Our Last Season Relegation Was Unacceptable - Newcastle Director Lee Charnley

Newcastle managing director Lee Charnley has said their Premier League relegation was both unacceptable and totally unexpected as club accounts showed a £70m outlay on players. The full financial impact of relegation will become apparent in the next set of accounts, Charnley said, even though Rafael Benitez appears on course to lead the Magpies back into the Premier League from the Sky Bet Championship at the first attempt.

On Thursday, Newcastle reported their accounts until June 30, 2016, showing the club recorded a profit for a sixth successive year, but the figure of £4.6m was significantly down from £32.5m a year earlier. The Magpies pointed to the expenditure on recruitment in the summer 2015 and January 2016 transfer windows under former England boss Steve McClaren, who was sacked in March 2016 and replaced by Benitez.

He said “The 2015-16 season was extremely disappointing for everyone connected with the club, significant sums of money were spent to strengthen the playing squad in the summer 2015 and January 2016 windows, which also resulted in an increase in our annual wage bill. In the context of this spend, relegation was both unacceptable and totally unexpected. The financial impact of relegation is difficult to overstate and this will become evident in our next set of financial results for the year ending June 2017.”