£76m bonanza may be just the start for Newcastle as PIF potentially days away from game-changing moment

Despite the roaring success he has delivered Eddie Howe has occasionally cut a world-weary figure at Newcastle United, who are convinced that – financially speaking – the chips are stacked against them.

Yes, the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF) are by far the richest owners in football, but Newcastle are tethered by a Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR)💜 system which ringfences the rich’s purchasing power.

Newcastle’s creative efforts to carve out more PSR headroom mean Eddie Howe༒ probably knows far more about amortised book value, quasi-swap deals, and pure profit than he ever imagined he would.

ဣStarting out at then League Two Bournemouth in 2008, Howe probably didn’t expect to be at the centre of a debate about the esoteric aims of sovereign wealth funds and football’s geopolitical system either.

🐟When he took the gig at St James’ Park, this was all in the job description, as was being able to field questions about Saudi Arabia’s human rights record.

Depending on where you stand, nation state-backed Newcastle can be either the Premier League’s🗹 arch-villain or plucky revolutionaries attempting to challenge an unjust orthodoxy.

Either way, there is no denying that PSR has stifled PIF’s grand ambitions🦋 on Tyneside and that their magnificent current form is in spite of the outdated system.

Position	Team	Played MP	Won W	Drawn D	Lost L	For GF	Against GA	Diff GD	Points Pts
1	LiverpoolLiverpool	22	16	5	1	54	21	33	53
2	ArsenalArsenal	23	13	8	2	44	21	23	47
3	Nottm ForestNottingham Forest	23	13	5	5	33	27	6	44
4	Man CityManchester City	23	12	5	6	47	30	17	41
5	NewcastleNewcastle	23	12	5	6	41	27	14	41
6	ChelseaChelsea	23	11	7	5	45	30	15	40
7	B’mouthBournemouth	23	11	7	5	41	26	15	40
8	Aston VillaAston Villa	23	10	7	6	34	35	-1	37

💖While the so-called ‘Big Six’ does occasionally close ranks and vote together when it’s in their shared interest, an alliance of anti-establishment clubs has emerged in recent years.

✤Broadly speaking, it is made up of Newcastle, Manchester City, Chelsea and Aston Villa. Everton have been part of it too, but their change of ownership means their position is unclear.

😼It isn’t a formal bloc, but they have regularly voted against what more conspiratorially minded observers are calling the ‘red cartel’, namely Man United, Liverpool, Arsenal and Tottenham.

Newcastle, for example, gave evidence in favour of Man City in their recent challenge to the Premier League’s Associated Party Transaction (APT) rules, while the ‘red cartel’ took the other side.

🧜The APT rules dictate that Premier League club deals – be that transfers, commercial arrangements, or financial loans – must be deemed to have been agreed at fair market value.

The rules were introduced almost immediately after PIF bought Newcastleꦰ in 2021 and were an attempt to prevent them striking artificially inflated sponsorship with PIF-owned to bypass PSR.

𝕴City’s argument in the arbitration courts late last year was that the system was unlawful. As well as giving evidence on City’s behalf, the four-in-a-row league champions cited Newcastle 15 times in proceedings.

So who won, the Premier League or Man City?

🉐Both claimed victory, with City pointing out that the Premier League had been forced to revise several aspects of its APT rules, while the league highlighted that the vast majority of the rules remain intact.

😼However, fresh developments in the coming days could – in theory – change everything for PIF and their ability to pump their near-limitless wealth into Newcastle.

• READ MORE: ൩Newcastle United ‘opening doors’ for PIF as two Premier League rivals to cash in from £1.2bn bailout

Newcastle United await APT outcome in coming days

꧙October’s initial APT ruling declared some of the Premier League’s rules unlawful, such as the fact that so-called soft loans (interest-free loans from shareholders) were exempt from a fair market value screening.

🦹Also, the burden of proof has now shifted to the Premier League to show that a commercial deal is above the market rate, as opposed to the club having to argue their case.

▨But City, whose case is separate to the ‘115’ charges hearing, want more.

𓆏They insist that the APT ruling means that the whole APT system is null and void, which would effectively remove the fair market value provision entirely from the league’s rulebook.

♍As reported by The , a final ruling on the legality of the APT system as a whole is expected in early February.

𝕴If the three retired judges who make up the panel decide in City’s favour, there will be wild celebrations in the Newcastle boardroom.

⛦In theory, it could effectively give them carte blanche to sign much bigger sponsorship deals with PIF, giving them a workaround for PSR.

• READ MORE: ꧟Newcastle are scared that Tottenham could sign their £50m target before the window shuts

Newcastle’s £76m PSR bonus confirmed in Money League

🍷Newcastle have made impressive commercial strides under PIF separate from APT deals, although the club’s agreements with Noon and Sela are classified as APTs.

൲In their last set of accounts, the Magpies revealed that income from sponsorship, merchandise and events stood at £47m, up from £21m in the last year of the Mike Ashley era.

𒀰Now, however, they are approaching a different weight class.

༒The Deloitte Football Money League, which has access to unpublished financial data, was released last week and showed that Newcastle recorded commercial income of £76m in 2023-24.

𒉰That is comfortably the most of any non-Big Six side.