David Hopkinson is on a mission to change the culture at Newcastle United after undertaking a 100-day review since his arrival as CEO.
Some key members of personnel behind the scenes have moved on since Hopkinson arrived, and it now looks as though the Canadian is making moves to bring in his own people following his 100-day review.
Director of People and Talent Dominica O’Neil left the club in November, at around the same time as it was confirmed that Peter Silverstone was due to leave.
Today, it has been confirmed that Newcastle have recruited a new Chief People Officer to replace O’Neil.
Graeme Johnson has arrived from Virgin Media, where he was head of talent, becoming Newcastle United’s new Chief People Officer.
We are pretty sure these job titles are similar to “waste disposal officer” (bin man), and that Chief People Officer is simply HR officer to the rest of us.
Indeed, as The Chronicle reports, Johnson’s position will see him take on an HR role and look to improve people services around the building. So, a fancy name for Newcastle United’s new HR manager, I’d say!
After announcing he’s installing a Newcastle United Code at the club, Hopkinson will no doubt be building a team of new people to help him deliver on his promises, if indeed that’s possible.
Given that Hopkinson’s main promise is that Newcastle will be competing for titles by 2030, we’re not sure how much of what he says we actually believe.
We love his enthusiasm, but we can’t dine out on hyperbole alone. At some point, we’re going to need something tangible to sink our teeth into.
When we start seeing actual progress in terms of a new stadium and training ground, and some real progress in terms of bringing in revenue and spending that revenue on top players, we’ll tone down our cynicism.