Man City next steps clear after Premier League win APT vote

After all the drama building it up, Friday's meeting with Premier League clubs was short and - for the majority of them - sweet.

Controversial amendments to the Associated Party Transaction rules that had been deemed unlawful by a panel of experts to back up Manchester City's claim were passed by 16 votes to four and a press release was pumped out within half an hour to declare the Premier League's victory. City had very vocally contested and formally opposed the vote, but were defeated by the majority.

That's that then, right? Except it is far from the end of the matter.

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Premier League clubs voted for similar rules beforehand and they have been found to be unlawful and so have had to be changed. City believe the rules are null and void as a result of the arbitration verdict, and wanted - as did Aston Villa - to wait until the New Year when the panel of judges will give more details about the consequences before accepting the league's version of events.

There are those close to City that believe there are more than four fellow clubs who are supportive of their point but were tempted by favourable terms offered in the vote by the league on shareholder loans, which cropped up as an issue as a result of the arbitration. Having believed that the rules were unlawful and been proved right, there are no plans to change that because clubs in the league have pressed on without waiting for all of the details from the independent panel.

City's next steps are easy then, in that they will continue to do exactly what they were doing. It isn't a question of not