'You cannot keep pulling off miracles': Luke Edwards preaches the truth in long rant about PSR and Newcastle United
The word 'frustrating' and its derivatives are synonymous with the transfer window for Newcastle United these days. After three abysmal trading periods where the club were hampered by PSR issues, now that the Magpies have money to spend, they're still finding it difficult.
Newcastle have been gazumped by "Big Six" sides for several targets this summer already: Liam Delap, Joao Pedro, Bryan Mbeumo and now Hugo Ekitike. There's also the very real likelihood that Newcastle are going to miss out on James Trafford, despite that looking like the easiest deal to get done this summer.
As Luke Edwards has pointed out in a brilliant piece in The Telegraph, PSR is still holding Newcastle United back in the transfer market.
Despite having the richest owners in the world, Newcastle simply cannot match the spending power of the Greedy Six. The Magpies are fishing in the same pond as these teams, as they are competing in the same competitions, but the money hasn't caught up to the club's achievements. As soon as we get close to a player, one of the legacy clubs comes along and throws extortionate wages at the player, and of course, that's where they go.
Newcastle United are victims of their own success ... and PSR
Newcastle are literally victims of their own success. If we're being honest, after making no first-team signings last summer, Newcastle shouldn't have been anywhere near qualifying for the Champions League, but thanks to the brilliant coaching of Eddie Howe and his band of star players mixed with underdogs buying into his ideas, Newcastle over-achieved once again. But the money doesn't just land in your lap after one season of being good; it has to build up, and the club has to find ways to raise the income, too, which again, takes time.
Luke Edwards hit the nail on the head with these two paragraphs from his piece in The Telegraph:
"They have, in short, massively over-achieved. Nobody thought they could qualify for the Champions League and win a trophy 12 months ago, when a second transfer window passed without a first-team signing being made, but somehow they managed it.
"It was a triumph against the odds, but you cannot keep pulling off miracles. Everyone at the club recognised that back in the spring when shortlists were drawn up."
Will Newcastle United qualify for the Champions League again next season?
There's still plenty of time left in the window, but the pool of players that Newcastle can draw from is shrinking every day as other clubs snap up the cream of the crop.
All of this frustration is set against the backdrop of the uncertainty surrounding Alexander Isak's future, too, not to mention another summer of boardroom upheaval with Paul Mitchell having left and Darren Eales preparing to leave.
On the positive side, we still have Eddie Howe, and he's never failed to deliver on the pitch, so we know that we'll be fine next season. Will we qualify for the Champions League again? Honestly, that's doubtful now with clubs around us improving while we struggle to add depth to the squad, but we're not going to be in a relegation battle, and there's nothing to say we won't have another cup run.
A couple of signings before the window closes could dramatically change this outlook, but for now, it's about as positive as we can be.
