Opinion

The scoreline in the Newcastle United semi final away leg against Manchester City wasn’t a surprise. It was a reminder of our place in the hierarchy.

PSR has cemented football into a closed shop.

The elite have built their untouchable highly paid 25-man squads over decades of Champions League money, commercial dominance and global reach with zero financial constraints and now the ladder has been pulled up behind them.

Put simply, Newcastle United cannot catch them.

Not under the current rules. Not under the proposed rules and not without breaking the system that now exists solely to protect those already at the top.

We are constrained by revenue, not ambition. As a result we cannot build the squad depth and strength required to compete on all fronts.

Let’s face it, our player recruitment results in either young promising, but not risk free, players coming onboard (Tino, Hall, Wolf, Isak etc), or alternatively established B grade players. Either way, if we get it wrong (and we do) we cannot “do a Manchester City” and buy our way out of it like the “great” Pep does, we have to live with our decisions in the knowledge that...