Newcastle set for fine BELOW Aston Villa's £9.5m after UEFA breach - Report

Newcastle United fell foul of UEFA's more stringent financial restrictions this season and are set to face a fine by the European governing body.

Aston Villa ran into similar problems last season and were fined £9.5 million, with Newcastle having been reported to be expecting a similar sanction.

UEFA's Squad Cost Ratio rules are similar to the ones Premier League clubs will be working to next season, although where English clubs are permitted to spend up to 85% of their revenue on player-related costs, any clubs partaking in a UEFA competition see that figure reduced to 70%.

Newcastle were in breach of that 70% limit when partaking in the Champions League this season and will face a fine as a result.

Newcastle will not face as severe a punishment as Aston Villa

Thankfully, Craig Hope has written in his Newcastle Confidential column for the Daily Mail that the Magpies aren't likely to face a fine as harsh as that imposed on Aston Villa.

No final figure has been revealed as yet, but Newcastle have been in discussions with UEFA for a while now, and Hope expects that Newcastle's fine could be around half of what Aston Villa were forced to pay.

That's obviously good news for Newcastle if that comes to pass, but it doesn't mean Newcastle can just rest on its laurels. They need to get under that 70% marker, and even if they don't bag European football this season, they need to stay under that 70% barrier if they want to return to Europe the following season.

What's the point in trying to improve?

We still think it's absolutely ridiculous that clubs are essentially being punished for being successful.

The likes of Newcastle and Aston Villa are desperately trying to close that gap to the 'Big Six' and to do that, they need to spend money, but when they spend money, they get punished. The whole system is designed to keep the status quo.

UEFA imposing stricter restrictions makes the whole thing even more farcical, as a big incentive for success is being entered into a UEFA competition, but then you're punished even more by facing another 15% reduction to what you're able to spend.

How a fat dolt sat in his living room battering away on a keyboard can see how wrong this is, but those in charge of making the rules don't see what it's doing to the game is beyond me.