Newcastle United's incoming Chief Executive Officer Darren Eales bid an emotional farewell to Atlanta United at the weekend as he prepares for his eagerly-awaited return to England. The club president was in attendance as Atlanta left it late to beat Seattle Sounders with a 94th-minute Andrew Gutman winner at the Mercedez-Benz stadium.
Eales officially finishes his duties in the United States on Monday before taking a two-break ahead of his Newcastle move. The incoming CEO will join the Magpies on August 22, one day after Eddie Howe's side host Manchester City at St. James' Park.
Eales has already visited the north east venue in recent weeks as he looks to get accustomed to his new surroundings. But the weekend was all about his Atlanta goodbye as fans, players and staff paid tribute to the job he has done since the club's inception.
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“Look, Darren is a unique personality,” said Steve Cannon, CEO of Atlanta’s parent company, Arthur M. Blank Sports and Entertainment. “He's just really competent at what he does, really likeable, a fun guy with a bunch of personality and he happens to be great in front of a camera or a microphone or an Instagram, right?
"So I'm not going to saddle Darren’s successor with an expectation that you need to be an Instagram star. You need to be a great leader. You need to have a vision to build on what Darren has started. We want to have a championship ball club, we want to compete every single year, we want to run a great business."
Eales may not have started his new role on Tyneside just yet but that did not stop him serving up a sample of his new club to reporters in Atlanta earlier this month. The 50-year-old delivered cases of Newcastle Brown Ale for the club's media ahead of the clash against Seattle as a token of his appreciation.
Eales was spotted on Tyneside for the Magpies’ pre-season double-header against Atalanta and Athletic Bilbao in July. His remit at Newcastle will be to run the club on a day-to-day basis and negotiate new contracts with players among other jobs.
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