‘Doesn’t sit right’ – Premier League frustration as Newcastle United seal club-record agreement

admin | July 6, 2024 | Other Clubs | No Comments

Shay Given admits Premier League Profitability and Sustainability Rules (PSR) ‘don’t sit right’ with him after Newcastle United were forced to sell academy graduate Elliot Anderson.

The Magpies were facing a Premier League points deduction last weekend as they frantically attempted to raise funds before the PSR accounting deadline on June 30. It led to both Anderson and 19-year-old being sacrificed after they joined Nottingham Forest and Brighton & Hove Albion, respectively, for a combined total of £68million.

United are now understood to be compliant with the financial rules but the departure of Anderson, whose £35m price tag is a joint club-record sale, has left a bitter taste in Given’s mouth. The Whitley Bay-born midfielder had been on the books at Newcastle since the age of eight and Given believes PSR pressures have robbed him of the opportunity to spend many years at his boyhood club.

The former long-serving Magpies’ goalkeeper told NewcastleWorld: “I was probably more surprised at the Elliot Anderson one. I was there last pre-season with him in America and he was probably the star performer. I think he had his injury problems last season but I really think he’s going to have a big future.

“I think that one doesn’t sit that well with me. That’s because he is a local lad and he had been at the club for so long. I was at Newcastle for 12 years so I know the fans love a local player coming through and representing the club for a long number of years.

“I’m sure the fans are probably frustrated with that one more than the other one because they want to see Elliot playing at Newcastle for the next 10 years but again, the way the rules are set up, you don’t really blame the club, they have to generate the money. And of course, when someone comes through the system like that, it’s all profit.

“You want to develop local lads then you have to sell them to try and use the money to bring in players from different countries – it doesn’t sit right with me, it doesn’t seem to be the right formula. There must be a better way of possibly doing it than the way it is set up at the minute.”

Meanwhile, Given labelled Minteh’s £33m move to Brighton as a “great business” after Eddie Howe’s made a quick profit on the £7m they paid to Odense Boldklub last summer. The Gambian departs having never kicked a ball in black and white after spending last season on loan at Feyenood.

“The Yankuba deal is a brilliant bit of business because no one has seen him play for Newcastle,” said the former Republic of Ireland international. “I think Shola Ameobi the loan manager probably deserves a bit of a pay rise from that one because that’s fantastic business.

“He might go on and prove to be a brilliant player and maybe one you’ll look at in the future thinking ‘we should never have sold him’ but the way the financial rules are, I think that one is a really good bit of business.

“People probably ask what a loan manager does and that’s what Shola does, he brings in players and obviously develops them and sends them to the right clubs.”

Last weekend’s double sale is likely to see Newcastle retain the services of key trio Anthony Gordon, Alexander Isak and Bruno Guimaraes.

Given added: “Yeah, that’s the other side of the coin. I suppose the bigger picture is you want to keep hold of all these players and keep strengthening every window but I know that’s not going to be the case.

“Gordon is brilliant, Bruno has been magic and then there is Isak as well. Eddie has probably looked at and gone ‘well we have to keep the core of my squad’.

“During my time, we had Gary Speed and Alan Shearer, and we used to call it the blue chipper game and I think Eddie will keep his blue chipper game intact and strengthen around them. I suppose there will be casualties along the way as it’s all about balancing the books. That’s just the picture of the way the rules have been set up.”

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