Newcastle, Aston Villa and the difficulty of breaking financial stranglehold of the ‘Big Six’ – The Athletic
Newcastle United face Aston Villa on Sunday as two teams who have come closest to breaking the dominance of the so-called ‘Big Six’.
This term has been used to refer to Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur, who have regularly finished in those places in the Premier League and therefore received the benefits of European football that come with it. Though some of those clubs have fallen down the division regularly in recent years, the financial aspect of their advantage largely remains.
Those ‘Big Six’ clubs have recorded the Premier League’s six highest revenue figures every season since 2008-09, including 2024-25, while also having the division’s six highest wage bills every season from 2010-11 to 2022-23.
Villa became the sixth-highest payers in both 2023-24 and 2024-25m with Spurs dropping down.
And as has been shown, there are ways into those places in the league. So here, we asked Newcastle writer Chris Waugh and his Villa counterpart Jacob Tanswell to discuss why it is difficult and how their clubs are trying to do it.
Player recruitment
Waugh: The assumption outside Newcastle was that once PIF gained control, a raft of superstars would arrive. But, following the first post-takeover window in January 2022 when experienced players like Kieran Trippier and Dan Burn were signed to avoid relegation, Newcastle have prioritised recruiting players aged 24 and under with potential who can grow with the club.
Bruno Guimaraes, Sven Botman, Sandro Tonali and Alexander Isak have been among the successes, though following a gross spend in excess of £300million ($402m) during the first four windows of this ownership, Newcastle were unable to make a first-XI signing for three straight trading periods.
Sandro Tonali has been a transfer success for Newcastle (Omar Havana/Getty Images)
That was due to PSR constraints, which also forced the unwanted sale of academy graduate Elliot Anderson in June 2024 — for a net £15m — and have prevented Newcastle from dramatically increasing their wage budget, something which significantly contributed to Isak’s acrimonious exit and makes holding on to star players tricky.
Newcastle invested another £241m during the summer, but their six signings were rarely first choices — whenever the club competed with an elite outfit for a player, like Hugo Ekitike, Joao Pedro or Bryan Mbeumo, they ultimately missed out — and have had mixed success so far. Having lost Isak, their first XI has actually been weakened, too (and has not significantly evolved since the 2023-24 campaign).
Tanswell: Since Unai Emery arrived in 2022, Villa’s recruitment has been mixed, at best. The team’s core is still formed of players who predate Emery.
Villa are different to many clubs in preferring proven, high-pedigree signings. This does accentuate PSR pressures as they usually come with a high salary. Villa believe the best way to remain at the elite is to allow Emery to develop players, improving their ability and value.
Now, though, Villa have to develop a knack for knowing when the right time is to cash in at the peak of a player’s value and, in turn, become more effective in investing in a replacement.
Manager
Waugh: As with recruitment, Newcastle’s head-coach model has not followed the hire-and-fire-them-to-get-to-the-top model many predicted.
Howe is the only appointment made by this regime, who inherited Steve Bruce and kept him for only one match, and, despite being second-choice to eventual Villa manager Emery, the 48-year-old and his staff have been the single biggest factor in closing the gap to the top clubs.
A club-builder by nature, having lifted Bournemouth from League Two to the Premier League, Howe has established unity and cemented wide-ranging authority throughout St James’ Park and, critically, has improved players he inherited beyond recognition — Joelinton, Jacob Murphy and Fabian Schar — and has maximised the potential of many signings like Lewis Hall, Tino Livramento and Anthony Gordon.
Under Howe’s leadership, Newcastle avoided demotion when they appeared certain for relegation, while they have twice qualified for the Champions League and won their first major domestic trophy in 70 years by lifting the 2025 Carabao Cup.
Eddie Howe and Unai Emery are key to their current clubs’ success (James Gill – Danehouse/Getty Images)
Tanswell: Quite simply, the manager is the chief ingredient.
