Newcastle United now looking to bank £21.8m bonus


 
 
 
 
 
 

So much focus on the Newcastle United finances and implications (restrictions) of PSR.

Especially so when it comes to this summer’s transfer window.

What exactly will Newcastle United be able to do, when it comes to strengthening the squad ahead of next season?

I know it is stating the obvious but the revenues banked this season will play a significant part in what NUFC are able to do.

Well these next three weeks will decide whether or not Newcastle United bank a £21.8m bonus, or not.

As part of the Premier League / TV overall cash payout, merit payments are on a sliding scale depending on your final league placing, with the prize amount decreasing as you go from first all the way down to 20th.

Based on last season’s prize money, each position was/is worth approximately £3.1m.

So from first to twentieth, this is what the merit payments part of the TV money paid out last (2022/23) season:

Southampton who finished bottom of the Premier League table in the 2022-23 season, were handed £3.1m as their merit payment payout, whilst Manchester City received 20 times that amount of £62.3m in merit payment revenue.

Newcastle United in fourth received £52.9m last season in merit payment cash.

This is how the Premier League table looks on Saturday morning ahead of Newcastle United taking on Sheffield United:

So looking at how things stand, the best and worst case scenarios, whilst fifth and fourteenth are both mathematically possible, I think basically we are talking about somewhere between sixth and thirteenth.

Which if you refer back to the merit payments for the 2022/23 season, means Newcastle United look at anything from £46.7m down to £24.9m.

So in these final three weeks of the season, Newcastle United playing for £21.8m in merit payment cash, as the difference between best and worst outcomes.

Only four weeks ago, Newcastle were in tenth place going into the West Ham match at SJP. With three wins and a draw in the next five games, NUFC currently seventh.

It is easy with the amount of money in Premier League football these days, to dismiss what are seen as relatively low amounts of money, even though we are talking about tens of millions. However, they all come together to form the big overall pot of cash for each club.

Indeed, with the Sela sponsorship deal reported to be worth £25m per season, the £21.8m difference in merit payments that will be determined these next three weeks, are getting very close to that Sela sponsorship cash amount.

If Newcastle United win today and both Wolves (home to Luton) and Fulham (home to Palace) fail to win theirs, that would be two clubs who definitely couldn’t then catch Eddie Howe’s side and another £6.2m guaranteed of this potential £21.8m best case scenario in merit payments.