Darren Eales reveals exciting five-year plan and St James’ Park stance

Newcastle United CEO Darren Eales has spoken out on the club’s ongoing plans to become a ‘world-class, sustainable organisation’ over the coming years.

Speaking at an inaugural meeting – held on 26th February 2024 – between club officials and the Fan Advisory Board (FAB), Eales revealed that we hope to build a ‘results-driven’ club that consistently achieves top-six finishes and wins major trophies over the next five years, with this a shared goal for the men’s and women’s teams.

“We’re going to build a results-driven, world-class, sustainable organisation that consistently achieves top-six status for men’s and women’s teams and wins major trophies, within the next five years” Eales said. 

He then discussed the growth in revenue over the past two seasons, the big gap we must bridge between ourself and the ‘big six’ and that the club’s ‘priority’ is to remain at St James’ Park as we await the results of ongoing feasibility tests:

“The club’s revenue growth over the last two seasons and into this season has been incredible. Off the pitch, because we started from a low revenue base, we are still a long way behind the top six in the Premier League. Since we can only spend a percentage of revenue, we always look to spend the maximum we can on the team within Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR).

“This means it is vital that we look at ways to raise revenue streams, whether through matchday, St.James’ STACK, commercial partnerships, retail/merchandise, tours, hospitality and events.”

“The priority is to stay at St. James’ Park, but we know there are challenges around development. So we have employed experts to assess what is feasible from an engineering and financial perspective.”