Man United owner Jim Ratcliffe slams 'absurd' £530m PSR...

The idea should make Newcastle United “absolutely delighted.”

Anchoring is a “absurd” idea, according to Manchester United owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe, but Newcastle United should

be “absolutely delighted” about the possibility of its introduction.

Kieran Maguire, a football finance specialist, holds this opinion after Premier League teams decided to test top-to-

bottom anchoring in shadow this season before a vote on the issue. Although anchoring would allow top-flight teams

to spend five times as much on TV and prize money as the bottom club, the present PSR rules, which cap losses at

£105 million over a rolling three-year period, would still apply.

It is important to remember, too, that the Premier League is also experimenting with squad cost regulations, which

restrict on-field expenditures to 85% of revenue and net profit/loss on player sales for teams outside of Europe.

Under UEFA’s different standards, clubs that compete in Europe are already limited to spending 70% of their

turnover, whereas teams with similar goals, like Newcastle, are adhering to these limits after participating in the

Champions League the previous season.

However, Sir Jim Ratcliffe has previously stated that anchoring is a ‘absurd’ idea that would ‘inhibit the elite clubs’

pro the Premier League from competing with Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, and PSG. pro reality, squad

cost limitations are not particularly new. To put things in perspective, Manchester United is now in 13th position in

the Premier League and appears to be headed out of the Champions League for another season. However, as Maguire

explained, anchoring would level the playing field somewhat because the Red Devils still generate enormous

commercial income, which would not be quite as advantageous.

“Commercial income is completely ignored under these anchoring rules and therefore they feel that they are being

marginalised as a result of this decision,” Maguire stated to the Price of Football. Since it’s essentially moving in the

direction of what we often call a hard cap, I believe it’s an interesting set of restrictions.

Since you’re essentially stating that every club can spend five times as much money on television as the worst team, I

would be overjoyed if I were Newcastle or Aston Villa. That’s £106 million for TV money. Every club may spend £530

million on wages if they multiply £106 million by five.

“The soft cap very much discriminates against the ambitious clubs, who want to move from the middle classes to

challenge the elite. They are restricted because they can only spend 85% of income on wages so it’s very political.”

Man United owner Jim Ratcliffe slams ‘absurd’ £530m PSR proposal that would delight Newcastle