Darren Eales’s briefing came at a good time for Newcastle United.
With the club entering a crucial period – and losing some momentum on-the-field – there is a sense of uncertainty about what comes next.
As Newcastle’s chief executive he has the ability to set the tone for the next few months and the message for early 2025 felt clear: we are not going to let teams pick off our best players.
It was a timely message but not the only one that came out of his first interview since last summer.
Here are seven of the boldest statements from Eales’s roundtable.
A big change in Newcastle’s attitude to selling
Fourteen months ago Eales put the cat among the pigeons by admitting the club’s PSR position meant they might need to sell. Boil it down and the message was clear: everyone has their price.
Three barren transfer windows later (incomings-wise, anyway) and the tone has shifted significantly.
Either by accident or design, Newcastle are positioning themselves as a club who will not fold in the summer on Alexander Isak or any of their other big names.
Eales is chief executive of a club where the majority owners Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) want to get signed off on nearly everything, so his assertion that Newcastle would be “crazy” to sell their biggest names clearly came from the highest level.
Talks over a new deal for Isak will begin in the summer, as The i Paper have reported, but whether they are straightforward is another matter.
Still, it represents a big change in the messaging from Newcastle and a more confident stance considering the calibre of clubs who want Isak and his fellow stars like Sandro Tonali, Sven Botman and Bruno Guimaraes.
“The reality is that all of our players are under long-term deals,” Eales said.
“They’re committed to the club. So, from that perspective, we’re not looking to move any player on.”
Promise of PIF’s commitment – with funds to back it up
A briefing from someone senior off-the-field at Newcastle was long overdue.
Five weeks after a transfer window in which tumbleweed once again drifted across St James’ Park, the club are facing justifiable questions about PIF’s commitment.
PSR is the consistent reason offered for the lack of investment in players but fans still await definitive developments on huge infrastructure projects like the stadium and training ground.
The club have also played a “wait and see” game on legal challenges to rules introduced by the Premier League specifically to thwart their progress.
However people thought this project was going to play out, few could have foreseen the apparent caution of the last 18 months.
Eales’s riposte to that was robust, suggesting that their commitment was “absolute” and if PSR wasn’t a factor they would have invested more in signings.
“There is frustration by that PSR constraint,” Eales said.
If it wasn’t for that, we could spend more on the team and accelerate our progress on the pitch.
“At the moment, the way we approach from ownership down – and everyone is aligned – is that we maximise our revenues and with that we spend to the max what we’re allowed to so we incur those losses of £105m over three years to give Eddie and the team the best possible players on the pitch that he wants.
“We’re in alignment in terms of how we build that squad. It’s frustrating because we want to go from A to B in three years, but we can’t do what was done in the past. The days of Roman Abramovich or Manchester City in the early days, you just can’t do that anymore.
“You can frontload the spend, but you have to pay the piper. We have to be strategic and say the way we’ve approached it is that yes, we got to the Champions League quicker than what anyone thought, but the most important thing after that was keeping our key players and that was the approach that we took.”
The strongest statements yet on a new training ground
The club have always had a general commitment to a new training ground but there was a much, much stronger assurance that PIF want something big on that front.
There was also confirmation that the background work is well under way on sourcing a design – with Populous rumoured to be in the running to design it – and location (Eales said they want to stay in the city “ideally”).
The club are understood to want a new facility that will also house the women’s team and could incorporate a mini-stadium that could host to under-23 and WSL games if the .
“We’re at the early stages and have to look at all viable possibilities,” Eales said.
The latest on St James’ Park redevelopment
Anyone parsing Eales’s quotes for definitive news on what is happening on the stadium (or a definitive timeline) faces a thankless task.
Aside from an admission that it will be part of a wider “regeneration” of the current site – think a sizeable fan zone, possible leisure and restaurant opportunities – there was no meat on the bone of an issue that has been energising the city for almost three years.
Eales gave a straight bat to the suggestion – which The i Paper understands has some credibility – that the club’s hierarchy favour a new stadium.
“It’s a huge decision for the club, something we’ve spoken about being a once in a generation decision,” Eales said.
“It’s something we want to get right. Having lived it at Tottenham, Atlanta, there’s a lot of work that goes on in the background to be able to make the correct decision. It’s a bit like the swan: there’s furious scurrying going on in the background.