Without Emery, Villa’s deficiencies, such as their lack of revenue in comparison to the ‘Big Six’, would be illuminated.
Pound for pound, no manager has performed better than Emery this season and he has shown in his three years that he is not only capable of breaking up the ‘Big Six’ dominance, but also of ensuring Villa remain there.
He is the right — perhaps only — manager Villa could have that empowers them to gatecrash the high-table party. The question centres on keeping him and demonstrating that he can continue to take this team further, despite the inevitable barriers those who want to break in end up facing.
Academy
Waugh: Producing more players of their own was always viewed as critical to Newcastle’s post-takeover revolution, though the financial fruits have been scant (the sales of Anderson and Yankuba Minteh, who was signed and then moved on for a huge profit, aside).
Millions have been invested into the academy — both in terms of facilities and personnel, with the staff size increasing by around 50 per cent — which is led by Steve Harper and, despite a worryingly high turnover of under-21 coaches and disappointing second-string results, the under-18s are impressing this season.
More encouragingly, Newcastle are extremely excited about their under-14s and the age groups below, which are the post-takeover cohorts, with many youngsters populating England youth sides.
Early youth signings like Garang Kuol and Alfie Harrison have failed to generate big profits, though there is hope that Sam Alabi, the 16-year-old midfielder, can develop into a success. Lewis Miley, the 19-year-old midfielder, is a first-team player, though he is the only youngster to break through in more than four years.
Newcastle had to sell Elliot Anderson to help to comply with financial regulations (Mark Runnacles/Getty Images)
Tanswell: Under academy director Mark Harrison and emerging talent manager, Adam Henshall, Villa have generated over £60million in fees from young players in the past three years.
This has been important in fending off — just — PSR’s threat and enabling Emery to keep his senior players for longer. However, there is a desire from several figures internally for Emery, as a sign of his longevity and legacy, to integrate academy players.
With the under-18s winning the FA Youth Cup last season, the academy is highly regarded and boasts several promising talents, including George Hemmings, Ben Broggio and Leon Routh. Using young players could reduce how often Villa dip into the transfer market and alleviate financial restrictions.
Matchday revenue
Waugh: At £50.1m in 2023-24 (their most recent accounts), Newcastle’s matchday income was still less than half the average for the ‘Big Six’ (£105.3m), but it had doubled (from £24.9m) since the last whole season — with fans, pre-Covid — of the Mike Ashley era in 2018-19.
Much of that additional income came due to a greater volume of home matches, with Newcastle in the Champions League and progressing in the cups.
However, the club have also increased adult season-ticket prices by five per cent in three successive years, a move strongly criticised by the Newcastle United Supporters’ Trust (NUST). Further raises would boost revenue, but risk pricing out some supporters in an economically-challenged area. Newcastle’s corporate offering has been improved, but there is a limit to what can be achieved without significant infrastructure investment.
The lack of a resolution to the stadium question remains a great frustration for supporters. A new state-of-the-art stadium on Leazes Park, a site next door, is a favoured option by many at the club, but renovating and extending St James’ Park is another option. Neither would be completed for years, meaning that revenue stream is set to remain relatively stagnant.
Newcastle’s St James’ Park stadium (Michelle Mercer/Newcastle United via Getty Images)
Tanswell: Villa have to avoid another hefty loss for a third successive year, having suffered post-tax losses of more than £200m ($254m) in the previous two.
Villa accept costs are currently higher than revenues, so continue to explore ways of increasing the latter. Much to supporters’ ire, this included steep ticket price increases last season, yet there is now a desire to look at alternative routes.
The rebuilding of the North Stand will increase capacity by eight thousand by 2028, which should help substantially. In the 2022-23 accounts, Villa had the ninth-highest revenue in the Premier League (£217.7m), behind teams like West Ham United (£236.7m) and Newcastle (£250.3m).
