Howe going as spending rules bite - troubles for Newcastle's Saudi owners

So what are the rules that Newcastle have, at times, come close to breaking?

From the beginning of the PIF takeover, Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR) have put the brakes on Newcastle's ambitions to spend.

Just because a club has wealthy owners does not mean they can spend big in the transfer windows.

After buying the club in 2021, PIF spent £404.7m in the first three years. But by bringing in only £50.4m from sales, Newcastle saw the stark reality of PSR hit home in 2024.

That led to them having to sell homegrown talent Elliot Anderson to Nottingham Forest and has snowballed since, with important players being offloaded every season.

The Magpies welcomed the new Financial Fair Play rules - the Squad Cost Ratio (SCR), which are now in effect - and, in short, mean the more you generate, the more you can spend.

But, when analysing their spending power against that of other Premier League clubs, Swiss Ramble, external found that the Magpies' SCR budget ranked ninth (£243m) in the Premier League.

On top of that, in April the PIF withdrew its multibillion dollar backing of LIV Golf after Yasir Al-Rumayyan - the fund's governor and chairman of Newcastle - confirmed the PIF was reviewing its deals and investments.

In turn, questions were raised about what that meant for the future of Newcastle - but senior club figures were informed at the time that the pullout did not affect the club. The fund is still viewed as being engaged.

In the club's most recent set of accounts from last season, Newcastle's revenues have more than doubled to £335.3m - from the £140.2m recorded in the final full campaign of Mike Ashley's ownership.

There are also plans for a new state-of-the-art training ground while Hopkinson has outlined a desire to revamp St James' Park or move stadiums to increase matchday revenue.

The potential appointment of former RB Salzburg boss Jaissle is also intriguing given he is currently in charge of Saudi Arabian side Al-Ahli - a club the PIF held a majority stake in until selling it in April.