Alan Shearer has suggested only a change in financial rules will make the Premier League ‘more competitive’.
The original PSR regulations, which limit losses to £105m over a rolling three-year period, are still in place but clubs are currently trialling squad cost rules and top to bottom anchoring in shadow. Squad cost rules will limit on-pitch spending to 85% of revenue and net profit/loss on player sales for those teams who are not in Europe while clubs competing in UEFA competitions will be limited to a 70% spend.
Squad cost rules are nothing drastically new – Newcastle, as a European hopeful, have already been working towards UEFA’s separate rules, which will have a 70% ceiling from next season – but anchoring would allow top-flight sides to spend five times the amount the bottom club receives in TV and prize money. Sir Jim Ratcliffe has called that an ‘absurd’ prospect and claimed it would ‘inhibit’ the Premier League’s top clubs when it comes to competing with Europe’s elite even though the Manchester United part-owner is a long way from seeing his side go toe-to-toe with Real Madrid in the Champions League.
While it is worth remembering that Newcastle would still have to comply with UEFA’s rules, and the top-flight’s squad cost regulations, anchoring has the potential to at least level the playing field a little as the huge commercial revenues the established order possess would not be quite so beneficial given the universal spending limit that would be in place. You suspect Shearer would welcome such a change after calling for a ‘dramatic’ shake-up.
“Aren’t they looking at doing something with the TV revenues?” the Newcastle legend asked the Rest is Football “That’s the next thing. That’s what’s coming in.
“Ultimately being competitive all boils down to the finances. We will say what we want with law changes, but I’m not sure changing them will make it more competitive. What will do is the financial rules.”
Sixteen Premier League clubs voted in favour of obtaining legal and economic analysis of an anchoring system last year, but the Professional Footballers’ Association have vowed to oppose any measure that would place a ‘hard’ cap on wages. Two-thirds of clubs would have to agree to introduce anchoring beyond the initial trial.
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