Newcastle United fury as Chelsea’s £76m FFP tactic ‘makes mockery’ of Premier League

Newcastle United supporters are furious and questioning the legality of Chelsea’s latest FFP/PSR tactic.

Financial reality began to set in for Blues owners when they were confirmed to have the worst losses in the Premier League. Accounts for the 2022-23 campaign show a £249million loss - largely due to the influx of players since BlueCo - fronted by American billionaire Todd Boehly - bought the club.

Chelsea have spent over £1billion on players but that investment has not produced results on the pitch. The Blues are set to miss out on Champions League football for the second consecutive campaign and 2020-21 - when they won the competition - is set to drop out of their three-year FFP/PSR cycle.

Recent weeks have seen Chelsea’s balance sheet come under scrutiny after two hotels near Stamford Bridge were sold to BlueCo for £76.3million. Critics have claimed that the move makes a mockery of the Premier League’s updated rulebook.

Clubs voted to block agreements between businesses connected to owners as well as potentially inflated sponsorship deals. Former Manchester City financial advisor Stefan Borson took to social media to suggest Chelsea may have also sold their Cobham training ground following the January transfer window.

Any confirmation - combined with selling the hotels earlier this year - would test the Premier League’s financial restrictions. Disgruntled Newcastle fans saw the irony after their multi-million-pound Sela deal met fierce resistance.

The Public Investment Fund own the company and this £25million per season agreement is thought to have played a part in the top flight updating the rules. One post read: “If Chelsea gets away with £150million worth of property sales to itself, all while clubs like Everton and (Nottingham) Forest are docked points for minor losses, then the EPL’s cover is blown. 

“It’s not just showing itself as an uneven playing field. It’s showing itself as a game rigged for (the big) six.”

Another saw the positives, believing Chelsea’s dealing could be used as a yardstick if Newcastle were to fall foul in the future. The comment read: “If NUFC tried to pull a deal off like this, we would be getting hammered left, right centre by rival fans and the press.

“But because it's Chelsea it's hardly spoken about. In all honesty, I hope it goes through and NUFC can use this as a benchmark for all the deals we can do.”