NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE, ENGLAND – DECEMBER 02: Anthony Gordon of Newcastle United celebrates after … [+] scoring the team’s first goal during the Premier League match between Newcastle United and Manchester United at St. James Park on December 02, 2023 in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. (Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)
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And so the latest challenger in the Premier League to be blunted by the Profit and Sustainability Rules was Newcastle United.
After Aston Villa was forced to sell off its best talent despite qualifying for the expanded, and therefore more lucrative, Champions League it was the turn of those in the North East to be dismayed by the prospect of having a cherished star exit.
As news emerged that England international Anthony Gordon was being offered to Liverpool, local outlet the Newcastle Chronicle compiled a selection of fan reactions that demonstrated the feeling on Tyneside.
“Zero self-awareness. The fact they (Newcastle) are even open to it is a disgrace,” the paper quoted a Newcastle fan called Rob saying.
“Selling Gordon would be the most sickening blow to #NUFC fans. He’s adored up here,” stated another.
In a post on social media, The Magpie Channel compared the proposed move to the infamous departure of Andy Cole to Manchester United in the mid-90s, which saw legendary coach Kevin Keegan confronted outside St James’ Park by angry Newcastle United fans.
“This is going to be a Keegan on the steps moment all over again, Eddie Howe explaining why we sold Anthony Gordon. This would be absolutely devastating,” it wrote on X.
It is telling that as Newcastle United and Aston Villa are weakened the media has focused on the Birmingham outfit swapping youth players for exorbitant prices with Everton and Chelsea in what titles like the Independent and the Daily Mail describe as a “PSR
Invesco Active U.S. Real Estate ETF
loophole.”
The real question should be what impact is it having on the league’s competitive balance?
It is very revealing that the two clubs who gatecrashed the established order in the past two seasons are among those having to dispose of their best players.
The truth is the Premier League be a worse competition next season with Newcastle United losing its main source of attacking inspiration Anthony Gordon and Aston Villa’s engine room disrupted by the exit of David Luiz.
It will make games at St James’ Park and Villa Park, where title challengers Manchester City and Arsenal dropped points, easier places to visit.
A PSR Realisation
BIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND – APRIL 15: Jacob Murphy of Newcastle United is put under pressure by Alex … [+] Moreno of Aston Villa during the Premier League match between Aston Villa and Newcastle United at Villa Park on April 15, 2023 in Birmingham, England. (Photo by Dan Istitene/Getty Images)
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Regulation in soccer is always packaged up as being good for the game, the word ‘sustainability’ is invariably linked to the administrations that ravaged soccer in the 2000s.
But the realization that the rules crafted in the mid-2010s to ensure so-called ‘financial fair play’ are resulting in a cementing of the status quo is starting to be appreciated.
“I think that these rules never ended up where they were meant to go,” ex-Aston Villa chief executive Christian Purslow told talkSPORT in March.
“These rules were initially initiated by Michel Platini. It was a French-led way to tackle the ever-increasing superiority of English clubs. In 2008, three English clubs participated in the semi-finals of what Michel viewed as the European Cup – we call it the Champions League.
“Two of them, Liverpool and Manchester United, were swimming in debt from their takeovers. Chelsea had a large amount of shareholder debt. They began as a crusade to not allow debt in the sport because it was risky, damaging and it was enabling clubs to spend crazy money. There was no mention of debt in the final drafting of Financial Fair Play in 2010 and 2011.
“It changed. It became about clubs breaking even, living within their resources. I think that that has had a series of unintended consequences, the most obvious one being that.”
Purslow revealed that it was the revelation by manager Eddie Howe that Newcastle United would have to shift talent before acquiring more that brought home to him how restrictive on competition the rules were.
“When Eddie Howe said in the first week of January that we’re going to have to sell players to buy players, that was a seismic moment for the average football fan like me,” he continued.
“This club is owned by an impossibly wealthy owner, who is highly ambitious. They didn’t buy Newcastle to be a mid-table side, they want to challenge the elite, the establishment. They’ve got the money, there’s no question of sustainability. They’re using real cash but they’re having to sell players, ironically, probably to the ‘Big Six’ who benefit.
“That feels wrong. The first unintended consequence is that we shouldn’t be using these rules to prevent really well-funded new owners restructuring and improving clubs in the period after a takeover. I would like to see a reboot of the rules, which treats clubs post-takeovers differently. Maybe over a period of time, maybe three years, and if they submit their plans which involve losses, they have to be funded with real cash, guaranteed.”
As this realization has set in efforts to adapt the rules have begun. But the extent to which the current regulations have shifted the dial will not be easily undone.
In the meantime, the status quo will reap the benefits as they can swot away competitors like Aston Villa and Newcastle United not by besting them on the field but by using bureaucratic red tape to restrict these challengers’ ambitions.
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