Spend time with Newcastle United’s new chief executive David Hopkinson and one thing becomes clear, even beyond his undiluted North American ambition – he is here to build revenues, not stadiums.
The logic of some predecessors in senior office was that you cannot maximise the former without the latter, but Hopkinson thinks differently.
The Canadian does not want to hide behind the promise of cranes scraping the sky – he wants to reach for the stars today, not tomorrow.
Sitting alongside Ross Wilson, the club’s new sporting director, in a private room of Shearer’s Bar beneath the Gallowgate End, Hopkinson revealed his own Vision 2030, mirroring the diversification masterplan of the club’s Saudi Arabian owners in their home country.
‘By 2030, I see this club in the debate about being the top club in the world,’ he said.
There was no limit on ambition, but there was on timeframe. Hopkinson will use a clock to hold himself accountable.
‘That kind of progress doesn’t take as long as you might think,’ he said. ‘What it takes is clarity of conviction. First off, we need to be totally aligned about the fact that this is what we want to do. We need the courage to ignore those that doubt us, and even those that laugh at us, because there will be some.’
Hopkinson, 54, has been commercial chief at Real Madrid, Madison Square Garden and Toronto Raptors, where they won the NBA Finals in 2019. That, he feels, is proof of concept.
‘I’ve been through this journey before,’ he said. ‘I’ve done it with a total under-performer, and that’s definitely not what Newcastle is. Newcastle is already good. I’ve worked at a club that was really bad. 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. I love the reference to 2030, because if it’s not time-bound, then it’s fantasy. We can’t set a plan and just think, “Well, let’s wake up in 2030 and see where we got to”. No. It’s where do we need to get to by the end of 2025? 2026? 2027? Where are we ahead, where are we behind?’
For now, then, lots of questions as to the route, but a very definite answer as to the destination. He calls Newcastle ‘the most exciting project in European football’ and likens it to ‘a rocket ship’ about to take-off.
But Vision 2030, Hopkinson’s black-and-white version, cannot be blurred by talk of a new stadium, he says.
It was in March that architects put together a slick video for presentation to PIF of a new home rising on nearby Leazes Park, and insiders expected the majority owners to green light the project imminently.
That development – or even an expansion of St James’ – has been stuck on amber ever since.
Were the Saudis to red light it in 2026, it would leave supporters seriously doubting their commitment.
Hopkinson wants to manage expectations. ‘Recognising that we are going to be at St James’ Park in pretty much its current format for years to come is important,’ he said. ‘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. You’d already be beyond the 2030 horizon.’
‘But if you look at something like global partnerships and sponsorships, 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. I would expect we’ll not be sat here this time next year without a training kit and training ground sponsor. The correlation between points earned and revenue is undeniable. 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.
‘I don’t know to what extent that will sustain us beyond 2030 without a major inflection – stadium renovation or rebuild – but what I’m focusing on is what we 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, what steps are we taking to make sure we succeed beyond 2030?’
Wilson nodded with the knowing of a man who also has to implement short, medium and long-term strategies. He did not talk in headlines, but with a quieter subtext of confidence and calm. His predecessor Paul Mitchell, during his introduction to journalists, sat down with a Molotov cocktail and set fire to his relationship with Eddie Howe by labelling a largely successful recruitment model ‘not fit for purpose’.
It remains one of the most remarkable 90 minutes I have witnessed at St James’ and, by reflecting his incendiary comments and the reaction of insiders to them, my own relationship with Mitchell went up in smoke. Him blaming me for the fire felt like blaming a thermometer for the temperature. Wilson, by contrast, sat down with a diet coke.
‘We have got an outstanding manager here,’ he said, when pressed on the prospect of Howe and England, or even Liverpool and Manchester City.
‘From past experience, I’d certainly rather have one that other people might like, rather than one that nobody likes.’
The Scot will embrace the club’s strengths rather than feel threatened by them – and its strongest arm remains the head coach. In Wilson and Hopkinson, Howe suddenly has allies.
But here was the bouncer that, 15 months previous, Mitchell attempted to smash for the boundary – what does Wilson think of the club’s recruitment?
‘It’s always easy to judge recruitment in the past,’ he said, straight-batting down the wicket. ‘I think you’ve always got to judge recruitment with the context of time and what the need was at that specific time. This club has been on an interesting journey, from a relegation battle to a Champions League club, and that requires different things in different moments.’
Like Dan Ashworth, Wilson does not pretend to be a ‘superscout’, He is, he says, the organiser at the centre of the organisation. That is why he and Hopkinson should make a good pair. One holder, one pushes on. There is no less ambition in a No.6 as opposed to No.8, they just have different means of taking the team upfield.
But here is the unknown – do PIF still share those goals, given their sports-portfolio expansion into golf, tennis and boxing, as well as reports of the purse-strings tightening?
After all, four years into the Newcastle project and there is still no movement on a stadium or new training ground, and no PIF presence inside St James’.
‘I truly believe, in my heart of hearts, that we are their favourite investment,’ said Hopkinson. ‘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.
‘But the question about PIF is a good one – it was one of my questions during my recruitment (process). 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.’
But how realistic is the 2030 vision? Former co-owner Amanda Staveley said on the day of the takeover in 2021 that Newcastle could win the Premier League within five years. That target is one year from expiry. Hopkinson repeated the aim, albeit with an extended runway.
The problem Newcastle have is that, while Hopkinson will most likely fatten the balance sheet, the Premier League’s heavyweights are not getting any lighter.
No new stadium or training ground will always be limiting factors and it could feel a little like chasing the sun, especially if financial rules keep clubs such as Newcastle in the shade.
But Hopkinson will run hard. He will, you feel, give it every ounce of his North American hustle in bringing silver and silverware to the North-East. He has talked it, and talked it well – now he must walk it.
Before leaving – he and Wilson were headed for dinner with the women’s team chiefs – Hopkinson glanced at the buffet laid on for us journalists.
‘I love the cuisine here guys, but you really don’t know how to do pizza,’ he said.
He, and Wilson, must now prove they are the missing ingredients in taking Newcastle United to the very top.
