'That can't be right': Newcastle legend takes aim at Premier League's PSR after crazy weekend

Newcastle United fans were left reeling over the weekend as the club had to move on two promising young players to comply with PSR.

While Yankuba Minteh had never actually played for the club before he was sold on to Brighton for £33million, Elliot Anderson was a fan-favourite having come through the academy. Unfortunately, as a bid to avoid a points deduction, the talented 21-year-old was sold to Nottingham Forest for £35million.

When you consider that Newcastle's majority owners have access to the Saudi Sovereign Wealth fund which is worth north of £770billion, the fact that the club has to sell anybody to wipe out debts is ridiculous. The PIF could have put that £60million into the club themselves and by the time the transfer of funds had gone through they'd have earned it all back.

It also makes a mockery of the idea that the rules were put in place to keep competition healthy as it is having the direct opposite effect with clubs like Newcastle and Aston Villa getting within touching distance of the "Big Six" only to be hauled back by having to sell players to appease PSR.

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Alan Shearer has blasted PSR

Newcastle icon Alan Shearer has recently expressed his disgust at PSR when speaking to Betfair (h/t NUFCBlog)

“Obviously, Newcastle had to sell players because of PSR. I’m pleased they’ve done the business they’ve done, I’m pleased they didn’t sell Isak and Bruno.

“I know Anderson loved playing for Newcastle but hopefully he’ll get more game time at Forest and he can show everyone how good he is. He’s a really good player. I think because of what Newcastle had to do and the timing of it, it’s been good business for them.

“Those PSR rules don’t sit easy with me. If Newcastle hadn’t sold Yankuba Minteh and Elliot Anderson, they would have had to sell one of their bigger players to one of the big clubs. What chance have you got? What message is that sending out? The rules just don’t sit comfortably with me at all.

“If you look at Newcastle and Aston Villa, they’re trying their very best to get near the big boys and challenge. Yet when they do, they have to sell players. Villa have had to sell Douglas Luiz to Juventus because of PSR. That can’t be right when a club is trying to challenge the big boys, and what they’ve got behind them as football clubs doesn’t sit easy with me.”

You'd think we'd be sick of ragging on PSR but we're not

We imagine you'd have to dig deep to find any Newcastle fan who doesn't agree with Shearer there. Even our very own Mark who prides himself on his disdain for Aston Villa must feel conflicted about Villa's plight knowing that Newcastle has found itself in the same situation. United by a common enemy.

The sooner PSR is scrapped the better it will be for the game. Of course, it's easy for us to say that as we have our billionaire backers, but it's not just us anymore, there are other clubs with owners willing to put the money in who simply aren't allowed to because of these crazy rules.

The only saving grace is that when Newcastle do end their trophy drought, we can rest assured that we earned it by doing things the long way.