“It's just wrong” - Alan Shearer goes off on PSR rant after painful Newcastle sale

You could interview a thousand Newcastle United fans on all things football-related, and you won't get a consensus on anything except that Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR) ruined the game and massively hindered our beloved club.

You just have to look at social media on any given day, and you can see all the in-fighting on the NUFC hashtag. As a fanbase, we can't seem to agree on anything these days, but when you mention PSR, you're very unlikely to find a Geordie who is in support of it.

Obviously, PSR stopped the PIF from going wild and throwing money at the club after the takeover in 2021, and while we'd have loved to have seen what they'd have done with the restrictions lifted, it's not so much about that for many fans.

The thing that really irked Newcastle fans about PSR was that it forced the club into selling Elliot Anderson and Yankuba Minteh. It's the Anderson sale that really boils fans' wee wee, though, as he is a homegrown talent. One of our own. And we had to sell him or face a points deduction.

Alan Shearer hates PSR

Gary Lineker very kindly reminded Alan Shearer of that fact on the latest The Rest Is Football podcast after Shearer was cooing over Anderson's performance against Sunderland on Friday. Shearer responded to Lineker's reminder that Anderson was a Newcastle player by launching an attack on PSR, saying it should be scrapped.

"Don't talk to me about that c---, about, honestly, the s--- of PSR or SCR or whatever it's called.

"I mean, he's been outstanding, Anderson. It's outrageous, actually. It's just wrong, you've nurtured players from a young age, and yet that's the best way of you having to try and compete is to sell those players?

"I get that it's worked out for Elliot in terms of he probably wouldn't have played as much at Newcastle, but his price tag now has rocketed because of what he's done and his ability and everything else."

We use Shearer's argument as copium

It's that last caveat that we always come back to to help us cope with the loss of Anderson. Would he be anywhere near the player he is now if he'd stayed at Newcastle?

Would Anderson have broken into our midfield three ahead of Bruno Guimaraes, Sandro Tonali or Joelinton? Unlikely. He'd have been next in line, for sure, so he'd have covered any injuries or suspensions, or been used in rotation this season, but he wouldn't be the figurehead he is at the City Ground.

Still, watching one of our own thrive elsewhere and be mentioned regularly in talks over £100 million moves to the likes of Manchester City is pretty annoying.