Newcastle United are actively searching for a new CEO. It's a recruitment process that began in November when long-serving managing director Lee Charnley finally left the club.
Like the managerial appointment of Eddie Howe, the CEO search is 'process driven', (translation: slow) but it's a sensible approach with a view to avoiding knee-jerk appointments that could backfire expensively. The pressure to bring in a CEO has been relieved somewhat by Newcastle's relatively stable position in the league table, and the anticipated appointment of a technical director (widely believed to be former England and Brighton technical director, Dan Ashworth).
Mehrdad Ghodoussi, in an interview with The Athletic in February, said the new Newcastle CEO must have "a vision about making a successful, sustainable business. Driving commercial revenues means more money and that means the club can invest more into its infrastructure, into its squad and everything else." They want Newcastle to start making serious money and need someone with the experience, expertise and temperament to handle it.
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In the same interview Amanda Staveley added: "We don’t just want a CEO that has been at another Premier League club and is going to say, 'OK, this is what you do and what I’ll continue to do’, we want someone who is going to really challenge the status quo and look at the business from different angles. We do not want our club selling products to fans that aren’t suitable. We have to really think about what our fans want and they also have to have value for money. We want a CEO that can help us grow and put Newcastle on the global map."
So, someone who isn't necessarily from a footballing background, but is capable of building a money-making machine that knows what its customers really want, and how to deliver it to them in a straight-foward, trustworthy manner? Hold that thought.
What does a CEO appointment mean for Amanda and Mehrdad's futures at the club? They have acted admirably as interim chief execs so far, steering the ship into far safer waters than it occupied when they arrived in October. They say they won't be stepping back from their positions at the the top of the club when the new CEO is in place, instead they'll continue to work with the newly appointed executive team day-to-day and focus on other areas of the club that need emotional as well as financial investment like the academy, foundation and women's teams.
Like with the technical director appointment, an external recruitment firm is in charge of the 'process-driving' with regards the CEO appointment and one would hope the name Jeremy Darroch has crossed their desk. Who is Jeremy Darroch? Well, he took over as Chief Executive of Sky in December 2007 and in 15 years trebled the media company's value.
He is probably one of the most influential people in modern British sport. He has turned Sky into Europe's biggest multi-platform TV provider, and overseen the launch of products like Sky+, Sky HD, Sky Go and Sky Q.
Darroch led the brand into the lucrative world of streaming services 10 years go, and oversaw takeovers of Sky's sister companies Sky Deutschland and Sky Italia. His straightforward leadership and ability to keep customers at the forefront of high level business decisions made for a happy working environment and a customer base of almost 24 million.
The Sky connection means Darroch is very well-known and respected in Premier League circles. He over saw five Premier League TV rights deals renewals while working as Sky CEO and has literally spent billions on the EPL.
The icing on the cake for Darroch's candidacy is that he's a life-long Newcastle United supporter, born and raised in Alnwick in Northumberland who spent the formative years of his hugely successful business career working for Proctor & Gamble in Gosforth, and he's available right now having stepped down from his position at the very top of Sky at the end of last year. So, when can you start, Jeremy?
"Newcastle is a lifelong sentence," admitted Darroch, whilst speaking recently on the ' Are You Not Entertained? ' podcast about his life and career. He spoke about being taken to his first Newcastle United game in 1972 as a 10-year-old when Bobby Charlton's goal for Man. United wasn't enough to prevent a 2-1 win for the Magpies. " I can remember thinking, ‘this is incredible’."
However, when the podcast's presenters Roger Mitchell and Giles Morgan frame Darroch as "an outstanding candidate to take Newcastle to where it needs to go", his response will disappoint Newcastle's owners, fans and the recruitment firm. " I think my relationship with Newcastle will be watching them and staying as a fan.
"The great thing about Newcastle is that it’s the one thing I’ve been able to engage with as a fan rather than anything else. I am a fan of Newcastle, a fan of the area and there’s a purity about that, that I like. I can sit with my son, my daughter, my friends and just enjoy the Toon Army for what they are."
It's not an unequivocal rebuff of the idea, but it's certainly not the 'come-and-get-me-plea' someone keen to fix their name to the Newcastle United CEO office door.
The tone and language of Darroch's response to the question makes me wonder if the Darroch Express hasn't quite left the station. If it hasn't, Amanda Staveley and Mehrdad Ghodoussi should board it and convince Jeremy Darroch to redirect home. Newcastle's current ownership situation was born out of the powers of persuasion that both Amanda Staveley and Mehrdad Ghodoussi have in spades.
They persuaded the Saudi PiF and the Reuben Brothers of the potential of Newcastle United. They persuaded the likes of Kieran Trippier and Bruno Guimaraes of the potential of the 'project' in January. If they can persuade Jeremy Darroch to join the club, it could be the final piece in a stunning puzzle and one of the most important signings of this exciting new era.
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