Club release must-watch clip of new CEO as Darren Eales reveals all in passionate interview - Video
In an interview with the club, our new CEO Darren Eales discussed his background, his role at the club, the importance of supporters and even gave a shout out to the hard workers at Wor Flags.
The 50-year-old began working at the club on Monday and is already 'so excited' to get started on what he described was an 'opportunity that was too good to pass up'.
Eales arrived from Atlanta United in MLS, a team he helped to 'build from scratch' which he claims has given him a lot of experience that he wants to 'carry over' into his role at Newcastle.
In terms of what attracted him to the job, Eales was impressed by the 'rich heritage' of the club, the 'amazing passionate fanbase' and claimed that his relationship with Dan Ahsworth from their time at West Brom was a big factor in his decision.
While many fans may be unsure on what his role at the club is, the former Spurs man revealed his plan to 'collaborate with the board, setting out the vision and strategy to make the club sustainable and world class in five years.'
However, the new CEO, while focused and driven, wanted to make it clear how important 'having fun' along the way should be when building a club to hopefully be one of the very best.
As you can see in the full video below, Eales was also full of praise for the supporters and Wor Flags, claiming the flag displays have 'taken his breath away' after recent trips to St James' Park:
On his time at Atlanta United, Eales said: "We were competing with a number of sports, so we were trying to win hearts and minds from day one. I was meeting wherever I could with football fans trying to win them over to Atlanta United.
"I think if you put the supporter engagement at the heart of every decision what you end up doing is making better business decisions."
On his role at the club, Eales said: "My role is collaborating with the board, setting out the vision and the strategy. Our goal and the vision of the club is to be sustainable and world class over the next five years."
"If we can grow commercial revenues, that means we’ll have more funds available to go to the technical side. Better results on the pitch means more revenue. That is the plan. We’re going to aim high."
On his relationship with Dan Ashworth, Eales said: "I was fortunate to work with Dan at West Brom, he was our academy manager and we made him into sporting director.
"He did some great things at Brighton and the FA since then and he’s a really great bloke as well. Dan being here was something that was actually an attraction to me.
On Wor Flags, Eales said: "A big shout out to Wor Flags, what they’ve done with the flags in the stadium took my breath away. Even the buzz around the city, I think that’s what makes Newcastle special."
