Newcastle United remain restricted to losses of £105m over a rolling three-year period after the 'established elite didn't like the idea of new money coming into football'
Newcastle United chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan and Aston Villa chairman Nassef Sawiris
Newcastle United chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan and Aston Villa chairman Nassef Sawiris
Newcastle United are among the clubs who have found themselves on the wrong side of the 'divide' as a result of rules introduced by the 'established elite'.
That is according to football finance expert Kieran Maguire after Manchester United, who finished 10 places below Newcastle in the table, made an aggressive start to the summer with the aid of a bigger wage budget.
Although Newcastle are in a far better financial position than previous windows, particularly when the new cycle resets on July 1, a number of the Magpies' rivals still have far superior revenues in a PSR world.
The Premier League may currently be trialling squad cost rules and top to bottom anchoring in shadow, but top-flight clubs remain restricted to losses of up to £105m over a rolling three-year period.
This figure has not risen in line with inflation since PSR regulations were introduced in 2013 and it was just last summer that Aston Villa failed in a bid to raise permitted losses to £135m.
Liverpool CEO Billy Hogan was among those leading executives who 'didn't see the sense in making that change' and disruptors like Newcastle and Aston Villa are going to have to be smart to continue to challenge towards the top end of the table.
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"It does seem unfair and I think if we go back to the history of cost control methods, it was very much driven by the bigger clubs because they saw the potential changes in European football," Maguire told talkSPORT. "First of all you have got Roman Abramovich acquiring Chelsea, then Sheikh Mansour acquiring Manchester City and Qatar Sports Investments acquiring Paris Saint-Germain.
"The established elite didn't like the idea of new money coming into football so therefore they introduced these measures. They claimed that the aim was to improve the finances of European football but, actually, it was to try and create a glass ceiling.
"City, Chelsea and PSG got in before those rules changed. We now have clubs like Newcastle, Villa and Nottingham Forest, who are ambitious and aspirational. They want to move to the next level. The owners are willing to fund that move to the next level, but the cost control measures prevent them from doing so.
"It's a function of time. Some clubs were on the right side of the divide when the rules were introduced, but we have since seen clubs become very frustrated."
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