“So I think we’re at a situation where we did the initial feasibility, we followed that up, we’ve discussed it with our ownership and we want to make sure we have got everything right, all our ducks in a row.
“Te ownership is very much looking to make this investment, we just want to make sure it’s the right investment, strategically for the club, the city, the region and that takes us doing a lot of work, due diligence and making sure at the right time that we go to those external stakeholders as well and get everyone aligned.
“We’re looking to get something done in the near future but I can’t really say anymore than that.
“Work is going on and I think you’ve seen it from just the general discussions we’ve had it is something we’re taking very seriously because it’s a hugely important decision.”
Eddie Howe’s future
It shouldn’t really need saying but Howe is under no pressure despite a wobbly run, with Eales reflecting the ownership’s steadfast support for a manager they see as an “elite” coach.
A key phrase from Eales was “alignment” between Howe, Paul Mitchell and the board.
For anyone who remembers the talk of civil war between manager and director of football back in September, it was further proof that things are smoother now.
Fans who just want to see results on the pitch might not place huge importance on that but Howe deserves credit for placing unity before ego.
But there was a reassertion of the target that the club has for this season: qualifying to play European football next season. That is a minimum.
“We would hope to be in Europe,” Eales said.
“That’s always been our aim this season because it gives us the revenue but also the profile. We’d love to win a trophy as well. That’s our desire as a club.
“We want to be in Europe, we want to be competing there. Clearly the higher level in Europe you’re at, the more the revenues are. This is something that is clearly a focus for us. To be clear at the start of the season, European qualification would have been our aim.”
Newcastle is a city that veers between euphoria and despair when it comes to their football team and the celebrations after beating Arsenal in the Carabao Cup have now given way to pessimism after a poor run.
But there is a bigger picture at play, Eales suggests.
“Well, look, I mean, I think I’d say this season’s been a good season,” he said.
“We’ve equalled our record number of consecutive wins in the top flight with nine.
“We’ve obviously got a final coming up on 16 March, that’s our second final in three years. We’re disappointed in getting knocked out of the FA Cup. I think every season under Eddie, we’ve gone on the cup run – it’s been really impressive.
“You can see it with the players that we have out on the pitch, whether it’s Sandro Tonali. Being frank, compared to pre-takeover, I think it’s night and day.
“So, I think from that perspective, we’re on our journey. I get it, it’s football from match week to match week there’s ups and downs, and there’s highs and lows.
“But if you look at the trend and you look at the squad that we’ve got in terms of this season and the players we’ve got in key positions, it speaks for itself. We’ve got an amazing manager in Eddie, who’s done remarkable since he joined the club.
“So, from my perspective, I’d say it’s really positive. And I think you’re right, though, there’s always going to be a balance because that’s the nature of when we’re looking at things. But I do think, you know, compared to the days when we had to give away season tickets for people to come and watch the team, it is chalk and cheese.”
Paul Mitchell is ‘ready to go’ this summer
Perhaps aware of the dangers of overpromising – Eales was erroneously credited with claiming last summer would be transformative for the club when he did not actually make that bold suggestion – the CEO says that the potential to spend in the summer was a “movable feast” that would depend on further commercial deals and, crucially, whether Newcastle make Europe.
But he insists the club are in a “good place” and that director of football Paul Mitchell’s 12 months in the role have allowed due diligence on potential signings to take place. A lot is riding on that.
But accounts show club’s challenges
Newcastle’s revenue is mushrooming, with a 28 per cent rise reason (to £320m) for celebration at the club.
It offers potential to prosper in either the PSR era or under new squad cost control rules from 2026.
Eales says Newcastle’s growth, on and off-the-field, is “unprecedented”.
But an £11.1m loss tempers the champagne corks popping too much, while much of that growth is down to Champions League revenue for the 2023-24 season which isn’t there this season.
That explains why there have been player sales in the last two transfer windows and why there is so much pressure on the club’s commercial team.
It is understood they were “just” compliant with PSR for this year.
A potential game changer would be reform of the associated party transaction rules (APT) and there is an ongoing tribunal between Manchester City and the Premier League that Newcastle are paying close attention to.
“It’s very fluid at the moment,” Eales said. “So from that perspective, I think we’re going to have to see over the next couple of months how things play out, but obviously something that we’re watching carefully.”
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