Steve Diamond maps out Newcastle's recruitment policy after Red Bull takeover

Steve Diamond has ruled out Welsh superstar Louis Rees-Zammit joining his Newcastle squad as he looks to continue his shopping spree following the takeover of the club by the energy drinks giant, Red Bull.

The Kingston Park outfit, who have ditched their Falcons moniker and been renamed Newcastle Red Bulls, were immediately linked with the 24-year-old as soon as he announced that he was calling time on his NFL adventure and was leaving the Jacksonville Jaguars to return to rugby.

He was soon touted as a possible signing for Diamond on a one-year contract, which would allow him to move to R360, in which Red Bull are tipped to buy a franchise if it gets off the ground next year.

But the Newcastle boss is prepared to spend wisely with two or three more new arrivals imminent after upgrading his shopping from Lidl to the Harrods following the investment from the third biggest drinks brand in the world.

“All players are going to be of interest now, but at this moment in time, we are just looking at the short term of this season. He (Rees-Zammit) won’t be joining us for this season.

“We are being measured. We aren’t going to just go out and bring in players who aren’t going to make a difference. Salary cap and marquee players are probably a year or two off.

“We will be looking at world-class facilities, world-class coaches and world-class player coming to Newcastle over the next three or four years to hopefully dominate in the future.

“The plan is to get ourselves competitive in an environment where there aren’t many players available. I can imagine the strategy over the next year or two will be to be highly competitive.

“In any sport, you have to be able to spend as the others do spend, with designated and highly selected recruitment to be highly competitive, but I’m just concentrating on September, October, November and December.

“There will be at least another two or three immediately. And there are one or two guys currently playing in the Rugby Championship who won’t be arriving until the autumn, but that’s all in the plan.

“We knew that we wouldn’t have everyone here for the 1st of August, but we just have to plan accordingly. The bigger picture is getting this team away in September and then sitting down with the powers that be,” he said.

Diamond, who has built a reputation for being rugby’s Red Adair, always fighting fires, has given some sound advice for the new owners.

“The one thing I’ve learnt from Sale and the experience comes through in the jobs that I’ve done helping Worcester and Edinburgh, and the last 18 months here is when the investment does come, investors obviously need to listen to sound and solid rugby and business advice. The thing is, in all these cases, you can’t just rush out and spend money. It never really works.

“It has to be done over two or three years. Very few clubs have done it from zero to year one. But what I intend to do over the next six months is to stabilise the place, and we will have a competitive squad,” he added.

In April, Diamond branded Bath “the Galacticos” of the Premiership and said ‘they are the new Saracens”, after they made a string of big-name signings, but stopped short of predicting Newcastle returning to the heady days of Sir John Hall when they bought their way to the top, winning the 1998 Premiership title.

“Bath has proven that my description of them was absolutely accurate. They finished at the bottom of the table three or four years ago, and they have since brought in management and behind-the-scenes infrastructure.

“They became the bridesmaids, and then they became the brides. It will take some time to do that. We come from a background in Newcastle, where finances were tight, but we can say that at Bath, that was never the case.

“For Newcastle, we will plan accordingly over the two or three years with caution, but also we want to be able to excite the Newcastle crowd when they come to see us.”