Newcastle United have made some big signings in the transfer market in 2022, but the arrival of Darren Eales as the club's new CEO may yet prove one of the most significant additions the Magpies make full stop. It has certainly got Newcastle's owners excited.
It is not a coincidence that all of the owners' major appointments to date have experience of working in the Premier League, as Eales did at Spurs and West Brom, but the executive's background in MLS means he can bring different ideas, too. In fact, that is what the owners wanted in the first place: a figure who was going to challenge the status quo on and off the field at a time when Newcastle are attempting to close the gap on the top six in the coming years.
Eales already has experience of upsetting the established order in MLS with Atlanta United and it is easy to forget the club were only founded in 2014 before the 49-year-old went on to leave a 'dramatic mark on American soccer' in the words of FC Cincinnati president Jeff Berding.
