BREAKING: Newcastle records a loss of £73.4 million in their recent financial….

Despite being dubbed the “wealthiest club in the world” and having the backing of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), Newcastle United is genuinely constrained by financial fair play (FFP) regulations. The Premier League’s profit and sustainability rules (PSR) impose limitations on their spending, despite PIF holding an 80 per cent majority ownership.

Even so, Newcastle still recorded a pre-tax loss of £73.4million ($93.6m) for the year ending June 30, 2023.

Their revenue did increase by 39 per cent year on year to £250.3m, but expenditure, especially on players, was huge. Their net transfer outlay since June is £124m, and that is not believed to include the potential fee for Lewis Hall once his loan deal from Chelsea becomes permanent.

Here, The Athletic outlines five takeaways from Newcastle’s latest financial figures…

Will Newcastle breach their PSR limit?

Everton were hit with a 10-point deduction for PSR breaches and Newcastle are confident that, not only will they not suffer a sanction for this latest set of accounts, they will always remain within their permitted boundaries going forward.

“We’re compliant in the year we’re talking about here and our plans are always to be compliant going forwards,” says Darren Eales, Newcastle’s CEO. “That is part of our business plan and part of our model.”

Interestingly, Eales also confirmed that the Everton judgement “showed that there were teeth to the PSR regime” and that “it’s probably focused a lot of minds within the Premier League, that this is something real”.

Although Newcastle show cumulative losses of £144.1m over two seasons, not all of those accounting figures are considered in the PSR calculation. Infrastructure spending, investment into the academy and the women’s team are among the exemptions, for example.

Will Newcastle sign players this month?

Possibly, although it certainly does not sound like they intend to be busy. Eales did not conclusively rule out permanent signings but he repeatedly referred to the players the club have who will soon be returning from injury, as well as January “not being the greatest window in terms of value”.

Eddie Howe, the head coach, is keen to bring in reinforcements and there is a keen interest in Manchester City midfielder Kalvin Phillips. That is likely to be a loan deal, if Newcastle can even conclude it, and Eales does not “foresee major surgery”.

“We have to approach everything on a medium-to-long-term basis, not just being reactive,” Eales says. “We have to be minded due to PSR and FFP rules that we are compliant.”