Premier League clubs vote to scrap Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR) from next season
Ding Dong, the rule has gone. Premier League clubs today voted to throw out the current PSR rules in favour of the Squad Cost Rules (SCR).
Newcastle United are one of several clubs that have found PSR to be an enormous pain in the derriere, and while the Magpies were never unfortunate enough to have been hit with a points deduction, they only avoided that by selling two of their brightest young players.
Today, at a meeting with all the Premier League heads, the clubs voted to scrap PSR in favour of SCR from the start of next season.
The new rules allow clubs to spend up to 85% of their revenue for on-field purposes, which is similar to the rules clubs participating in UEFA competitions must follow, although the Premier League's limit is 15% higher than UEFA's.
PSR is finally being thrown on the fire
A vote was also held to bring in the Anchoring rule, which would mean that no club could spend more than five times the central income received by the lowest earning club, but this vote failed to pass with only seven clubs voting in favour of the rule.
The PFA had threatened to launch a legal battle had the Anchoring law passed, as they felt it would effectively introduce a salary cap on the Premier League.
The Premier League released a statement on the upcoming changes, which you can read here.
Will Newcastle benefit much from the rule change?
While we're ecstatic to see the back of PSR, especially given how outdated it was with the three-year loss limit not being increased since the rule was introduced, the fact is that not a lot is going to change for Newcastle.
The Magpies got themselves out of PSR danger a while ago, so are now operating well within their means, but because of their involvement with the Champions League, they are bound by the UEFA rules of only being allowed to spend 70% of their revenue rather than the 85% the Premier League has set.
In that sense, nothing changes. Only time will tell if it will make any real tangible difference. We're sure some finance expert will go through the numbers and make the picture clearer for us.
