Newcastle United manager Eddie Howe is fed up with people describing his extremely wealthily-funded Magpies as being extremely wealthily-funded… but also wishes that the club’s extremely wealthy owners were permitted to spend more of their extreme wealth.
The Toon boss’s latest comments read like he feels he’s had a hard time of it being placed under such a burden of expectation, despite the club having accumulated a mere £351m net spend on transfers over the past three years.
He told The Overlap, brought to you by Sky Bet, that Newcastle United have had to ‘battle’ the completely unfair perception that they might have a few quid to spend just because they’re owned by a Saudi sovereign wealth fund literally valued at nearly a trillion dollars.
Brave Newcastle United somehow put brave face on despite burden of fabulous wealth
It’s fair to say Newcastle United have spent… a lot (Image credit: Getty Images)
Howe said: “Whenever you hear Newcastle mentioned externally in the media, it’s always the ‘richest club in the world’ tag that goes next to it.
“That’s been difficult for us, because there’s always been that pressure on us even though we’re not living that reality. We’ve had to battle that; the players have handled that really well.”
Having congratulated himself and his players for finding a way to cope in such unenviable circumstances, Howe questioned why the club should not be able to spend more of the money that we’re apparently supposed to pretend they don’t have.
Eddie Howe managed Bournemouth under very different circumstances (Image credit: Getty Images)
Howe is of course referring to the Financial Fair Play regulations that have limited how much all Premier League clubs are allowed to spend.
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He added: “I’ve come from a club like Bournemouth that had to invest to grow, so I think if the owner has the money and wants to invest in a safe way and put the money into the club, then why can’t he spend that money?
“I think that’s how football clubs should work – we don’t want to see clubs getting into financial problems long term, but if that money is ringfenced then they should be able to use it.”
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