Steve Diamond: Newcastle Falcons can be rugby’s Wrexham AFC
Newcastle Falcons boss Steve Diamond has insisted his club can be the Wrexham AFC of rugby as the northern outpost of the Premiership continues to look for fresh investment.
The Kingston Park club, according to former Worcester and Sale boss Diamond, has “two or three” interested bidders. Current owner Semore Kurdi has said he’d sell the club for £1 if it meant him keeping the land the Falcons sit on, but could sell the entirety of the assets as a job lot.
Wrexham were purchased by Hollywood pairing Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney in 2021 and they’ve secured three consecutive promotions since, landing them in football’s second tier Championship.
Newcastle can be Wrexham
“People are looking for a story – a Wrexham,” Diamond said. “With the franchise system [touted by officials], could Newcastle be that story? We need to build a story and a legacy, and in the professional era, the club got it right and then bumbled on, and the kind of investment we are looking at would put a stamp on the North of England permanently.
“We are weeks away from the end of the season and we are in a holding pattern and still positive– I must be mad.
“There have been two or three interested parties and these things take longer than you would expect, and there are also conversations about a loan [from fellow clubs and private equity backers CVC Capital Partners], but I know nothing of that.
“I am pretty sure that the owners of Newcastle will not let it go like London Irish, Worcester or Wasps.
“The [league] model doesn’t work at the moment and why would you invest in something that has a one in 10 chance of relegation. So, I do think franchising will work.”
Newcastle are bottom of the league yet again but have picked up some notable scalps this season, including against Saracens, who they take on this weekend.