There is a new battle cry in the corridors of power at St James’ Park as new CEO David Hopkinson builds a “relentless” culture of improvement: revenue is king.
Newcastle United have launched a 100-day review of off-field operations but the message is a simple one – get deals signed off, eliminate excuses.
It is just as well. Next week sees one of the most important Premier League meetings for years as clubs are asked to vote on the most radical overhaul of spending rules for a decade.
Profitability and Sustainability Rules (PSR) are on their last legs but what comes next is unclear. Amid talk of clubs being split and potential legal action from the Professional Footballers Association (PFA), the meeting on 21 November has the potential to be explosive.
What are the systems being proposed?
Clubs will be asked to vote on three systems. The first are squad cost rules (SCR) which limit clubs to spending 85 per cent of their revenues on wages, amortised transfer fees and other costs associated with player recruitment and retention.
The move to this system makes a lot of sense. Uefa already operate along these lines and for English clubs in Europe – Newcastle are one of nine who tick that box this year – they already need to comply with a 70 per cent limit.
The Premier League are offering more wiggle room so that aspiring clubs – who have less revenue and therefore less spending power than those in Europe – can maintain competitiveness.
‘No benefits for Villa and Newcastle’
Newcastle United manager Eddie Howe arriving before the Premier League match at the Gtech Community Stadium, London. Picture date: Sunday November 9, 2025. PA Photo. Photo credit should read: John Walton/PA Wire. RESTRICTIONS: EDITORIAL USE ONLY No use with unauthorised audio, video, data, fixture lists, club/league logos or "live" services. Online in-match use limited to 120 images, no video emulation. No use in betting, games or single club/league/player publications.
Newcastle are one of the league’s most ambitious clubs (Photo: PA)
The general feeling is that SCR will pass “fairly comfortably” and it won’t be a game-changer. “It’s rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic replacing PSR with SCR,” football finance expert Kieran Maguire tells The i Paper.
“It is creating a parameter that has to be complied with which helps the existing ‘elite’ clubs, so I don’t see any benefit for the likes of Villa and Newcastle in moving system.”
The second strand is the controversial one. Top-to-bottom anchoring (TBA) proposes a limit on how much even the richest clubs in the league can spend, restricting them to an outlay of five times the amount the bottom club in the Premier League earns through broadcast revenue and prize money.
Proponents say it is a necessary to maintain the competitive balance of the Premier League as the top clubs bank huge prize money from regular participation in the Champions League and, potentially, the Club World Cup.
Critics say anchoring will restrict the ability of the Premier League’s biggest clubs to compete with European rivals like Real Madrid – and the PFA have threatened legal action because of fears it might depress wages.
“Anchoring is going to prove more contentious,” Maguire admits.
“There is a fear among some smaller clubs that the continued growth of the global fanbase clubs will attract greater matchday revenue, greater commercial revenue and anchoring ignores the growth of those. I can see opposition from the likes of Manchester United, Manchester City, Liverpool. Why would you agree to a set of rules which means you can generate revenue but can’t spend it?”
The third strand, of which fewer details are in the public domain, relates to sustainability and is tied to the new independent regulator.
Why Newcastle are voting in favour
The i Paper understands that Newcastle are set to vote in favour of both SCR and TBA.
SCR won’t help Newcastle much in the short-term but just makes sense, given their work this summer was done with one eye on not breaching Uefa’s 70 per cent limit.
And for TBA there’s a feeling that – if you turn down some of the noise around the debate – it actually injects a bit of rationality into the market. Newcastle would almost certainly not breach the limit being talked about anytime soon either.
In the boardroom at Newcastle they’re pretty philosophical about the changes. New rules – much like the old ones – aren’t going to take the shackles off spending. It’s why revenue is the club’s “obsession” – and why there’s a new focus on signing off deals and supporting Eddie Howe to build a winning machine on the field. Stability in the dugout is seen as a key part of that.
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“The rules are there to prevent the nouveau riche like Newcastle and Aston Villa from competing with the existing rich,” Maguire says.
Newcastle benefit from a few levers they can pull, like a new stadium with more potential for corporate income and matchgoing fans. But that’s a long-term project when the need for growth feels immediate. Fans might not want to hear it but despite the sale of Alexander Isak, navigating financial fair play rules will also influence spending in the next few transfer windows.
Some supporters have called for owners PIF to be more aggressive when it comes to challenging financial rules – but no legal challenge has been discussed or is planned.