Newcastle United CEO confirms imminent arrival of 'superstar' as £500m ambition becomes clear
Newcastle United CEO David Hopkinson has identified ‘world-class’ talent off the pitch as his 2030 ambitions are put into action.
Newcastle United chief executive David Hopkinson has confirmed two imminent appointments at the club, including a ‘superstar international’.
Back in December, Hopkinson confirmed to The Gazette that the club would be looking to recruit ‘world-class talent’ in the coming months, with a chief revenue officer and chief marketing officer now set to be announced.
The Athletic have reported that Dave O’Connor will be the club’s new chief revenue officer and Hopkinson has now confirmed that an announcement will be made ‘in the coming days’.
The Newcastle CEO will meet with club chiefs, including head coach Eddie Howe and chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan, for an annual summit later this week.
Ahead of the meeting, Hopkinson was speaking at the SportsPro London conference at the KIA Oval cricket ground.
Regarding the new C-suite additions, Hopkinson said: “We’ll be making these two announcements in the coming days.
“A superstar, an international. He’s going to focus on our digital growth. We cannot achieve all that ambition on Newcastle’s local market opportunity. We’ve got to go global.”
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Number one ambition for NUFC
The Newcastle CEO also echoed chairman Al-Rumayyan’s message of being the ‘number one’ club in the world.
Hopkinson said: "Our ambition is ultimately to be number one.
"How are we going to do that? Frankly, money is the biggest piece of the equation. We’ve got to just generate more revenue, give ourselves a bigger envelope to work with. If we can execute superbly, there might be £100m in annual run rate revenue that could be unlocked.
"We’re [at] about £400m. Well, that can become £500m, or stretch to £550m. We start to kick our way into that conversation. That’s our ambition."
Who is Dave O’Connor?
Newcastle’s incoming CRO is from the city but has built sports marketing agency 18K Sports in Switzerland, whose clients include Newcastle United.
18K Sports is described as a ‘a global boutique commercial advisory’ providing the ‘network, expertise and innovation you need to optimise your investment in sports.
O’Connor has spent over 20 years delivering commercial programmes for ‘sport’s most powerful brands and rights holders.’
He is set to officially join the club in June.
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