To be a fan of Newcastle was already tough, as their team complete a fourth season in a row at the bottom of the Premiership. And now they are being asked by the club’s owners Red Bull to take a leap of faith in a brighter future – but one that will take years to be fully realised.
Regular hammerings and the exit of 26 well-loved players this summer are testing those supporters’ loyalty, judging by a visit to Kingston Park for Saturday’s final home match of the campaign against Sale Sharks, even if the alternative was potential oblivion.
Season-ticket holders Simon Graham and Mike Crosby chatted to The i Paper pre-match, in the Tap & Tackle bar in the East Stand. The pair first started watching Newcastle in the 1990s.
“It has been horrendous and in the last two months it got really painful,” says Simon. “Against Harlequins in the last home game, you could have heard a pin drop. There is a couple who sit in front of us, and just after half-time she said ‘that’s me’ and got up and went, and her husband stayed about another 15 minutes, so she must have been sat in the car rather than watch.
Plans to redevelop the stadium are taking shape – but it will be a gradated process (Photo: The i Paper)“When you felt the team were trying and people were really having a go, you didn’t mind; you can’t win all the time. But when you feel that they’re not putting the effort in, that’s when it gets to you.”
By the end of a remarkable comeback with Newcastle beating Sale 45-42, Simon and Mike were smiling, but still sceptical about decisions they have seen. They would have kept players like Amanaki Mafi – albeit he is 36 and carrying a dodgy knee – and Tom Gordon and Freddie Lockwood, and they rated the sacked former coach Steve Diamond as a good motivator.
All in all, there is a fascinating nexus in Newcastle, of a struggling club drawing just 5,521 spectators for this match, with an Austrian energy drink giant who have bigger fish to fry in other sports.
The theory is the large student population of Newcastle and Durham will make the link between the two worlds. Red Bull unabashedly want to overtake American rival Monster Energy in the north of England.
And the joy and relief when centre Alex Hearle sprang free for the final try was palpable, helping put a gloss on the on-pitch farewells to the 26 players after the final whistle, with a leaving do to follow on Tuesday evening.
The names of all 26 departing players barely fit on the big screen at Kingston Park (Photo: The i Paper)When the Red Bull takeover was completed last summer, Diamond had to bolster a failing squad with players mostly on one-year contracts. Then Diamond was sacked in September, as part of an overhaul of management.
“The facilities here are rustic at best,” the new sporting general director Neil McIlroy tells The i Paper, adding that top players will expect a high-performance training centre with an indoor field. But planning and design on the site behind the north stand could take “two to three years”.
The stadium itself will be “bigger and better progressively”, McIlroy says. “You don’t want to go straight from what we have just now to a 25,000-seater.” A new 4G pitch will be laid in the summer, replacing the 11-year-old one. The talk is of a cover for the north terrace and a new stand on the east side.
Scotland boss Gregor Townsend is working as a consultant, and widely predicted to have a greater role after the World Cup, the attack coach Stephen Jones is already in place, while defence coach Calum MacRae is arriving soon from Benetton and incoming head coach Dan McFarland visited a couple of weeks ago.
There are a lot of new faces due to arrive at Newcastle over the summer, on the playing and coaching staff (Photo: Getty)McIlroy says: “The way that Scotland play at their best is something we’d like to replicate: that fast, exciting brand of rugby which I think the supporters will enjoy.”
Fly-half Brett Connan is one of Newcastle’s stayers; he is also the club’s Rugby Players Association rep, feeling the pain of the majority of the 26 who are yet to find a new club.
One of the departing backs tells The i Paper he has an offer in the Prem but won’t believe it till the papers are signed.
At least most of the players were told their fate a few months ago, and Red Bull have run development days and offered chances to shadow their staff in areas like marketing. The company has “head coaches” like Chris Hunt who dialled in from North America to give the benefit of his 34 years’ working experience. “He used to live in Manchester, and he was a keen rugby player,” says Connan. “He spoke about how rugby taught him leadership and the ability to work hard and be resilient.”
Grayson senior, who has been a head coach at Northampton Saints, believes Red Bull are in for the long haul. He reasons that a £10m spend on a proper Prem-quality squad is the equivalent of a couple of weekend’s activity in their better known pursuit in F1. And that in turn should have positive implications for the Prem as it moves to an expansion system with no automatic relegation: if Newcastle (and other low spenders) raise their quality, there should be less chance of the shambolic results this season, conceding an average 47 points per match, with a minus 502 points difference.
Ethan Grayson has survived the cull at Newcastle (Photo: Getty)And Grayson senior, who has been a head coach at Northampton Saints, believes Red Bull are in for the long haul.
The fact Red Bull say next to nothing publicly about the club adds to the need for faith, although UK MD Peter Charles was at this match and talking behind the scenes. John Fletcher, the returning head of the academy, has an obvious target of ending the drift of home-produced prospects like Jamie Blamire, Adam Radwan and Callum Chick. This will take time, too.
For now, the 25 summer signings are led by Raffi Quirke, Hoskins Sotutu and Fehi Fineanganofo – McIlroy knocked back rumours of a hitch with the Hurricanes wing, saying he is “contracted and will be here”.
Simon and Mike can remember when a largely bought-in Newcastle team won the Premiership in 1998: Jonny Wilkinson, Inga Tuigamala et al.
Simon says: “I don’t think a superstar necessarily wants to come here at the moment. Maybe in two years you will attract them. For management to say in three years we’re going to be heading for the Premiership, and five years in Europe, is optimistic.”
And Mike adds: “With the signings we’ve got, if they play well, I think we’ll still be in the bottom three of the table. Hopefully I’ll be proven wrong. And from where we were, we have to say… at least we’ve still got a club.”
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