Steve Diamond is staying positive despite losing his captain Callum Chick to Northampton Saints, insisting that Newcastle Falcons could become the Wrexham of English rugby union if the club secures new investment.
Diamond did warn that staff at Falcons, who are bottom of the Premiership table ahead of a trip to Saracens this weekend, still have “their lives on hold” while they wait for a cash injection or a loan to help them survive beyond the summer.
Chick’s move to Saints was confirmed on Tuesday morning, the two-cap England back-rower bound for the East Midlands at the end of the current campaign to continue an exodus out of Newcastle.
Adam Radwan joined Leicester Tigers earlier this season and will line up alongside hooker Jamie Blamire, another Falcons product, in 2025-26. Ben Redshaw, the England Under-20 full-back, is going to Gloucester, too.
Diamond admitted that Chick’s exit was a “body blow”, yet showered praise on the durable 27-year-old and declared Northampton as “the right club” to move to.
“Callum and I have chatted over the past couple of months and clubs have been really interested in him,” said the Newcastle director of rugby. “With us still searching for investment, notwithstanding a loan that could help us survive, we thought it was fair and right that he exercised his option.
“Northampton was a very good offer and is a great club, coached by Dows [Phil Dowson] and his crew. It’s an opportunity he couldn’t overlook. He will be a loss but we wish him well. We’ve got to knuckle down, get some investment and rebuild.”
Stressing that Newcastle’s owners “are not going to let it go the way that London Irish went”, Diamond claimed that the Falcons situation is “hugely different” to those at Wasps and Worcester Warriors, having been boss of the latter when it unravelled in 2022.
Newcastle, he said, owe DCMS debts as well as debts to their owner, Semore Kurdi, yet are “up to date and above board” with “VAT and everything else”. Those plotting the franchise revolution are known to value a geographical spread of clubs, which stands Falcons in good stead, and Diamond wants his club to emulate a feel-good success story of football.
“People are looking for a story, people are looking for a Wrexham,” he said. “If it’s a franchise, could Newcastle be that story?”
A stream of local talent is one reason that Diamond remains confident in his project at Newcastle and has “absolutely not” lost hope.
“What needs to happen is that we need to build our story,” he said. “The club has been here for a long time, going from Gosforth to Newcastle. In the professional era, they’ve got it right and then bumbled along. The sort of investment we are looking at is the sort that will put a stamp on the north of England permanently.
“The only way to do that is through selective recruitment and retention, with a pathway through our academy. Our academy has produced kids but I don’t think there’s been enough organisation for us to make up 60 or 70 per cent of our squad.
“Next season, I think Sale’s squad will be 70 per cent made up of their academy. I think we’re at 25 per cent. It’s ridiculous. It needs investment from top to bottom.
“Rugby is in a very sticky position at the minute and we have 45 players here who are [in] a holding pattern with their lives,” Diamond added. “The coaches are the same, the physios are the same. And there aren’t that number of jobs to go to at the minute. But we aren’t thinking that the end of June is going to come along and we’re going to take our lunch-boxes home to go and get a job digging holes in the road.
“It’s a worry, but we’ll represent the ownership, keep our noses to the ground and put our best foot forward against Saracens and Gloucester.”
Agreeing with the sentiments of Tony Rowe, the Exeter Chiefs chairman, Diamond backed a franchising system that could see the top flight expand quickly in order to enlarge the league fixture list and increase revenues.
“I’m grateful to the owners, because I’ve worked for three or four of them, but whatever they have done hasn’t worked,” Diamond said. “It doesn’t stand up at the moment. Why would you invest in something with a one-in-10 chance of relegation?”
Steve Diamond is staying positive despite losing his captain Callum Chick to Northampton Saints, insisting that Newcastle Falcons could become the Wrexham of English rugby union if the club secures new investment.
Diamond did warn that staff at Falcons, who are bottom of the Premiership table ahead of a trip to Saracens this weekend, still have “their lives on hold” while they wait for a cash injection or a loan to help them survive beyond the summer.
Chick’s move to Saints was confirmed on Tuesday morning, the two-cap England back-rower bound for the East Midlands at the end of the current campaign to continue an exodus out of Newcastle.
Adam Radwan joined Leicester Tigers earlier this season and will line up alongside hooker Jamie Blamire, another Falcons product, in 2025-26. Ben Redshaw, the England Under-20 full-back, is going to Gloucester, too.
Diamond admitted that Chick’s exit was a “body blow”, yet showered praise on the durable 27-year-old and declared Northampton as “the right club” to move to.
“Callum and I have chatted over the past couple of months and clubs have been really interested in him,” said the Newcastle director of rugby. “With us still searching for investment, notwithstanding a loan that could help us survive, we thought it was fair and right that he exercised his option.
“Northampton was a very good offer and is a great club, coached by Dows [Phil Dowson] and his crew. It’s an opportunity he couldn’t overlook. He will be a loss but we wish him well. We’ve got to knuckle down, get some investment and rebuild.”
Stressing that Newcastle’s owners “are not going to let it go the way that London Irish went”, Diamond claimed that the Falcons situation is “hugely different” to those at Wasps and Worcester Warriors, having been boss of the latter when it unravelled in 2022.
Newcastle, he said, owe DCMS debts as well as debts to their owner, Semore Kurdi, yet are “up to date and above board” with “VAT and everything else”. Those plotting the franchise revolution are known to value a geographical spread of clubs, which stands Falcons in good stead, and Diamond wants his club to emulate a feel-good success story of football.
“People are looking for a story, people are looking for a Wrexham,” he said. “If it’s a franchise, could Newcastle be that story?”
A stream of local talent is one reason that Diamond remains confident in his project at Newcastle and has “absolutely not” lost hope.
“What needs to happen is that we need to build our story,” he said. “The club has been here for a long time, going from Gosforth to Newcastle. In the professional era, they’ve got it right and then bumbled along. The sort of investment we are looking at is the sort that will put a stamp on the north of England permanently.
“The only way to do that is through selective recruitment and retention, with a pathway through our academy. Our academy has produced kids but I don’t think there’s been enough organisation for us to make up 60 or 70 per cent of our squad.
“Next season, I think Sale’s squad will be 70 per cent made up of their academy. I think we’re at 25 per cent. It’s ridiculous. It needs investment from top to bottom.
“Rugby is in a very sticky position at the minute and we have 45 players here who are [in] a holding pattern with their lives,” Diamond added. “The coaches are the same, the physios are the same. And there aren’t that number of jobs to go to at the minute. But we aren’t thinking that the end of June is going to come along and we’re going to take our lunch-boxes home to go and get a job digging holes in the road.
“It’s a worry, but we’ll represent the ownership, keep our noses to the ground and put our best foot forward against Saracens and Gloucester.”
Agreeing with the sentiments of Tony Rowe, the Exeter Chiefs chairman, Diamond backed a franchising system that could see the top flight expand quickly in order to enlarge the league fixture list and increase revenues.
“I’m grateful to the owners, because I’ve worked for three or four of them, but whatever they have done hasn’t worked,” Diamond said. “It doesn’t stand up at the moment. Why would you invest in something with a one-in-10 chance of relegation?”
