For the past few windows, many have questioned just why Newcastle United, the team with the wealthiest owners in club football, have acted so cautiously in terms of both incoming and outgoing transfers.
It’s been close to four years after the takeover and there’s still a good portion of the side who were here from the Steve Bruce days, whilst those around us have enjoyed truly lavish spending and absurd squad depth.
The threat of PSR-related penalties has loomed over every club in the league, and we came particularly close to facing punishment last summer, but we’ve always managed to avoid facing a fine or potential points deduction.
And it looks like our calculated approach has paid off, as a number of Premier League teams are set to pay huge fines from UEFA owing to their massive overspending.
It has been reported that both Chelsea and Aston Villa have been fined by UEFA for breaching the organisation’s financial fair play regulations.
The two English clubs, alongside Barcelona, Lyon and Roma have each been handed multi-million pound fines.
Chelsea have been ordered to pay the largest amount, a record fine of £27m, whilst Villa are set to pay £9.5m after they overspent significantly on player wages and squad costs during their stints in the UEFA Conference League and Champions League.
Enzo Maresca and Unai Emery’s sides could potentially pay even more money if they fail to abide by UEFA regulations over the coming seasons.
The Times’ Martyn Ziegler comments that the pair of teams must both register a positive transfer balance within their European match day squads for at least the next two seasons, or face additional fines of €60m (Chelsea) and €15m (Villa).
Within the Premier League, both clubs have been able to avoid violating PSR due to the sales of the third party assets like hotels, training grounds, and even their respective women’s sides.
However, UEFA has not recognised such measures as legitimate sources of income, and Chelsea now have £275m less headspace like they’ve had in the Premier League.
The ruling could now force Chelsea and Villa to drastically sell some of their players or significantly cut their wages costs in order to meet the balance requirements set by UEFA.
Should they fail to do so, this would lead to further fines and even expulsion from future UEFA competitions.
This fine may feel like a drop in the ocean for Chelsea however, owing to their current winnings earned through making the semi-finals of the Club World Cup.
For Newcastle, it’s definitely a positive reminder that as frustrating as it may seem that we’ve not been able to freely spend as we will have felt entitled to, we now enter the Champions League once again but in a healthier financial state compared to two seasons ago.