Premier League clubs to vote on scrapping PSR | OneFootball

Premier League clubs are set to finally take a vote on getting rid of PSR (Profit and Sustainability Rules).

A BBC Sport report (see below) stating that it is expected that this could happen as early as next month (November 2025).

This has long been on the cards and before anybody gets too excited, the plan is for PSR to be replaced by SCR (Squad Cost Ratio) for Premier League clubs.

The Premier League has long talked about this happening and now it is actually going to happen.

As you are no doubt aware, PSR currently limits Premier League clubs to losses of £105m over three years, with various costs such as infrastructure, women’s football and youth development not counted as spending for PSR calculations.

The SCR (Squad Cost Ratio) is what is used by UEFA and that is set at allowing clubs to spend 70 per cent of their revenue on football costs.

Richard Masters has declared; “Our system will be 85 per cent because we always want our clubs to have the ability to invest.”

The thing is though, Premier League clubs have to abide by the UEFA rules if they want to play in the European competitions.

Aston Villa were compliant with Premier League rules but recently found not to be so with UEFA rules, Villa punished by UEFA and promised that there would be far greater sanctions if they didn’t fall into line. So this summer Aston Villa having to take significant action on their football costs to bring them into line with UEFA rules.

So whilst Richard Masters claims there will be less restrictive rules (85 per cent not 70 per cent) with the Premier League SCR than UEFA has. For clubs such as Aston Villa, Newcastle United and others, who aspire to be in European competitions, then it doesn’t appear to make any difference.

The bottom line is that whether it is PSR or SCR, it doesn’t really make any difference so far as I can see in terms of allowing clubs such as Newcastle and Villa to close the financial chasm on those already rich and powerful.

Whatever system is used, if it is all based on restricting your spending by connecting it to how how much money you bring into your club and/or what the profits/losses are, then the Premier League clubs that generate by far the most money now, will continue to have a huge financial advantage over the rest.

In other words, they will keep on being allowed to have far more freedom on the amounts of cash they spend on signing players and the wages they pay them.

The Premier League is also believed to be intending to use TBA (‘Top to Bottom Anchoring'( as well as part of the new rules, which effectively caps the amount any club can spend as a multiple of the income earned by the league’s bottom side.

A decision on whether to scrap the Premier League’s controversial profit and sustainability rules (PSR) and adopt an “alternative system” is “coming up”, says chief executive Richard Masters.

The current regulations, introduced in 2015-16 to prevent clubs from overspending, allow losses of £105m over a three-year reporting cycle.

However, they have been criticised by several top-flight teams for limiting their ability to invest.

BBC Sport has been told a decision on any changes is likely to be made at a meeting in November.

In February clubs chose to continue with PSR for the current season.

However a squad cost ratio (SCR) system of financial control was adopted by the Premier League on a shadowing, non-binding basis.

SCR is similar to Uefa’s existing financial rules and allows clubs to spend up to a percentage of their total revenues on squad-related costs.

Nine of the league’s 20 clubs already have to comply with Uefa’s SCR as a result of qualifying for Europe. Both Chelsea and Aston Villa were fined by Uefa in July for breaching the rules.

Asked about SCR at the Leaders sports conference in London, Masters said: “We are talking to our clubs about an alternative system. That’s not to say we don’t think the PSR system works.”

He added: “It’s about closer alignment with European regulation, which is squad cost ratio, which is a revenue test. In Uefa, it’s now set at 70%. Our system will be 85% because we always want our clubs to have the ability to invest.

“The Premier League has been built on the back of investment in which international capital flows [are] coming in. We don’t want that to be to be stifled off.”

Premier League clubs Everton and Nottingham Forest were docked points in the 2023-24 season for breaching PSR.

In 2023, Aston Villa’s co-owner Nassef Sawiris said the regulations “do not make sense” and protected the biggest clubs, while he was considering legal action against the rules.

Having been forced to offload players to comply with the regulations, Newcastle manager Eddie Howe has also been critical of PSR, saying it incentivises clubs to sell academy products.

“The PSR is a look-back profitability test and has its own strengths and weaknesses. No system will be perfect,” said Masters.

“We have to keep these things balanced and continue the conversation with our clubs, and that’s an important decision, so we should take the time to get it right. But that decision is coming up.”

The Premier League is also trialling another model known as ‘top to bottom anchoring’ (TBA) which effectively caps the amount any club can spend as a multiple of the income earned by the league’s bottom side.

BBC Sport has been told the new rules – if adopted – could also include TBA, and would come into force at the start of next season.

Record spending during the summer transfer window reinforced some top-flight clubs’ concerns about PSR, and whether changes are needed in order to protect competitive balance given the additional revenues being generated for those involved in the expanded Champions League and Club World Cup.‘