Newcastle United, Aston Villa & Premier League rivals meet ahead of major decision after Everton bombshell

Premier League clubs will meet in London today (Tuesday, February 6) to discuss changes to current Profitability and Sustainability Rules (PSR).

Under current PSR, English top-flight teams are permitted to lose a maximum of £105million over a rolling three-year reporting cycle. Last month, Everton - for the second time - and Nottingham Forest were charged with allegedly breaching these regulations and referred to an independent commission. If found guilty, a fine or points deduction is likely to be issued.

This has had a knock-on effect on the rest of the division. Just £96m was spent by Premier League clubs in total during the January transfer window with Newcastle United, Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester City, Chelsea, Manchester United and Everton among those not to spend a penny.

Speaking to the Culture, Media and Sport Committee on January 16, Premier League CEO Richard Masters revealed PSR could soon change and align with UEFA regulations. UEFA's current Financial Fair Play rules limit clubs' spending on wages, transfers and agents' fees to 70% of their revenue. Meanwhile, clubs competing in Champions League or Europa League are permitted losses to lose £49.96m over a three-year period.

"The current PSR system we have at the moment, we are contemplating making some changes to that over time," said Masters. "We have some proposals for consultation with our clubs about aligning more with the UEFA system.

"UEFA have spent two years changing its financial regulations away from used to be called FFP. There is something called squad cost ratio which is a different calculation - more of a wage turnover ratio.

"Over time we have historically aligned with UEFA because seven or eight of our clubs are in European competitions. We need to consider whether that is an appropriate move for us and how we do that and when."

No vote is planned this week with how money can be distributed more fairly between the Premier League and the EFL also on the agenda.

But it is clear Newcastle are open to changes after CEO Darren Eales the current rules were "a huge challenge" for a "upwardly mobile club".

Eales said: "When the takeover took place, the PSR regime was already in place so we have always known that those are the rules and we are operating within them. We will always be compliant. Those are the rules of the game as it were when the takeover took place.

"But I think it is also fair to say that if you are trying to be an upwardly mobile club it makes it a huge challenge. You have to do your business within that regime, it's hard for all the reasons I've spoken about. You have to be able to create that level of income to be able to spend on the squad.

"There are many ways you can have a team on the pitch that can perform and compete but ultimately investment in squad and size of wage bill is a big factor in where you finish in the table. The challenge for us as a club and it's one we embrace and relish, is we have to be efficient and maximise our resources.

"We have to think medium to long term and we have to be strategic. We can't think week to week, month, to month, window to window. If we are going to get where we want to get to, which s a top six sustainable club competing for trophies we have to take a long term vision.

"It's always difficult in football, progress is never a straight line, we have the media scrutiny the day to day of matches, good luck and bad luck, draws in the cup, injuries, we have to take a long term view.

"As an ownership group, we are process driven and we are patient. We are going to invest but the PSR regime undoubtedly makes it more challenging that if it wasn't there.”