Newcastle United have begun to lean towards siding with the so-called big six Premier League clubs at league meetings.
That is according to The Athletic’s Newcastle correspondent Chris Waugh, who was speaking on the Pod on the Tyne podcast, where he gave the latest updates from St. James’ Park.
Newcastle are reportedly now the wealthiest club on the planet following the takeover from the Saudi Public Investment Fund last October.
The club have aspirations of challenging for European football and trophies on a regular basis in the future, and will feel that with the financial backing behind them they can go on and achieve that in the future.
And Waugh suggests that the Magpies are already trying to side with the ‘big six’ clubs in Premier League meetings, perhaps with the aspiration that they will soon be considered as part of a ‘big seven.’
“Newcastle in Premier League meetings, at least the view of some of other Premier League clubs outside of the sort of so called Big Six have seen Newcastle as having sided to a certain degree, or at least tended to side in some arguments, seem to lean towards those sorts of elite clubs,” Waugh told the Pod on the Tyne podcast.
“Primarily because what they say is that they think that Newcastle see themselves as becoming that, which obviously we know is the plan going forward.
“And so that has been intriguing in that sense that Newcastle, although they aren’t there yet, are already thinking longer term in terms of that as well and obviously splits in terms of money, I’m sure it’s to do with merit-based payments, and things like that.
“I don’t know that for sure, but that will be what the conversations tend to be about with these sorts of things.
“So already there’s been a shift in what Newcastle were previously, which was a club who in a lot of Premier League meetings weren’t visible at all, [they] didn’t really speak.
“And when they did, it was to tend to complain about things, they sided with the likes of Crystal Palace, they tended to vote with historically.
“Whereas now, it’s been a lot of change and Newcastle themselves are trying to affect that change as well.”
TIF Thoughts on Waugh’s comments
We think that Waugh’s comments are unsurprising and are indicative of a sign of the times where football clubs’ main focuses are trying to look after their own wealth, ahead of the good of the game.
We do think that it is a bit risky for Newcastle to be causing fractions in Premier League meetings by moving towards siding with the ‘big six’ before they themselves have achieved that status, and this could have a detrimental effect in the future.
However, we can also see the reasoning behind why the Magpies would decide to lean towards the ‘big six’ in meetings as they will want to preserve their status and wealth should they be able to reach that level of success in the league.