Premier League clubs have voted to approve changes to the League's Associated Party Transaction (APT) rules in a significant blow for Manchester City.
Nottingham Forest, Aston Villa and Newcastle joined City in voting against the changes at a shareholders' meeting in central London on Friday morning, with the other 16 clubs voting in favour.
The changes followed City's legal challenge to the League's existing APT system, which both parties claimed as a victory following the findings of an Arbitration Tribunal earlier this year.
The Tribunal found some of the Premier League's existing rules were "unlawful", which the League has since moved to change at the first opportunity following consultation with clubs and independent experts.
A Premier League statement read: "This [consultation] relates to integrating the assessment of Shareholder loans, the removal of some of the amendments made to APT rules earlier this year and changes to the process by which relevant information from the League’s ‘databank’ is shared with a club’s advisors.
"The purpose of the APT rules is to ensure clubs are not able to benefit from commercial deals or reductions in costs that are not at Fair Market Value (FMV) by virtue of relationships with Associated Parties. These rules were introduced to provide a robust mechanism to safeguard the financial stability, integrity and competitive balance of the League."
City wrote to the 19 other clubs in the build-up to the vote, claiming the League's amendments remain "unlawful" and arguing that no vote on amendments should be taken until the full response from the Tribunal panel is received.
Villa also lobbied the rest of the division for a three-month delay in the vote, but the rebels fell short of the seven votes needed to veto the changes, which would have plunged the Premier League further into crisis.
