TimesSport/status/1797999246081200238