Manchester United owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe has described anchoring as an 'absurd' idea - but Newcastle United should be 'absolutely delighted' by the prospect of it being introduced.

That is the view of football finance expert Kieran Maguire after Premier League clubs agreed to trial top to bottom anchoring in shadow this season ahead of a vote on the matter. The current PSR rules, which limit losses to £105m over a rolling three-year period, remain in place, but anchoring would allow top-flight sides to spend five times the amount the bottom club receives in TV and prize money.

However, it is worth noting that the Premier League are also testing squad cost rules, which limit on-pitch spending to 85% of revenue and net profit/loss on player sales for those sides not in Europe. Clubs competing in Europe are already restricted to spending 70% of their turnover in UEFA's separate regulations while sides with such ambitions, like Newcastle, are working to those rules after playing in the Champions League last season.

READ MORE: Kieran Trippier breaks silence and opens up on early season problems at Newcastle United

READ MORE: Newcastle 'very interested' in transfer amid Liverpool links as £25m stance emerges

Squad cost regulations, in truth, are nothing drastically new but Sir Jim Ratcliffe has previously claimed that anchoring was an 'absurd' idea that would 'inhibit the top clubs' in the Premier League when it comes to rivaling Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich and PSG. For context, Manchester United are currently in 13th place in the top-flight and look set for another season out of the Champions League. However, the Red Devils still bring in huge commercial revenues, which would not be quite so beneficial if anchoring was in place, and that would level the playing field out a little as Maguire explained.

"Commercial income is completely ignored under these anchoring rules and therefore they feel that they are being marginalised as a result of this decision," Maguire told the Price of Football. "I think it's an intriguing set of rules because it's effectively shifting towards what we sometimes refer to as a hard cap.

"So if I was Newcastle or Aston Villa, I'd be absolutely delighted with this idea of anchoring because what you're effectively saying is that every club can spend five times the amount of TV money of the bottom club. So the TV money was £106m. Five times £106m means that every club can spend £530m on wages.

"The soft cap very much discriminates against the ambitious clubs, who want to move from the middle classes to challenge the elite. They are restricted because they can only spend 85% of income on wages so it's very political."