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An industry insider has shared what Newcastle United think ‘privately’ about Manchester City’s financial scandal.
The Lowdown: Alleged breaches
The Premier League alleged earlier this week that Man City have broken over 100 of their Financial Fair Play (FFP) rules, which could have significant repercussions if found guilty.
Just a couple of these include points deductions and even expulsion from the league, with City themselves claiming that they were ‘surprised‘ at the allegations, but welcome the investigation.
The news would have no doubt alerted some of the Premier League’s other richest clubs, including Newcastle, who saw a Saudi-backed takeover go through in 2021, with PIF having assets of £2.5bn.
The Latest: Newcastle ‘well aware’
Speaking to Football Insider, Richard Busby, who is an industry insider and CEO of BDS Sponsorship, one of Europe’s leading commercialisation agencies, says that ‘privately’, the St. James’ Park outfit are ‘well aware’ of City’s situation, and are being ‘very sensible’, insisting that they do not want to go down the same path:
“With regards to City specifically, I don’t know a great deal besides the extensive information that is already in the public domain.
“What I do know is that, privately, Newcastle particularly are well aware of it. I know from some of their comments that they don’t want to get into this situation.
“Newcastle are being very sensible and saying: ‘We don’t want to go down this route’.”
The Verdict: Smart business
The spotlight will inevitably turn on the North East club given their financial backing, but they have conducted smart business so far.
They they only spent the eighth-most of all Premier League clubs in the summer transfer window, and were only the fifth-highest spenders in January.
They have only broken their transfer record once since the takeover, which was the signing of striker Alexander Isak in the summer, and find themselves in a respectable fourth place in the Premier League table.
Nonetheless, the Magpies have been smart with their spending when they could have easily blown more money, and are clearly watching themselves in terms of FFP, even more so now with the allegations against City.
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