Alan Pardew has said that the incoming Financial Fair Play rules will allow clubs like Newcastle United to break into the Champions League.

The Magpies narrowly missed out on qualification to Europe's elite club competition last season, finishing just four points off fourth-placed Tottenham Hotspur.

Their despair was dulled slightly by the fact that Chelsea pipped the North London outfit by virtue of their victory over Bayern Munich in the Champions League final.

Pardew said that Newcastle are currently unable to compete with the Premier League's big spenders, but hopes that the new rules will create a more even playing field.

"We have a long-term plan in place at Newcastle which means that we don't spend what we don't have," Pardew told The 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 has been in charge at the Sports Direct Arena since 2010.