Newcastle United remain restricted to losses of £105m over a rolling three-year period and football finance expert Kieran Maguire has insisted that PSR rules have created a 'glass ceiling'
Premier League chief executive Richard Masters
Premier League chief executive Richard Masters
PSR rules are 'full of loopholes' and have prevented Newcastle United from using owner money to 'challenge the existing elite'. That is the view of football finance expert Kieran Maguire after Chelsea sold their women's team to a sister company for £200m to help comply with PSR rules.
The deal remains subject to top-flight approval - just as the sale of two club-owned hotels previously did before the value of the transaction was reduced - but Premier League chief executive Richard Masters insisted that Chelsea 'had not exploited a loophole'. Maguire, however, felt a little differently.
"The Premier League PSR rules are about as fit for purpose as a chocolate teapot," he wrote. "Chelsea FC Holdings made a profit of £128m in 23/24 after selling the women’s team to itself.
"The parent company BlueCo 22 (which owns the men’s team, the women’s team and…Strasbourg) made a loss of £430m in the same period as cannot include intra group transactions in the group accounts.
"Richard Masters keeps a straight face and says Chelsea have not broken any rules…because the rules on these types of deals are full of loopholes."
Chelsea, and their rivals, will still be able to sell assets to related companies and include the revenue in their PSR calculations for this coming season after Premier League clubs did not hold a vote on changing the rules at a shareholders' meeting earlier this month.
That gives Aston Villa a potential lifeline as the Villains consider selling their women's team - a year after failing to garner enough support to raise the PSR limit.
Aston Villa, pointing to the rise in inflation, suggested increasing permitted losses to £135m last summer, but Liverpool CEO Billy Hogan was among those executives who 'did not see the sense' in making that change.
Although clubs are continuing to trial squad cost rules and top to bottom anchoring in shadow, top-flight sides remain limited to losses of £105m over a rolling three-year period as a result - just as they did when the rules were brought in back in 2013.
"The rules were introduced to stop the ‘Big Six’ becoming a ‘Big Eight’ or ‘Big Ten’ and make it difficult for ambitious/aspirational clubs such as Villa, Newcastle & Forest from using owner money to challenge the existing elite by creating a glass ceiling," Maguire added.
"Either have rules which have been stress tested to stop exploitation of related party transactions loopholes, etc or scrap them totally. What we have is neither and it’s a mess where creative accountants and lawyers are worth as much as players."
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