PSR really did something for Newcastle United.
The way football is set up now, especially at the top, it’s all about stopping those who want to try and break up the perpetual party that the Premier League elite enjoy.
The enormous financial power gap that the ‘big six’ enjoy does not always translate into league position.
However, the placement in the competition is temporary, the financial benefit is permanent.
That’s largely (entirely?) due to poor decision-making from some of the usual six.
With the financial advantage they enjoy in terms of the ability to have much higher wage costs and transfer activity, this ensures that any slippage in the league, which is certainly outside the top six, is almost always only very temporary.
The ‘big six’ can hire the wrong managers and buy the wrong players, but that has no real lasting effect.
Because of how much more money they can generate compared to everyone else, that advantage will always show in the end.
It’s a bit like playing Monopoly when you have the least money and property. You might be able to walk around the board a few times, but eventually you’ll end up on an expensive property with a hotel on it and they’re back in charge, while you’re essentially bankrupt.
I couldn’t make it to Palace today due to family duties, so I watched it online.
I thought we fought well and got lucky at times, but in the last half hour I thought we did really well and I felt for Joelinton when he made the move with just a minute to go. He lost his man and failed to jump to divert a regular cross into the penalty area.
This match just reminded me of Newcastle United and how much they have suffered from this PSR disaster.
This summer takes away all momentum.
Eddie Howe and the owners of Newcastle United had to completely rebuild the team and squad after a decade and a half of ignorance from Mike Ashley and Bruce in the final years of the Evil One’s reign.
The fact that he also had to deal with an inherited relegation fight in the middle of the season had only added enormous extra weight on top of everything else.
The emergency reconstruction of the January 2022, Summer 2022, January 2023 and Summer 2023 transfer windows had exhausted the entire PSR process. There was basically no one they could sell that would help, apart from the £23 million ASM had generated. The very small handful of players who would have generated a reasonable transfer fee were all needed. If they had been sold, they should have simply been replaced.
So with the PSR situation, Newcastle United got to January 2024 and couldn’t buy anyone, then ended up in the summer of 2024. Not only were they so limited in their spending, they even had to sell players they didn’t want! For PSR reasons, nothing else.
Eddie Howe has done wonders in getting so much out of the players he inherited, and the money spent has given Newcastle United’s owners incredible value for their investment.
However, PSR has overtaken NUFC and destroyed all momentum.
Consider today’s matchday selection against Crystal Palace:
Pope, Livramento, Schar, Burn, Hall, Tonali, Bruno, Willock, Gordon, Isak, Joelinton (SUBS Dubravka, Trippier, Osula, Jacob Murphy, Almiron, Kelly, Wilson, Longstaff, Barnes)
Before today’s 1-1 draw, the consensus was that this was Newcastle’s strongest matchday squad for a long time. Look at the sofa people said, most options we’ve had etc.
Matt Targett and Lewis Miley were given minutes in the reserves last night to bring them closer to match fitness. With Botman, Krafth and Lascelles as the only injuries. Of those five, only Botman would end up in today’s matchday selection.
Now think about it, take a deep breath and then really look at it. Today’s team at Palace. Look at the couch. Especially the couch.
On the bench, Newcastle United had inherited five players from the Ashley/Bruce regime, free agent Kelly, £10m raw striker Osula, 34-year-old Trippier, plus Harvey Barnes.
It is an illusion/delusion.
Newcastle United does NOT have a strong matchday squad.
We basically have a good team IF all the parts work well and maybe a few subs who we can rely on significantly, most of the time/sometimes.
Thanks to PSR it all felt a bit back to the Ashley days, in that Eddie Howe simply had to bring in some squad players to make up the numbers on a very tight budget, while our ‘rivals’ spent (and spent) only at sometime.
During Rafa’s time, the players of the budget selection had to try to help him avoid relegation.
But strangely enough, some Newcastle United fans still have the expectation that, despite all the PSR evidence before their eyes, Eddie Howe can be expected to automatically get NUFC into this season.
This is despite the fact that the only new first-team players to arrive this summer were free agent Kelly, raw £10m young striker Osula, plus the Vlachodimos deal which was simply supposed to give Forest a PSR boost, partly as reward for the high PSR price they paid. for Elliot Anderson.
Eddie Howe needed to be able to bring in some extra/new first-choice players into his starting XI last summer, BUT he could only afford basic money to add squad numbers as other team members left. YET some fans are so exaggerated in their criticism of Eddie Howe, as if he had brilliant first-team options everywhere.
Look at the size of the squads and the options that players like Tottenham, Arsenal and Liverpool have.
While Chelsea are making up the rules as they go: their reserve side cost half a billion and every player has signed since Eddie Howe arrived at Newcastle. Look again at all their spending this summer: Chelsea could probably knock out three strong teams!
