Premier League Big Four Fight City and Chelsea
Four of the Premier League’s biggest clubs, Manchester United, Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool, joined forces to submit two papers to the governing body of the Premier League outlining their concerns about the rabid spending of two of their biggest rivals, Manchester City and Chelsea.
The first of these two joint papers was submitted on 14th March, 2025, and indicated the group’s belief that the Premier League should also adopt similar rulings to UEFA’s Financial Fair Play regulations, and that the opulent owners who were coming into the English game to bankroll clubs should not be able to dictate its footballing culture. It was also suggested by the quartet that wealthy owners of clubs should not be permitted to underwrite any financial losses after an initial period of adjustment to the new regulations.
This is a clear move by the most obvious Champions League contenders to protect their own interests, and to an extent stymie the competitiveness of their two huge spending rivals. United, Liverpool and Arsenal already had links of working together on such issues through the now defunct G14 group. While the success of Financial Fair Play is yet to be tested, the intentions behind it would quite clearly favour the likes of Manchester United and Arsenal, who would unquestionably become Britain’s two biggest clubs by some distance if all of the Premier League clubs remained within their means.
