Newcastle United thought to have breached 'unfair' UEFA financial rules but impact will be minimal
Newcastle United's stellar performances last season were good enough to see the Magpies qualify for the Champions League once again.
Eddie Howe's men had already secured European competition anyway by winning the Carabao Cup, but a good league finish saw them bumped up to UEFA's top competition.
It was clear that Newcastle would have to build up a better squad in the summer to be able to compete with Europe's elite, and while PSR has been a nightmare for Newcastle (and most other clubs that aren't holding the Premier League's strings), Newcastle are now faced with the even more stringent financial rules in place by UEFA.
The European football association have a rule that forbids clubs from making losses of more than £52 million, which, according to Newcastle's last accounts, they have.
Newcastle are expecting a sanction from UEFA for breaking their loss-making rules
The topic was discussed on Football Insider's Inside Track podcast by Peter O'Rourke, who said, based on information from Stefan Borson, that he believes Newcastle could find themselves in breach of this rule.
“I’m not sure it’ll have a massive effect on what Newcastle do in the next few years.
“Obviously, it does look like they’re going to have a financial penalty for breaching UEFA’s loss-making rules.
"They’re back in the Champions League now. Newcastle saw they have to abide by these financial controls imposed by UEFA.
“And it does seem the recent financial results from the period 2022 to 2025 indicate that they will have breached UEFA’s 52 million loss limit. We’ve talked to numerous boards about how unfair it is.”
Newcastle's likely penalty will be purely financial
O'Rourke makes it clear that the penalty for breaching this rule is merely a financial one and won't impact the club's standing in UEFA competitions or transfer activity.
On the one hand, we can understand the need for financial regulations in football. It's in nobody's best interest to see a club go out of business through poor management, but punishing clubs that have the means to avoid these issues, they just can't use them, is getting really irritating now.
If owners were allowed to fund the clubs they own with their own money, Newcastle would never have a financial issue again while the PIF are around, but that's exactly what everyone is terrified of. There does need to be a limit on what owners can put in, but that limit needs to come at a much higher level to allow newly rich clubs the ability to catch up to those fortunate few who took advantage of the system before it was restricted.
