What's gone wrong? Why we feel Newcastle have found themselves in this PSR nightmare

We'll likely never know the real reason why Newcastle United find themselves scrambling to do deals they'd otherwise never do to comply with PSR ahead of the deadline.

Unless a club representative comes out and is open and honest and lays it all out for us, we can only really speculate as to how we've ended up in this mess, but there are a few reasons that stand out to us that could have contributed to it.

Newcastle it seems, are around £40million over their three-year allowable loss limit for PSR meaning if these proposed deals for Yankuba Minteh and Elliot Anderson don't go through today, we could be hit with a points deduction ahead of the new season.

It's not a position that "The Richest Club in the World" should be finding themselves in, but here we are.

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We can still point fingers at Mike Ashley for now

Let's start off with the fact that PSR looks back over a three-year period so this set of accounts still includes a year under Mike Ashley in which we made no money and spent no money but had a totally naff squad.

The PIF came in and we started to see them throw money at transfers, money which kept us in the Premier League and started to bring that good time feeling back to St James' Park. We then continued that spending for another couple of transfer windows as we chased Champions League football well ahead of schedule.

After achieving Champions League football we continued to spend in the summer, however, those players were cursed with bad luck with Sandro Tonali picking up a lengthy ban and Harvey Barnes succumbing to a long-term injury. Injuries also played a huge part in last season in general and that, we feel contributed massively to how we ended up in this situation.

Without those injuries, we can assume that Newcastle could have done better in every competition, thus bringing in more money via that route. More importantly, though, the club was probably banking on being able to move players on in January but with the squad depleted, that became too risky - also every other club had their guard up because of PSR and also weren't spending.

Obviously, if that is true, then it's a huge mistake by the club as we shouldn't be relying on ifs and maybes to balance the books.

Last season was full of anomalies that halted progress

We also believe there's been a feeling within the club that there would be a change in PSR that would have let Newcastle off the hook. There's a growing unrest amongst the Premier League when it comes to the PSR rules, and perhaps Newcastle were thinking that the tide was turning and the rule would be scrapped, or at least amended so that whatever hole the club was in would be irrelevant. However, that vote didn't quite go their way, and while new rules will be trialled next year, it doesn't help the current situation.

However, perhaps the two biggest reasons the club have found themselves in this position is down to poor management.

The new owners have got a lot right since they came in but they aren't perfect.

The board have been too slow to react to losing Dan Ashworth. After Dougie Freedman turned the job down they should have had a second candidate lined-up ready to go and to be in place before the transfer window opened. Obviously, the club were put on the back foot after Ashworth turned Judas, we can't blame them for that, and perhaps they were also banking on that money coming in from Manchester United for Ashworth to ease the burden too, but again, banking on ifs, buts and maybes.

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The board simply aren't working fast enough

Dan Ashworth had his plan in place and that plan seemed to be at odds with Eddie Howe's - namely flipping players when they become profitable for a few years to build up revenue.; With Ashworth gone, Howe has more power to keep the players he wants. We don't necessarily see that as a bad thing in terms of the team, but it's definitely less than ideal in terms of revenue growth.

The biggest reason, though, is once again down to the speed which our board are working. Where is the training ground sponsor, the training kit sponsor and, as controversial as it will be, the stadium sponsor?

It has been almost three years since the PIF took over, and they have brought in some fantastic partners with lucrative deals, but there are still so many big slots left unfilled. Has Peter Silverstone gone into hibernation after setting up the Adidas deal? Which, by the way, was a goal-line tap-in.

Newcastle need to keep fighting but they need to fight smart

Yes, PSR is a joke and it's killing the game, but the fact is, it exists and every other club has to play in the same sandbox. We should continue to fight against it, but we also need to play nice so we don't get sand thrown in our eyes and kicked out of the playground.

Again it's worth noting that this is all speculation on our part and obviously we don't know how much work goes into these sponsorship deals and how close we are to getting them done, but from a fan's perspective, it's all so frustrating and we're just reflecting what the majority are feeling.

We do, however, have full faith that things will improve.