Aston Villa and Newcastle fans unite over who to blame for difficult transfer window

Points shared on the pitch, point firmly made off it. With an hour on the clock and no sign of the deadlock being broken, both sets of fans organically united to fume against the rulemakers they are convinced are stifling their ability to grow.

It began among the home support but within a few seconds the entire ground had joined in. “ Premier League, corrupt as f***. Premier League, corrupt as f***.” A minute later, when that chant lost its gusto, the travelling Toon Army began a chorus of “F*** PSR” that Villa fans were more than happy to echo.

It has been a frustrating off-season for both clubs, whose willingness to spend has been neutered by fear of punishment at a time when the giants continue to invent new ways to splash the cash.

Before the game - a disjointed affair that did not deserve a goal - the Holte End’s pre-match tifo read “No limits to our dreams.”

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Except there are clear limits to Villa’s present reality - exhibited by homegrown Jacob Ramsey awaiting the completion of his £40m switch to Newcastle, a deal that has only been sanctioned so the club can maintain sufficient headroom when it comes to the curse of financial fair play.

Unai Emery’s pre-season prediction that his side are not contenders to finish in the top seven may seem a touch pessimistic considering they are about to embark on a third consecutive campaign in Europe.

But with UEFA also observing their spending closely, having last month handed down a £9.5m fine for breaching their squad cost ratio regulations, Villa have effectively had to weaken their squad despite a willingness to invest.

They remain a test case when it comes to seeing if it is still possible to become long-term established as a top team through process and vision rather than financial might. And, really, it is not a stretch to argue that how their next 10 months pan out will go a long way to determining whether penetrating the superclub bubble has become impossible without seismic changes to the rulebook.

For Newcastle, and another fanbase with limitless dreams, the reality is less black and white. They may be frustrated by the same spending regulations that have slowed Villa’s ascent.

Yet the absence of a clear off-field structure has left Eddie Howe with a squad that, for now, appears too shallow to maintain a challenge for the top four while going deep into the Champions League. And it may not be much longer before fans begin asking questions of the Saudi owners who were welcomed in with open arms three years ago.

The progress and promises have all felt a touch more precarious entering this campaign, at the end of a summer the diplomatic Howe has conceded was “challenging.”

Digging their heels in over Alexander Isak is one thing. Equipping the manager with a group deep enough to compete on all fronts is something entirely different.

Targets such as Benjamin Sesko and Bryan Mbeumo have opted to go elsewhere despite being offered big money.

But a well-oiled machine behind the scenes, with a transfer chief and CEO on the same page, would have carried out sufficient due diligence and developed a recruitment strategy that would have saved the club some considerable embarrassment.

Both managers still have starting XIs capable of mixing it with the big boys on one-off occasions – the issues will appear when the days shorten – and throughout a blustery first half yesterday Newcastle were more enterprising than their hosts.

The only thing missing was the finishing touch of a prolific centre-forward as Anthonys Gordon and Elanga were denied by Villa’s debut goalkeeper Marco Bizot, while several other solid chances zipped high and wide.

Villa, meanwhile, enjoyed a spell of dominance early in the second period only for their momentum to be stymied by Ezri Konsa‘s red card for taking down Gordon as the last man.

Perhaps a scoreless draw was fitting considering their summers of inaction.