Playing routinely in the Champions League, combined with improvements to Villa Park, would bring the club more in line with their rivals.
Sponsorship
Waugh: Every season since the takeover, Newcastle have registered a new record for revenue. In 2023-24, it was £320.3m, representing a 28 per cent year-on-year increase, which former CEO Darren Eales described as “unprecedented growth in football”.
Despite Newcastle’s commercial revenue quadrupling since 2020-21 — thanks to big-money deals with Sela, Adidas and Noon, among others — at £83.6m it is still dwarfed by the average of the so-called ‘Big Six’ (£274m).
That is partly why David Hopkinson was selected as Eales’ successor and the chief executive has announced ambitious plans for Newcastle to be among the world’s “best” clubs by 2030. Having arrived with a renowned commercial background, Hopkinson is determined to strike fresh partnerships at more lucrative rates.
Peter Silverstone, the former chief commercial officer, has already departed, with a chief revenue officer and other C-suite executives set to replace his former position, with Hopkinson’s focus on turbo-charging Newcastle’s sponsorships in a bid to close the gap to those above.
Newcastle have big-money deals with Sela and Adidas among others (Scott Llewellyn/MI News/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Tanswell: As The Athletic revealed in July, Villa are searching for a partner to provide naming rights to Villa Park.
New president of business operations, Francesco Calvo, has made a positive impression on staff and his football experience is thought to be key in pursuing creative sponsorship streams, which was absent under his predecessor, Chris Heck. This includes a sponsor for the training kit — which has now been found.
Villa will have a new shirt sponsor at the end of the season that aims to be the most significant in their history. Villa’s commercial income has grown by £24.2m, or 62 per cent, in just two years — mostly influenced by Emery’s impact with on-pitch results.
Regulations
Waugh: Undoubtedly the single-biggest impediment to Newcastle’s growth has been financial regulations. The idea that they would become the “richest club in the world” was also a fallacy — yet even if they wanted to call upon the full resources of their mega-wealthy owners, they would be unable to do so.
While Chelsea and Manchester City could keep spending following their respective takeovers in 2003 and 2008, Newcastle were forced to sell players against their wishes in June 2024 to comply with PSR. Those same rules, alongside UEFA’s, have also limited Newcastle’s ability to greatly expand their wage bill or continue to invest in the market.
The Premier League’s new squad cost rules (SCR) which are being introduced next season, will aid Newcastle to an extent — they voted for them, although they also wanted top-to-bottom anchoring and will continue to push for its introduction — but they will not be truly transformative.
Newcastle have not followed Villa or Chelsea in using apparent loopholes to circumvent PSR. Newcastle have not sold any of their own assets to themselves, while they have also yet to really exploit their relationship with PIF. In 2023-24, only £22.6m of their commercial revenue came from PIF-related companies, which represents just 27 per cent of the total.
Whether Hopkinson and Newcastle look to further tap into their PIF association moving forward following Manchester City’s success last year in challenging the Premier League’s rules remains to be seen.
Tanswell: Villa sit in the exact same boat. It is not lost on senior figures at the club that a fundamental reason why clubs like Chelsea and Manchester City made such rapid growth was because they made hay while the sun shone — that is, when there were not many, if any, regulations.
Villa have been at the forefront of wanting to change the PSR threshold for how much a club can lose over three years and were big proponents of the SCR rule being introduced to the Premier League, even though their wage-to-turnover ratio stood at 91 per cent last season.
Although that has since decreased, missing out on Champions League football — as they did last season — makes a huge difference. Senior figures believe it left a £70million hole in their finances last summer, impacting revenue and with wage-to-turnover ratio rising once more.
To navigate these rules, Villa relied on selling homegrown talents in the summer of 2023, performing separate player transactions with clubs in a similar predicament last season — there were player swaps with Juventus, Chelsea and Everton in 2024. Last summer, Villa sold their women’s team to their ownership, V Sports, assisting with meeting PSR.
