Arsenal legend Ray Parlour believes Newcastle United are now an “attractive” proposition to potential investors. Efforts - or lack thereof - to increase commercial revenue is one area that fell behind under Mike Ashley.
Despite his high-street prowess and track record of saving failing businesses, some felt the Sports Direct tycoon failed to grow the Magpies financially throughout his tenure. For context, in his final season, 2019-20, Newcastle made just £1million more in commercial revenue than they did when he bought the club in 2007.
Steps have already been taken by the new regime to plug the gap. New sleeve sponsor Noon reportedly paid £7.5million for their logo to be emblazoned on United’s shirts throughout the campaign - an increase of around £3million from the previous deal with Kayak.
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Shirt sponsor FUN88 are also likely to be axed in May to make way for a more lucrative alternative - highlighting the off-field transformation taking place on Tyneside. Recent reports suggest former Arsenal chief Peter Silverstone is set to become Newcastle’s chief commercial officer.
His remit should involve attracting investment to the club as the Magpies aim to expand their global reach. Speaking to talkSPORT, ex-Gunners midfielder Parlour - who earned the man of the match award against Newcastle in the 1998 FA Cup final - thinks investors will be queuing up to get involved at St James’ Park.
“Newcastle will be quite an attractive club for someone to sponsor,” he said. “You get all different partners involved and, suddenly that will give them a little bit more revenue, which gives them more opportunity to buy or keep their best players.
“It’s a work in progress for Newcastle. I think it's a little bit like Manchester City, it ain't just going to happen overnight. But they are sitting nicely in the league, a great result last week. There’s a real buzz around the city that ‘we could do something’.
“They’re very excited going forward because they went through that spell under (Mike) Ashley where they just lost interest.”
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