Craig Bellamy has suggested that Newcastle United could challenge for the Premier League if the Magpies were ‘allowed to spend like the others have been’.
Manchester City and Chelsea had the ability to splurge more freely and to build up sizeable revenues by the time PSR rules were eventually introduced in 2013. Newcastle, in contrast, have not strengthened their starting line-up in nearly two years.
That is not to say Newcastle have not spent hundreds of millions since the takeover, of course, with Bruno Guimaraes among those to arrive, and the Magpies captain has proved something of a snip following his £35m move from Lyon in 2022. In fact, Bellamy hailed Bruno as the ‘best player’ to come to Turf Moor last season during the Wales boss’ spell working as an assistant to Vincent Kompany at Burnley because the Clarets ‘couldn’t get near him’.
Bellamy even went as far as to declare that Bruno could ‘go on and win’ the Premier League in the next year or so. When a chuckling Jamie Carragher queried whether Bruno really could do so with Newcastle, the former Magpies striker responded: “If PSR allowed them to spend like the others have been able to…” before Sky cut to an advert break.
Newcastle are in a far healthier situation compared to last summer, of course, when the black-and-whites escaped a PSR breach by the ‘skin of their teeth’ following the 11th-hour sales of Elliot Anderson and Yankuba Minteh to Nottingham Forest and Brighton respectively. In fact, CEO Darren Eales is ‘excited’ about the upcoming window because of the ‘real alignment’ between Eddie Howe and sporting director Paul Mitchell when it comes to ‘getting the players that Eddie wants’.
Newcastle also have more headroom, after the mid-season departures of Miguel Almiron and Lloyd Kelly, and qualifying for the Champions League would be a game-changer for the club if the Magpies can hold on and finish in the top five. However, Newcastle will still have to be smart and the black-and-whites remain limited to losses of £105m over a rolling three-year period, which has frustrated Alan Shearer, who slammed the rules just a few hours before former strike partner Bellamy’s appearance on Monday Night Football.
“They let them [the PIF] in the league,” he told the Rest is Football. “They agreed everything for the owners to come in there.
“There is no other club that’s more profitable and more sustainable than Newcastle United yet they can’t spend what they want. That, for me, just doesn’t add up at all.
“I’m not for them. I don’t like them. They were brought in for a specific reason and that reason is not helping a lot of clubs do what they want to do.”
