Club chief unveils new Newcastle United five year plan to take NUFC to the top, on and off the pitch

Interesting to hear Newcastle United CEO David Hopkinson outlining what he hopes to achieve with the club.

Having replaced Darren Eales, the new NUFC CEO talking to these assembled journalists about his plans.

David Hopkinson also bringing a large slice of reality to the conversation where the much anticipated far bigger state of the art new Newcastle United stadium is concerned.

Newcastle United fans desperately hoping for a far bigger ground that lets more of them in to watch matches in the flesh.

Whilst at the same time a brand new massive stadium could help Newcastle United close the financial chasm that exists between NUFC and the usual half dozen.

Newcastle United CEO David Hopkinson, talking to invited journalists who cover NUFC, including Keith Downie of Sky Sports, here are some excerpts from what the Sky Sports man has reported on the Hopkinson interview:

‘I truly believe, in my heart of hearts, that we are their (Saudi Arabia PIF) favourite investment.

‘We take up so much of their shared heart and mind, way more than would be warranted given the size of the investment.

‘I feel like we’re a special investment to them. I feel that, not because they tell me, but because they show me.

‘There’s always different types of ownership – some are deeply connected, every single day, others are much more hands off and just see it as an investment. This group at PIF is very much in the former camp.’

David Hopkinson, 54, has been the commercial chief at Real Madrid, Madison Square Garden and Toronto Raptors:

“By 2030 I see this club being in the debate about being the top club in the world.

“That is where I see us by 2030 – and that kind of progress doesn’t take as long as you might think. What it takes is clarity of conviction.

“We need to be totally aligned about the fact that that’s what we want to do.

‘We have to have the courage to ignore those that doubt us, and even those that laugh at us. Because there will be some. I’ve been through this journey before.

“I’ve done it with a total underperformer, and that’s definitely not what Newcastle is. Newcastle is already good. I’ve worked at a club that was really bad, lost all the time. In 2014, we lost just about as bad as you can. In 2019, we were having a parade. So, it’s eminently doable, but it takes that clarity, conviction and commitment.’

Newcastle United five year plan:

“I love the reference to 2030 because if it’s not time-bound, then it’s fantasy.

‘It’s where do we need to get to by the end of 2025? Where by 2026? 2027?

‘Where are we ahead, where are we behind? What’s our mitigation plan? How are we adjusting things?

“What I will not tell you is that we have written the plan for every granular element that’s going to happen between now and 2030. But what we have got is a highly specific direction of travel and key milestones that need to be hit.

“We’re not going to win by accident. We’re going to win because we’ve been thoughtful and strategic about the organisation we’ve constructed, whose sole purpose is to win.

“We have some gaps. Very shortly, we’ll be in the marketplace looking for a chief strategy officer. We’ll be looking for a chief marketing officer. With Pete’s (Silverstone, former chief commercial officer) departure, we’re going to take the opportunity to think about whether we should have someone focusing exclusively on revenue. I want to make sure that we’re recruiting world-class talent.

‘We’re going to be very thoughtful and disciplined about some areas where we’re not world-class today. I’ll just use one example. Our digital ecosystem today is not world-class. We’re not going to achieve our ultimate ambition without world-class digital and data capabilities.”

David Hopkinson asked what the latest is on Newcastle United stadium development?

“I want to be really clear on this. We have not taken a decision on what we’re going to do. We’re modelling a multitude of different scenarios.

“But even if we were to make a decision tomorrow, which we’re not going to do, it still takes years of permits, planning, finance, construction etc. That’s the case whatever we choose – reimagining St James’ Park or building a new stadium. Either takes years and years. I lived through the total transformation of the Bernabeu. I was around through years of work. I love what they’ve built – I think we’ve learned a lot from studying what they’ve built – but these projects are years long.

“Even if we could wave a wand right now, and wake up tomorrow morning with a decision over a brand new stadium, those revenues would still not show up for five years.

