Richard Masters and Yasir Al-Rumayyan
Richard Masters and Yasir Al-Rumayyan
PSR rules shut out disruptors like Newcastle United and 'pull the drawbridge up for the elite'.
That is the verdict of former Crystal Palace owner Simon Jordan - just a week after Newcastle boss Eddie Howe admitted it 'isn't easy in a PSR world' for the Magpies to continue to challenge the established order. Newcastle finished in fourth place in 2023, ahead of Liverpool, Spurs and Chelsea, but Howe's team narrowly missed out on Europe last season following an injury-disrupted campaign and currently find themselves in 12th place in the table.
Newcastle ended last summer in profit, after narrowly avoiding a PSR breach in June, following the sales of Elliot Anderson and Yankuba Minteh, but the black-and-whites remain restricted by the rules at a time when their rivals have far greater revenues.
"The only way they can grow is by winning on the field," Jordan wrote in the Daily Mail. "The only way they can really win on the field anytime soon is by buying better players. And they can only acquire them by spending money, which isn't allowed under current rules.
"While I was an advocate for Profit and Sustainability rules, foolishly believing it was a mechanism to control cost, reduce hyperinflation in wages and transfer fees and make the industry more sustainable, what it is actually is an unsophisticated blunt instrument that does nothing but pull the drawbridge up for the elite and effectively says 'no, thank you' to any new real challengers.
"The irony of PSR is that - like it or not, and I have my reservation - what is more sustainable than a nation state sovereign wealth fund of £800billion bankrolling an English football club and also paying hundreds of millions into the sport and the British Exchequer?"