St James' Park
St James' Park
June 30. It's a date that senior figures at Newcastle United will never forget. Not after what happened a year ago.
Facing the very real threat of a PSR breach, and a subsequent points deduction, the black-and-whites had to dash to raise funds through the sales of Elliot Anderson and Yankuba Minteh before the end of the financial year.
It was a position that Newcastle, understandably, never wanted to find themselves in again and the Magpies went on to end the summer and January windows in the black following the 'housework' they carried out.
The result? Newcastle are now the hunters rather than the hunted as Eddie Howe previously explained.
"The PSR deadline plays a huge role for clubs - both those clubs with PSR issues and those without - because those without may potentially look to try to sign players," the Newcastle boss said last month. "They will look to take advantage of other clubs, as clubs did to us last year, quite rightly.
"It’s a really interesting dynamic - one that we’re really aware of - and that we’ll try to use to our advantage if we can.
"I can’t go into the details of that, but no doubt we’ve got people at the club who are working very hard behind the scenes on it."
Newcastle have since made a quiet start to the summer, of course, at a time when Liverpool, Manchester City, Chelsea and Manchester United have all strengthened with the help of bigger revenues and bigger wage bills.
However, Howe's bullish words serve as a reminder that Newcastle have the capacity to pounce in the final days of June - if the right player becomes available.
Will he? In truth, compared to the panic of the final days of last June, there are not quite so many clubs forecast to trade after Newcastle, Nottingham Forest, Aston Villa, Chelsea and Everton all previously did mutually beneficially deals.
Yet Newcastle will be monitoring the situation closely - Aston Villa, for instance, could face a nervous end to the month - and the Magpies' PSR situation is only going to improve thereafter.
From July 1, after all, a new cycle begins for the 2025/2026 season, which will take into account the financial years ending June 30, 2024, 2025 and 2026.
The £73.4m loss that Newcastle made in 2023 will drop out of the equation from July 1 as a result while the money raised last summer and in January will remain part of the overall three-year cycle.
That's why this could still be a busy window. It certainly needs to be.
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