· 6 June 2025, 19:00
**We love a nice feel-good read, one that really gets you excited about the future. We love that even more when it's concerning Newcastle United.**
Today [The Telegraph](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2025/06/06/newcastle-fury-at-saudi-tax-on-transfers/) have published an article that's about as feel-good as stubbing your pinkie toe on the coffee table first thing on a morning ... a coffee table that's on fire ... on the morning that your wife left you and took the kids and the dog and there's a text on your phone letting you know you've been sacked.
It seems, at least according to Luke Edwards, that the 'Saudi Tax' or 'Toon Tax' or whatever you opted to call it is still a thing, despite the fact that it has been made abundantly clear in the last three windows that our owners' vast wealth clearly has no bearing on what the club are allowed to spend.
PSR has given Newcastle little to no chance of improving their playing squad to a level which would propel them to the dizzy heights we all hope to aim for, and yet, selling clubs still seem to want to add a few million extra onto their players' value when Newcastle come knocking.
Two years and three transfer windows ago
The 'Saudi Tax' should be named the 'Spite Tax'
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The Magpies haven't made a significant first-team signing since Sandro Tonali joined in 2023 thanks in large part to PSR restrictions. So now, it can only mean that the 'Toon Tax' is really just a 'Spite Tax' as other clubs have clearly taken exception to our ownership either politically, morally or, most likely, through jealousy.
It's all good, though, because many outlets have reported that Newcastle have significantly more money to spend this summer, except, not really.
As The Telegraph points out, with great players come great wages. We've already seen the likes of Liam Delap, Matheus Cunha, and Bryan Mbeumo ignore Newcastle and follow the money, opting for better wages at arguably worse clubs, or at least clubs on the opposite trajectory to ours.
Alexander Isak is unintentionally holding the club to ransom
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Newcastle want to make Alexander Isak the club's highest-paid player as a reward for his efforts, but signing a high-profile player on high wages before that happens only gives Isak's team more ammo to negotiate an even higher salary, which eats even more into the club's budget as wages are included in PSR calculations.
Every top quality player we've been linked with recently, The Telegraph has claimed the club deems too expensive, with a budget having been meticulously calculated and the club not willing to shift on what they believe they can afford for each position they know they need this summer.
Yet despite this, the club still wants to make at least two first-team additions before the players return to training in July. How they expect to do this when they are clearly terrified of spending money is anyone's guess.
We all thought this summer was going to be fun, but so far it has been nothing but frustrating as hell and it only looks likely to continue.