UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin has described the prospect of clubs such as Newcastle United being able to close the gap on the elite while maintaining financial sustainability in the game as the 'million-dollar question'.
Newcastle are bound by the Premier League's profit and sustainability rules, which allow total losses of £105m over a three-year period, and Eddie Howe's side will also have to contend with UEFA's financial sustainability regulations if they qualify for Europe. These rules will eventually cap what clubs can spend on wages, transfer fees and agents' fees to 70% of revenues from 2025/26.
Newcastle's owners may have spent more than a quarter of a billion pounds on transfer fees to date, but the Magpies have not been able to maximise their spending power because of these restrictions. In fact, Howe warned last month that Financial Fair Play will continue to limit what Newcastle can do 'unless we can dramatically change our revenue streams' despite the club having such wealthy owners.
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In an interview for the Overlap, Gary Neville put it to Ceferin that owner funding should be allowed as long as it is 'secured to the level of the highest revenue generator in the league' to enable clubs to catch up with the established order on and off the field. The pundit also asked the UEFA president how football can have sustainability while 'allowing a competitive nature to emerge so that clubs who are lower can grow to have revenues to the top'.
"That's an interesting question," Ceferin responded. "Americans would say it's a million-dollar question.
"The Premier League is not our jurisdiction but what would you allow for European competitions? That everyone can go as high as PSG or Man City goes?
"It's a bit of a different situation here in England. Some present it as a problem - I would not present it that way. Your clubs in the Premier League start with £150m; the others with £30m and they have to compete.
"A good thing that starts now with the new season is you can spend up to 70% of your revenue on salaries because we see some clubs now who think we should change everything and the elite should play alone. They spent 200% on salaries and that's why they are in deep trouble."
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