Alan Pardew believes Newcastle United's long-term project of careful spending should see them challenge under new Financial Fair Play rules.
Pardew has brought in a number of exciting players over the past couple of years without paying too much money, while he has also assembled a squad of youngsters who will improve in the future.
The Magpies manager is therefore optimistic of being able to compete with the biggest clubs in the Premier League once the financial clampdown comes into effect.
"We have a long-term plan in place at Newcastle which means that we don't spend what we don't have," he said in the Sunday Mirror.
"The hope is that if the Financial Fair Play rules are fairly applied we will have a sound foundation in place on which to challenge all the other clubs.
"There is no doubt that until those rules are in place, we can't compete with what the Champions League clubs are spending, and that increases the size of our challenge.
"But we have slowly built a squad that finished fifth last season and the key for me was retaining all our top players this summer."
Pardew accepts that it is vital to hold on to his key men as he does not plan to make any big-money signings in the near future.
He continued: "We can't match what Chelsea and the others outlay on players but if we can keep those top players and sign and bring through good youngsters, we will be in a good place.
"Investment does not always guarantee you are going to improve the team. We have seen that down the years."
