Newcastle boss Dickens makes telling admission on where his future lies

Alan Dickens has admitted he faces the same uncertainty over his future as his players, as Newcastle Red Bulls’ big-spending owners prepare a clear-out ahead of a star-studded rebuild next season.

Dickens contract runs out at the end of the season and with no input into recruitment his only focus is on making Newcastle more competitive with a new target the high profile European Challenge Cup last 16 home tie with Top 14 giants La Rochelle, two-time winners of the Investec Champions Cup.

England scrum-half Raffi Quirke and Olympic sevens star Fehi Fineanganofo, from New Zealand, are the latest recruits joining a list that also includes Scotland prop Elliott Millar Mills, full-back Josh Hodge, Pumas lock Franco Molina and All Black Hoskins Sotutu. However, who will be head coach of a much changed Red Bulls squad has yet to be revealed with Scott Robertson, the now sacked All Blacks head coach, in the market for a new job.

Dickens said: “I am probably in the same situation as the players and nothing has been decided. The character I am it would hypocritical not to stay positive and carry on and that’s my job. I have been having tricky conversations with players who will be released or who don’t know their position yet and that is no different to the position I find myself in. I don’t see it as an audition for me (as a coach) because I have always been team focussed and I honestly care about the players and as a group and we are tightly knit.

“The players have gone through some tough times and we have to face this as a group. At every club there are changes and it has been well documented that there will be a high turn over here (at Red Bulls) and we just have to accept and make the best of the situation. I have no input in recruitment and retention for next season.

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“I have enjoyed my time at Newcastle and this a great place and I am a couple of weeks away from my 50th Birthday. There are great people at the club and around the city and I care about the players and want the best for them and I am still young and do love coaching and being on the grass.

“There is a lot to look forward to and lots of positives and I have spoken to players like George McGuigan, who has come back, Adam Brocklebank and Brett Connon who have been here a long time and gone through tough times about who is going be here when Newcastle Red Bulls make it to the top four of the Premiership and into finals. Hopefully that is the story unfolds in the coming years.”

One of the dates on the horizon for the club which will give the Red Bull owners a glimpse of what could be a regular occurrence in the future is the arrival of La Rochelle at Kingston Park in the last 16 of the Challenge Cup on the first weekend of April. La Rochelle have big stars such as Will Skelton and Gregory Alldritt and Dickens is taking heart from this season’s Cup run which is in sharp contract to last season when they failed to win a game.

He added: “We won three of our four Challenge Cup matches not having won any last season and we are in the last 16 with a home draw. La Rochelle have won the Champions Cup twice and it is a challenge we are really looking forward to.”