Newcastle United have made huge progress commercially but there is still so much work to be done
Newcastle United's CEO David Hopkinson
Newcastle United's CEO David Hopkinson
Last Friday marked the one-year anniversary of David Hopkinson's appointment as Newcastle United's CEO and it is clear to see the club have made substantial progress in that 12 months.
Hopkinson succeeded Darren Eales as the club's chief decision maker and arrived on Tyneside with an impressive array of experience, having held key roles with the Toronto Raptors, Real Madrid and Madison Square Garden. One of his first public addresses saw Hopkinson outline his aim of being in the conversation about 'being the top club in the world'.
"By 2030, I see this club being in the debate about being the top club in the world," Hopkinson told Chronicle Live back in December 2025. "That’s where I see us by 2030 – and that kind of progress doesn’t take as long as you might think. What it takes is clarity of conviction.
"First off, we need to be totally aligned about the fact that that’s what we want to do. We have to have the courage to ignore those that doubt us, and even those that laugh at us. Because there will be some. I’ve been through this journey before. I’ve done it with a total underperformer, and that’s definitely not what Newcastle is. Newcastle is already good.
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"I’ve worked at a club that was really bad, lost all the time. In 2014, we lost just about as bad as you can. In 2019, we were having a parade. So, it’s eminently doable, but it takes that clarity, conviction and commitment. I love the reference to 2030 because if it’s not time-bound, then it’s fantasy.
"Everything we’re talking about as we have articulated the transformation plan has to be time-bound. We can’t set a plan here and just think, ‘Well let’s wake up in 2030 and see where we got to’. No. It’s where do we need to get to by the end of 2025? Where by 2026? 2027? Where are we ahead, where are we behind? What’s our mitigation plan?
"How are we adjusting things? What I will not tell you is that we have written the plan for every granular element that’s going to happen between now and 2030. But what we have got is a highly specific direction of travel and key milestones that need to be hit."
Since that briefing, Hopkinson has overseen some key off the field changes at Newcastle, striking a deal with Knox Hydrate to not only be the sponsor of the training ground that is worth £6million per season for the next three years but also to be the front of shirt sponsors, replacing Sela, in a deal worth £60million across the next three years.
He has also struck a deal with SumUp to become the club's training kit sponsor, which is worth £5million per year for the next three seasons and are on the cusp of announcing a deal with Coca Cola to become the new sponsors of the Stack at St James' Park. Irish rock band Fontaines DC have just been announced for a summer music concert at St James' Park, too, which is another revenue avenue the club have been keen to make more of.
Hopkinson described these transactions as 'self care' and 'rock' deals that provide the fundamental base for which to grow. While huge decisions like the new training ground that was announced and either building a new stadium or revamping St James' Park will also help accelerate that revenue, Newcastle still have more open goals to tap in.
The Canadian wants Newcastle to strike a car deal, a bank deal and an airline deal which will also bring in new funds and keep them on track to his target of growing commercial revenue by 50 per cent by 2030.
Hopkinson believes the 'big six' clubs (Liverpool, Manchester City, Arsenal, Manchester United, Tottenham and Chelsea) will only grow by four per cent in that time which should, in theory, allow Newcastle to close the gap - and it is a sizeable one.
Liverpool generated the most revenue of any English club, and the fifth most worldwide, on the 2026 Deloitte football money league bringing in £717.67m, which is £375.73m more than the £341.94m Newcastle brought in.
When you consider the Reds have just announced a five-year front of shirt sponsor deal with Turkish Airlines from next season that is worth more than £60m per year, compared to Newcastle's £60m deal across three years with Knox, then it only further illustrates the challenge United have in bridging the gap.
That's not diminishing the work of Hopkinson and Newcastle. Far from it. In the context of betting firms no longer being allowed to be front of shirt sponsors, landing a three-year deal worth £60m is an impressive piece of business. But when you consider Liverpool will be bringing in £40m per year more for theirs during the final two years of that deal, it only further illustrates just how far Newcastle need to go still to catch up with their rivals.
If you look at the top 10 of the Deloitte list, the 'big six' are joined by Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich and PSG in there. Chelsea are the 10th placed club on the list with a revenue of £501.33m which means Newcastle would have to make up a gap of £159.39m to break into the top 10.
While Tottenham and Chelsea feel like the most retrievable targets for ambitious clubs like Newcastle, being in the conversation of being the biggest club in the world by 2030 feels way too far off to be a realistic aim.
Instead, it was put to Chronicle Live by one club insider earlier this month that actually becoming the 11th biggest club in the world in terms of revenue by 2030 is not an unrealistic ambition and that should be the target before they move on to the next phase of their plan to reel in the top 10. The best of the rest, so to speak.
Newcastle are currently 17th on the list, and would have to leapfrog Juventus, AC Milan, Aston Villa, Atletico Madrid, Borussia Dortmund and Inter Milan to achieve that goal.
The Italian champions' revenue stood at £461.35m, meaning Newcastle would need to make up a £119.41m shortfall across the next four years to do so and despite the commercial improvements, the obvious elephant in the room is that all of those clubs have qualified for European football this season while Newcastle did not.
In his latest briefing with Chronicle Live and other members of the Newcastle United press pack, Hopkinson admitted with each match the Magpies lost last season they knew their task was going to be harder, not only in terms of the prize money for each position in the Premier League table, but knowing a 12th placed finish would see them miss out on European football.
Chief financial officer Simon Capper was also present at that briefing at the Dakota Hotel and he has outlined what being in Europe, as opposed to not being in Europe, is worth to Newcastle's bottom line.
Aladji Bamba (C) poses for photographs with Newcastle United Chief Financal Officer Simon Capper (L) and Sporting Director Ross Wilson (R)
Aladji Bamba (C) poses for photographs with Newcastle United Chief Financal Officer Simon Capper (L) and Sporting Director Ross Wilson (R) (Image: 2026 Newcastle United)
"We're not in Europe this season so we don't need to comply with UEFA squad cost (rule this season)," Capper explained. "We're forecasting to be compliant with the Premier League and we're well within our UEFA settlement agreement on UEFA football earnings, which is their version of PSR. That still exists as well.
"UEFA have two strands. We have to comply with one of them - and we're good with that one - but we don't have to worry about the other one until December 2027.
"We forecast all of them, and basically we're good for this season now. Subject to anything dramatic happening during the season that we're not expecting. And therefore, next season, whilst we've got different scenarios, the answer is the number is quite different depending on where we are. If we're in the Champions League, we've got a much bigger number to spend next summer than if we're not in Europe at all.
"And so those numbers do absolutely depend on where we finish in the league and what European competition, if any, we're in next year. The revenue difference is so big. We're talking £60m, £70m minimum for the Champions League to where we would be today. Probably £30m to £40m for the Europa League and probably £20m minimum for the UECL. So even the UECL is material. Once you get to the Champions League, it ends up being potentially like 20 per cent of your revenue. So of course that affects our budgets."
So while the club's chiefs, nor head coach Matthias Jaissle, have explicitly set out targets for this season, it is clear that Newcastle need to qualify for European football if they are to realise their ambition for 2030 and beyond. Failure to do so for a second season would make that little more than a pipe dream.