Where would we and Eddie Howe be without the contributions of the likes of Pope, Schar and Burn, all excellent at Palace today AND week in week out.
Schar was bought for £3m by Rafa and Howe who paid £23m for Pope (£10m) and Burn (£13m).
Check out this subs bench today…Dubravka, Trippier, Osula, Jacob Murphy, Almiron, Kelly, Wilson, Longstaff, Barnes.
I think if Eddie Howe and the owners of Newcastle United could have had decent purchasing power, we would have all seen Dubravka, Trippier, Jacob Murphy, Almiron and Wilson leave last summer. While I very much doubt that Osula and Kelly would have been signed.
Which leaves Longstaff and Barnes from today’s bench.
Imagine if Newcastle United had had no PSR pressure and could have spent, say, £100 million this summer, plus whatever they could have generated for Dubravka, Trippier, Jacob Murphy, Almiron and Wilson, plus saved wages and so on. .
Not a huge amount, maybe £130m to £140m or so, and nowhere near matching what others have spent.
For starters, Elliot Anderson and Yankuba Minteh would have been in today’s matchday squad and did not play for Forest and Brighton this weekend.
I think maybe £15 to £20 million would have been spent on another young goalkeeper to compete with Pope. No Vlachodimos was brought in.
A new, young, quality centre-back (maybe Guehi, or whoever, if Guehi had been bought this summer I think we would have had to make a significant sale of a current high value player to be able to afford him) coming straight to the first eleven would go. No Kelly was brought in.
A new first choice right winger.
A new young striker with already a good football/scoring CV, to support Isak. Osula not purchased.
This is what Newcastle United and Eddie Howe needed.
The next much needed phase of the team overhaul. Instead, we have come to a complete standstill and lost momentum purely because of PSR.
Imagine if we could have added Minteh, Anderson and the four summer signings (which could/would have been) described above.
I have no doubt that Eddie Howe and the recruitment team had a number of targets in mind but were unable to pay the transfer fee and wages due to the PSR restrictions.
You have to laugh.
It is claimed that the PSR is there to prevent things from becoming uncompetitive for other clubs.
I try to say that to Aston Villa, Nottingham Forest, Newcastle United and so on.
Any short-term success is so difficult (impossible?) to sustain unless you are one of the ‘big six’ who have created their financial dominance for so many years and do everything they can to benefit that small group of clubs at the expense from everyone.
Newcastle United and Eddie Howe do NOT have a huge financial advantage over Palace.
As for West Ham and Forest, they have both spent more on signings than Newcastle over the last three seasons (2022/23, 2023/24 and 2024/25).
This is the reality.
Crystal Palace 1 Newcastle 1 – Saturday 30 November 3pm
(Statistics via BBC Sports)
Goals:
Newcastle United:
Guehi OG 53
Palace:
(Halftime statistics in brackets)
Possess was Newcastle 51% (57%) Palace 49% (43%)
Total shots were Newcastle 1 (1) Palace 16 (5)
Shots on target were Newcastle 0 (0) Palace 4 (0)
Corners were Newcastle 9 (3) Palace 8 (3)
Touches in the box Newcastle 10 (5) Palace 27 (7)
Newcastle United team vs Crystal Palace:
Pope, Livramento, Schar, Burn, Hall, Tonali, Bruno, Willock (Longstaff 75), Gordon (Wilson 75), Isak (Barnes), Joelinton
Unused subtitles:
Dubravka, Trippier, Osula, Jacob Murphy, Almiron, Kelly
(3 positive and 3 negative points from Crystal Palace 1 Newcastle 1 – Read HERE)
(Crystal Palace 1 Newcastle 1 – Direct response from Newcastle United fan/writer – Read HERE)
(Marc Guehi scores for United, but late disaster throws away two points – Crystal Palace 1 Newcastle 1 – Read HERE)
Upcoming Newcastle United fixtures confirmed until end of January 2025:
Wednesday December 4 – Newcastle vs Liverpool (7.30pm) Amazon
Saturday December 7 – Brentford v Newcastle (3 p.m.)
Saturday December 14th – Newcastle v Leicester (3 p.m.)
Wednesday December 18th – Newcastle vs Brentford (7.45pm) Sky Sports+ (Carabao Cup)
Saturday December 21 – Ipswich v Newcastle (3 p.m.)
Thursday December 26 – Newcastle v Villa (3pm) Amazon
Monday December 30 – Man U v Newcastle (8pm) Sky Sports
Saturday January 4 – Tottenham v Newcastle (12.30) TNT Sports
Wednesday January 15 – Newcastle v Wolves (7.30pm) TNT Sports
Saturday January 18 – Newcastle v Bournemouth (12.30) TNT Sports
Saturday January 25 – Southampton v Newcastle (3 p.m.)