Financial Fair Play has been the watchword at Newcastle United ever since the takeover which transformed the club's prospects overnight. The new owners have already committed to a transfer spend in excess of £250 million, while also making a host of key appointments as part of a major and long-term overhaul behind the scenes.
Yet for a club dubbed the 'richest in the world', Eddie Howe and sporting director Dan Ashworth have been firm in their message of caution. If it was a stance which confused and frustrate some until now, the 'limitless' punishments now potentially facing Manchester City following alleged financial breaches has hammered this point home.
The defending Premier League champions have been charged with more than 100 infringements of financial rules dating from 2009 until 2018, following a four-year investigation. City have now been referred to an independent regulator, having been accused of not co-operating with inquiries.
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The news came out of the blue on Monday, and this included City themselves with the club confirming their surprise at the decision. But what exactly have the champions been accused of?
Football finance expert Kieran Maguire told the BBC's Monday Night Club: "In terms of the charges, we can probably distill them into two areas. First of all, accusations that Manchester City have artificially inflated the money coming into the club with particular respect to commercial and sponsorship deals.
"The Premier League appear to be claiming the money was actually coming from the club owner which wouldn't count towards FFP, but was being disguised as sponsorship income which does count towards FFP. The other charges are in relation to Manchester City being alleged to artificially deflate the costs of running the club."
Full details of manager renumeration under Roberto Mancini from 2009 to 2013, and player wages from 2010 to 2016 are the subject of alleged breaches. City have also been accused of breaking FFP regulations from 2013 to 2018, and Premier League rules on profitability and sustainability from 2015 to 2018.
UEFA have previously ruled City committed 'serious breaches' of FFP regulations, although a two-year ban from participating in European competitions was overturned by the Court of Arbitration for Sport. On this occasion however, Maguire insists the independent commission will have 'carte blanche' to hand out punishments if City are found to have committed the offences.
The Price of Football podcast host said: "What you have to do now is to take a look at the Premier League rulebook, and when you go through it, the potential tariffs are limitless. It could be anything from don't do it again to a fine, to a points deduction, to stripping Manchester City of previous titles, and even expelling them from the Premier League.
"You go through that list, and it does mean the people involved with this commission do have carte blanche to do what they think is appropriate. I think we therefore have to look at precedent and what has happened elsewhere.
"We saw with QPR when they were in breach of FFP, that was mainly financially-related, the same with Leicester City and Bournemouth when they were both promoted to the Premier League. We look elsewhere, in the EFL it's been points deductions. You can then look at what's happened with Rangers in Scotland and Juventus in Italy, the sanctions are limitless."
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