Jurgen Klopp has been vindicated in many ways this season, but one of his comments has not aged well. “There are three clubs in world football who can do what they want financially,” he said in October 2022. No names were proffered, but the sense, including at the Etihad Stadium, was that he meant Manchester City, Paris Saint-Germain and Newcastle United.
On Tyneside, they must rather wish that was true. Newcastle have deep pockets and vaunting ambition. They also have constraints that mean they can’t access most of their wealth. Their transfer window has brought no expenditure thus far, not through a lack of willingness but a lack of leeway within financial parameters. For clubs such as Klopp’s Liverpool and Tottenham, who have long looked to break even and for sustainable models, it may prove that Financial Fair Play is financially working. Others may see it as the established order’s glass ceiling holding firm, preventing Newcastle from vaulting upwards.