“But if you look at something like global partnerships and global sponsorships, which I’ve talked about a lot, then we can do that today. We can literally wake up tomorrow morning and get cracking on closing some of those obvious and less obvious opportunities.

“So much of this is self-help, and so much of our ability to increase our revenues, and therefore our competitiveness, is within our purview right now. They’re right in front of us, right now.

“I don’t know to what extent that that will sustain us beyond 2030, without a major inflection – stadium renovation or rebuild, other major changes. But what I’m focusing on is what we do need to change between now and 2030? Our plan is to set us up to succeed in these next four or five years, and then it’s also about what steps are we taking to make sure we succeed beyond 2030?

“But recognising that we are going to be at St James’ Park in pretty much its current format for years to come is important. We’re thinking through what improvements should we make in that intervening period? We could make tweaks and changes to improve the here and now.”

My thoughts

Newcastle United CEO David Hopkinson talks a good game.

That is no criticism, more a case of we have heard similar before from former CEO Darren Eales and others in the Newcastle United hierarchy.

That includes the Newcastle United ownership.

Saudi Arabia PIF Governor and NUFC Chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan famously declaring in the past, that the intention/aim is for the club to be ‘number one’ in the world.

The only way to be able to compete with the very best is if having the cash to compete long-term.

Even if the Newcastle United owners were prepared to finance it, they can’t do what the likes of Manchester City and Chelsea did to establish themselves in such positions of power and revenue generating, due to the limitations imposed by Financial Fair Play (FFP). Whether that means PSR (Profitability and Sustainability Rules), SCR (Squad Cost Ratio) or whatever else they put in place.

All of these simply mean roughly the same thing, that those who already have the biggest revenues can continue to spend far more on transfer fees and wages than those who trying to close the gap.

Eddie Howe has performed miracles in getting two Champions League qualifications in three years, against all odds, out performing clubs with far bigger revenues.

It is all but impossible for Eddie Howe to continue to do that on a regular basis and grow the club revenues year on year, solely due to that, without huge help from the Newcastle United owners, in terms of them helping to grow the revenues to such an extent that the gap can close on the half dozen Premier League clubs who took full advantage of Mike Ashley’s decade and a half of holding Newcastle United back.

A huge new modern brand new Newcastle United stadium is absolutely essential if NUFC are to close that financial chasm. The extra revenues that this could generate, both from football matches and other events, would be serious money.

To attract the top level sponsorship deals that these established richest and most powerful clubs already have, you would need to have sustained success on the pitch. To get sustained success on the pitch you need to have the revenues to do so…

In reality, it is a vicious circle that can’t be closed. Unless you have massive capital investment in a brand new stadium that can help you generate the far higher revenues.

Newcastle United CEO David Hopkinson talks of this five year plan up to 2030 and I’m sure he and the rest of the NUFC hierarchy can help the club to generate more and more money.

However, those half dozen Premier League clubs who are already the richest, will also be bringing in more and more money at the same time, almost certainly growing the gap to Newcastle United, not reducing it! Already, so many rival clubs have expanded their current stadiums or built new ones, others are currently doing so, whilst others (Chelsea, Man U etc) are actively trying to put together their new stadium plans.

David Hopkinson says that even if a magic wand was waved now on a brand new stadium, then you would still be talking five or more years before that brand new stadium would be ready and be able to help generate those far bigger revenues.

Obviously I know that none of this is simple to achieve but by the same token, if it is say 2030 before a brand new Newcastle United stadium is decided upon and the button is pushed for it to become a reality, then that means it would be at least ten years from now, 2035, before a new stadium could be starting to generating far more money than the current St James’ Park set up.

Here’s hoping that David Hopkinson is proved correct, that Newcastle United finances can soar regardless and establish our club at the top table on a long-term basis, on and off the pitch. Then when the brand new state of the art far bigger capacity stadium comes along, it is then a huge bonus on top of that.