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Newcastle United are searching for a new chief executive officer to succeed the departing Darren Eales.
Newcastle United could inflict a major blow on Manchester United by poaching one of their top directors.
The Magpies are conducting a search for a new chief executive officer after they announced in September that Darren Eales would be stepping down after being diagnosed with chronic form of blood cancer. He is continuing in the role until his successor is found.
And according to The Telegraph, Man United chief operating officer Collette Roche has emerged as a potential candidate. Roche was previously linked with the chief executive role at Everton before the appointment of Angus Kinnear from Leeds United.
Newcastle United can do what Manchester United did to them
In February last year, Newcastle placed sporting director Dan Ashworth on gardening leave after he expressed his desire to take up the same position at Old Trafford. It took five months for the two clubs to agree a compensation package, which coincidentally is the same number of months Ashworth lasted in the role.
Addressing his departure, Sir Jim Ratcliffe recently told The Overlap: “You may know Dan better than I do, I'm sure you do, but I don't want to go into the details of [his departure] because I don't think it serves any it doesn't serve much purpose.
“I mean at the end of the day it was chemistry. Maybe a bit more than chemistry but let's just say chemistry and it didn't work.
“I know it's an unpopular decision and it's seen as an error and it was an error [to appoint Ashworth] but again I think slightly in our defence we did recognise it as being something that would not work and therefore we decided we would make a change what would have been far easier because of the scrutiny that we knew we would get in the media would have been to live with it but I wasn't prepared to live with it.
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“That has to be part of our mentality at Manchester even though we're having to make unpopular decisions if we think it's the right thing then we're going to do it.”
As a result of Ashworth’s exit, the reports adds that Roche has assumed a much more hands-on role in football operations. Roche has played a key role in the £50million revamp of Man United’s Carrington training base and has formed a big part in discussions surrounding the £2bn stadium project.
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That could stand her in good stead should she end up at Newcastle, with a new training ground and stadium expected to go ahead. Prior to moving into football, Roche was managing director at Manchester Airport, where she may have come into contact with Newcastle’s chief operating officer Brad Miller.
Darren Eales offers health update
Newcastle are in no immediate rush to appoint Eales’ successor. Providing an update on his health last month, Eales said: “I appreciate the question, I just want to say thanks to everyone on this call, the people I’ve spoken to and the fans have been super compassionate. I’m doing well. I’m focused on that transition (to a new CEO) which is why I’m working my notice and made the statement I did.
“The ownership are doing the search for the new CEO and my focus is on business as usual and giving as smooth a transition as is possible for the new person coming in.”
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