According to The Guardian, Newcastle owners are already in discussions to invest in French club Dijon with plans in place to begin a multi-club model similar to that of Man City.
Co-owner Amanda Staveley revealed on Thursday that they want to ‘grow Newcastle and our brand’ by buying controlling and minority stakes in other clubs around the world.
The group have previously been linked with Polish club Slask Wroclaw, but now look to be pushing for investment in the Ligue 1 side to begin this multi-club network.
Although Staveley admits that the process can be ‘complicated’, the benefits of growing the brand and linking clubs together for player development could be huge for Newcastle’s long-term future.
We can see how well the City Group have executed this process, purchasing 12 clubs already around the world, and the hope is that we can emulate their success in the coming years.
Speaking at a business summit in London, here’s what’s Staveley had to say on the matter:
“We’re looking at everything in terms of how we grow Newcastle and our brand. The opportunity to buy players early in the cycle is critical to our growth. We’re very focused on young players so obviously we have looked at multi-club.
“But whenever you look at multi-club you have to make sure that you have the right fit – you also make sure that you choose your territory carefully and have the right chemistry. You’re working with another fanbase in another area so it’s critical that you set out what your goals will be. It’s complicated.”
“We’re also looking at another structure which would allow us to do maybe both [buy controlling and minority stakes], maybe something that would give us more opportunity to work with a lot more clubs. But that’s quite an early stage.
“I think that any buyer who is now looking to buy any club is going to be looking at the multi-club model.”
