Report: The FA move to ban lucrative end of season friendlies in the wake of Newcastle decision

At this point the FA and the Premier League aren't even trying to hide their disdain for Newcastle United.

Newcastle fans have always felt there's been a target on the club's back ever since the PIF-backed takeover with every move the club makes to make money suddenly a catalyst for a rule change.

While Financial Fair Play wasn't a reaction to our takeover, the tightening of those restrictions surely has been. Fair market value limitations on sponsorship deals suddenly appeared when people started to fear that our Saudi investors could pump money into the club via one of their many businesses.

They tried to block related-party transfers after the PIF invested in four Saudi Arabia Pro League clubs and started snapping up big-name players, terrified that they would then loan those players to Newcastle.

Newcastle United: Creating new rules since 2021

Now, The Times are reporting that in the wake of Newcastle and Tottenham Hotspur's decision to partake in an end-of-season friendly in Australia, the FA will look to block such friendlies in the future.

Citing concerns around player welfare, the friendlies have been criticised for having players complete a 21,000 mile round trip to play in a game just a couple of days after the end of the Premier League season, and also before an international tournament.

The concerns are valid and we feel that is a step too far, but if it wasn't for Profit and Sustainability rules strangling the life out of the game, clubs wouldn't have to make these decisions. There'd be no need to travel to the other side of the world to play a meaningless game in an attempt to increase the club's revenue if they'd just let clubs spend what they could afford to spend without being treated like babies with a bag of sweets.

It is difficult to disagree with the FA on this one ... but we'll try

All Newcastle are trying to do is find ways to catch up to the 'big six' in terms of generating revenue and it just seems that every avenue we find to do that gets immediately closed off.

Whether we think this friendly in Australia is a good idea or not, the fact is, the club was forced into it in order to find ways to make money, and now it's another potential money-making play that the FA are potentially going to block off.

It does seem like it's more about the timing of the friendlies than the location with them being scheduled between the last Premier League game and the FA Cup final, and honestly, we do get that, but come on. It's getting silly now, everything we do creates a rule change.