New investment could mean 'old dog' Steve Diamond has had his day

Newcastle boss Steve Diamond admits his job could be under threat if reported new investment from Red Bull comes into the struggling Premiership outfit, who sit bottom of the league heading into Friday night’s final home game with Gloucester.

Diamond, who insists talk of Red Bull saving English rugby’s northern outpost has not been confirmed to anyone at the club, accepts his role as director of rugby may be examined by new owners and said: “There will be movement and that could be me. If they bring in a world-class investor, they may want a world-class coach, not some old dog who has been around for 25 years, salvaging places.

“I am positive about a solution being found. I drove over from Manchester last night and during the two and a half hours, I wasn’t thinking what if? I have never had a contract for 25 years, and it is word of mouth and a handshake and you get on with it. I am confident in my own ability in building management teams that trust me.

“I have a model that I ran for 11 years at Sale and they are now a top-four team. They took a lot of time to get into that position and Alex Sanderson has taken it on from when I had the club. If we do bring in an investor, there will be changes because if you have been bottom of the league for five years, let’s be perfectly frank about it, then the coaches are not good enough and the playing quality is not good enough.”

Head-to-Head

Last 5 Meetings

Wins

1

Draws

0

Wins

4

Average Points scored

14

31

First try wins

80%

Home team wins

60%

Emotions will be high on Friday night with captain Callum Chick and Jamie Blamire playing their final home games before leaving for Northampton and Leicester, respectively.
Despite a debilitating 75-28 hammering at Saracens last weekend, Diamond insists he did not deliver a “hairdryer” speech to the players in today’s team meeting and revealed the death of a local rugby player has hit the squad hard.

He explained: “Having been through adversity with Worcester, I am honest with the players. It was a surprise to me about the news about Red Bull, and let’s hope it is true. You have to keep things in perspective and Callum Chick rang me yesterday, and one of his best friends, a Tynedale boy, died running the Bristol half marathon at 28 years old and so we have a lull in the building quite rightly because a lot of people knew this young man.

“ We lost a rugby match and got a bonus point (at Saracens) and so you have to put it into perspective. We cannot worry about something we cannot change at the moment (Red Bull) because it gives you stress, anxiety, you don’t sleep at night because we can’t control our destiny at the moment. All we can do is put our best foot forward and be honest. We were pissed off the way we played at the weekend and were put to bed by a top team.

“The morale is remarkably good for the unremarkable season we have had. I don’t make excuses and the boys have got their end-of-season party organised, no fixture next week, and we will all be supporting Northampton (in the Investec Champions Cup final), and they are all going to the darts. They are a remarkable group of men who are sometimes not the best rugby players, but to a man there is not a whinging b****** amongst them.

“Four people have come to me and said, “Dimes, what do you think?” and I have said they should leave in the current circumstances – no one else. That tells me that there are not many jobs out there, and I have the pick of what we want if the investment comes.

“ If it doesn’t, then we will be around next year and will have to bring in seven or eight players in which we will have the budget for, and it will be another holding pattern waiting for investment.”