Tottenham Hotspur boss Ange Postecoglu has used Newcastle United as his example to show how the financial pressures of qualifying for the Champions League are meaningless to managers when they can't build their squad.
Eddie Howe took Newcastle to the promised land in his first full season as boss and got them back into the Champions League after a 20-year absence, which the media would have had you believe would open doors for the club in the transfer market.
In reality, Newcastle had a fairly low-key summer compared to what people expected. Sure plenty of money was spent and some good players were brought in, but none were truly "world-class". There were players with bags of potential, sure, but nobody who was really going to push the club to the next level overnight.
Then when January came along and Newcastle were desperate for new players thanks to a bucket load of injuries, where was this magical Champions League money then?
The reality is, because of Financial Fair Play/Profit and Sustainability, that Champions League money doesn't actually come into play until the end of this season, and, as our season has proven, without that money to spend straight away, your chances of regaining a Champions League spot are significantly slimmer.
So under the current rules, clubs like Newcastle are always going to struggle to keep up, as they get stuck in a loop of qualifying one season and missing out the next.
Spurs boss Ange Postecoglu knows this and told reporters in his press conference on Friday that the money is meaningless if clubs can't use it to build up their squad, citing the Magpies as his example.
In a clip shared by Sky Sports, Ange appears to be visibly frustrated by the line of questioning asking if the financial benefits of the Champions League puts pressure on managers to qualify.
"If I ask you, Newcastle qualified for the Champions League last year, did it help them this year?
"Did it help them in a football... we're not banks, we're football clubs. We're not financial institutions. I don't get measured by the balance sheet at the end of the year.
"You can see how difficult it is for a club to juggle Champions League if you're not building a squad. To be fair to Eddie, he's had horrendous injuries this year, it makes it hard.
"What I'm saying is, Champions League. Great. Money. Great. Does that mean we're going to finish third next year? No. In fact, it's probably going to make it more challenging."
Ange continuously shuts down the reporter who is convinced that the Champions League is the answer to everything. It's great to see a manager spitting facts and putting things right.
Perhaps in a world without FFP/PSR, then yes, Champions League money would make it more likely for a club to improve their squad if it was useable in the year that they actually had to play in the competition.
PL | GD | PTS | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
1 |
Liverpool
|
13 | 18 | 34 |
2 |
Arsenal
|
13 | 12 | 25 |
3 |
Chelsea
|
13 | 12 | 25 |
4 |
Brighton
|
13 | 5 | 23 |
5 |
Manchester City
|
13 | 3 | 23 |
6 |
Nottingham Forest
|
13 | 3 | 22 |
7 |
Tottenham Hotspur
|
13 | 14 | 20 |
8 |
Brentford
|
13 | 3 | 20 |
9 |
Manchester United
|
13 | 4 | 19 |
10 |
Fulham
|
13 | 0 | 19 |
11 |
Newcastle United
|
13 | 0 | 19 |
12 |
Aston Villa
|
13 | -3 | 19 |
13 |
Bournemouth
|
13 | 1 | 18 |
14 |
West Ham United
|
13 | -7 | 15 |
15 |
Everton
|
13 | -11 | 11 |
16 |
Leicester
|
13 | -11 | 10 |
17 |
Crystal Palace
|
13 | -7 | 9 |
18 |
Wolves
|
13 | -10 | 9 |
19 |
Ipswich
|
13 | -11 | 9 |
20 |
Southampton
|
13 | -15 | 5 |