England’s U21’s retained their European crown on Saturday evening, overcoming Germany 3-2 in extra time, and I couldn’t have been the only one who felt a shade of sadness hanging over them as I watched the youngsters play with verve, determination and skill, especially the 22-year-old Geordie running the show in midfield.
Elliot Anderson was superb against Germany’s under-21s and Forest fans will rightly licking their lips at having such a hot prospect in their squad, while United fans will be licking our wounds as football’s farcical financial rules (coupled with a little owner and director naivety) have robbed us of another stellar Geordie talent; a sadly familiar refrain on Tyneside.
The ludicrous spectacle of modern football governance has struck again, as United couldn’t find a hotel down the back of a Barrack Road sofa to sell to themselves last summer, or a hugely inflated in value women’s team to sell to themselves this summer; instead we had to turn to the only asset we had – academy talents.
A homegrown talent, nurtured through the ranks with grit, and undeniable promise, had to be flogged off; not because he was a tactical misfit or lacked quality, but due to the insufferable and selectively applied Profit and Sustainability rules. It’s nonsense. Complete and utter nonsense.
Let’s not beat around the bush: PSR has crumbled so spectacularly under the weight of its own hypocrisy it’s basically a ruin. When applied, it morphs into an arbitrary bludgeon, wielded with all the consistency of the British summer weather.
Villa (who’ve just agreed to sell their women’s team today!), Everton, Forest and ourselves either scramble to comply or are literally docked points whilst Chelsea have spent approaching £2billion on players and have the actual CEO of the Premier League twerking for them saying: ‘the club hadn’t exploited a loophole as what they did was permissible and he stressed that all transactions are subject to a fair market value assessment.’ Tell me if you’ve heard a funnier joke…
Newcastle United, fresh off the back of a trophy and qualifying for the Champions League two out of the past three seasons, which despite some shortcomings has almost TRIPLED it’s turnover (and is debt free), finds itself shackled by PSR in a way that, almost beyond all doubt, is tailor-made to stifle growth.
The club, newly ambitious and resurgent, is penalised for daring to dream beyond the mid-table/bottom half mediocrity that once defined it. And Elliot Anderson? He becomes collateral damage; a promising Geordie lad sacrificed not on the altar of sporting merit, but to satisfy some spreadsheet’s bottom line.
United appear so desperate to balance the books and tow the arbitrary party line that while a former youngster sold against our will is tearing it up for England’s Young Lions in Slovakia, another ‘top transfer target’ appears to have been snatched away from us in the same 90 mins, as Chelsea have seemingly won the race for Joao Pedro. Despite my personal misgivings about the signing of the Brazilian, the timing of the two stories has seen more sharpened daggers on social media as June ticks into July and no first team ready signings have come through the door.
Transfer stories aside, developing a young player should be a triumph, something young fans can aspire to and older fans can live vicariously through, not a financial transaction necessitated by selective bureaucratic chokeholds.
Elliot Anderson’s sale isn’t just a transfer; it’s a symptom of a larger sickness in football’s governance. A game that’s lost sight of what truly matters – nurturing talent, supporting clubs’ growth, and maintaining competitive integrity.
Newcastle deserved better. Anderson deserved better. The fans deserved better. But here we are, drowning in the nonsense of selectively applied PSR rules, watching the beautiful game contort under the weight of its own contradictions.