Newcastle boss Eddie Howe has stressed that “football is played on the pitch — not with the money” ahead of Sunday’s clash with Aston Villa.
The match is a meeting of two teams outside of the ‘big six’ who have been challenging in both the Premier League and in Europe across recent seasons and ahead of their league clash at St James’ Park, Unai Emery’s team are third in the table, while the Magpies are sniffing around the European spots.
Despite showcasing their strengths on the pitch, both clubs have been affected by the league’s profitability and sustainability rules (PSR), but Howe is keen to let football dictate league position, not finances.
Asked if the Premier League no longer feels like a closed shop or if teams with bigger wage bills will have an advantage, Howe said: “I’m never a believer that finances should and can dictate the league table, although everyone will tell me that the teams with the highest wage bills will ultimately finish in the high league positions.
“People much cleverer than me will say that the wage bill follows the league position, but I can’t think that way. We have got to think differently and try and find ways to still win games to upset the status quo and finish as high as we can.
“That will always be my belief and that was my belief from day one in management. Football is played on the pitch — not with the money.”
The Deloitte Football Money League was published earlier in the week and Liverpool were revealed to be the highest-earning English club for the first time, while Manchester City, Arsenal, Manchester United, Tottenham and Chelsea were all in the top 10 of the list.
Aston Villa were ranked 14th and Newcastle 17th, while West Ham squeezed into the top 20 and Howe emphasised the importance of building revenue for the future.
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He said: “The money leagues, I was interested to see them yesterday. I thought they made interesting reading for us because it shows we’ve got a long way to go in terms of revenue. I know people are bored of us talking about it, but it’s factual.
“Building our revenues will be so important and I know there’s a lot of work behind the scenes to try and do that.
“I have always had the belief that, whatever situation you have, you have to try and outperform your resources. You’ve got to try and overachieve. You have to stretch every ounce of energy and effort from the squad that you have.
“We believe we can still achieve great things, regardless of what financial restrictions there are on us. We will try to achieve the highest possible that we can. I’m reluctant to say whatever that will be, but we will go for the maximum.”