Since Newcastle United’s billionaire takeover, the transfer rumour mill has been hot! Today Sky Sports have released what is believed to be a sum of money that Eddie Howe will have available to him in the next few years.
Given the vast wealth of the new owners, money won’t be a problem but adhering to financial fair play regulations will be. Sky Sports (via Daily Mail) are reporting that without breaching FFP rules, the new man at the helm will have a ‘£200m transfer war chest’ at his disposal for the next three years.
Obviously with all of the other factors, the actual amount they’ll be able to spend will fluctuate depending on sponsorships and player sales. The Newcastle fans were having none of the report though.
What did Newcastle fans have to say?
“So on average, £33m spent per next six transfer windows? Absolute fabricated nonsense. Simply untrue.” @ToonMouthTyne
“No one knows how much! It’s all guess work.” @duckeggs007
“£200m over three years is lower half spending. It may be a lot for us going from Ashley but if they want to be ambitious it needs to be that amount every summer…” @jonesylad1977
“Yeah, because Staveley is sure to have informed the media of the amount in the NUFC transfer kitty.” @Fozzie94
“This is before sponsorship monies come in, so I wouldn’t read into anything as no one knows how much we have to spend. All these salty people don’t have a clue either… All guess work.” @MarcSarg76
“I love the salty fans! Is that it? £200m over three years is rubbish. Whether is takes 5/10/15 years, we are taking over!” @dannymarris68
Eddie Howe is already facing an uphill battle to keep Newcastle in the league this season. The Magpies are the only team left that are yet to register a win. It’s all well and good for the Newcastle board to look at their long term plan for the next three years, but that could be impacted drastically should they get relegated this season.
The Toon will have to invest in January to try and survive; their current squad doesn’t look capable of beating the drop. What top player would want to join a relegation fight? Especially one that appears as perilous as Newcastle’s is at this moment in time! Recruitment in January will be vital before looking ahead to three years from now.