Darren Eales has already told Newcastle United supporters the exciting vision he'll bring to the club as CEO. The former Atlanta United and Tottenham Hotspur chief joins the Magpies from the MLS outfit having been the president at the club since its birth in 2014.
He has a stellar reputation and he has been named the MLS Executive of the Year on two occasions. He was also named World Football Summit Executive of the Year in 2019.
Speaking to the FootballCo Business Podcast, Eales said: "It's a great question because it's always a question I get back in England, 'what've you brought from England to make Atalanta United a success?' I think to be honest, it's the other way round. I've learnt far more from the United States and it's not just MLS, from building a club, whether that's American football, soccer or Major League Baseball, for me it's about listening to the supporters.
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"I get it. I was in Premier League football for 11 for 12 years, you've got waiting lists because people's mum and dad were fans or their grandparents were fans and I think there's a tendency to take supporters for granted.
"You've got this huge TV and you know that revenue is coming in. You can't afford to do that in America because you're not only fighting the other professional sports, you're fighting college sports which is just as big.
"What I've found my biggest takeaway is, is listening and responding with supporters in mind. If you do that, is this something that's good for the supporters or what the supporters want, you just make good business decisions.
"It's not that you're going out of the way to do things that makes your job more difficult. You're actually doing things that are more successful and for me that's been my biggest learning. Whenever I've had a nagging doubt in the back of my mind on something, it's usually because, when I think about it, that's going to antagonise supporters in some way and why would we do that when we could do it this way and bring the supporters along with us."
Eales added: "I think what you get with that is the fanbase we've got. We're a brand new club in a sport that's number four in the country but we're in the top 10 in the world in global attendance and that's because we think about our supporters. We do things and build the whole club around them.
"That's great business because we're getting the revenue, a supporter base that's really engaged so commercial partners are excited to work with us because our supporters are totally engaged in the club and are passionate advocates and they'll get more passionate advocates for their brand. For me it's not necessarily taking things we've done at Atlanta and doing that in the Premier League, it's taking the approach of thinking what do our supporters want and then in that lens make a decision that is more sensible business wise.
"We've seen it a little bit - we have a minority share in Aberdeen up in the Scottish Premier League. Aberdeen has done a great job. They try to focus on that younger audience and you've seen that in the Premier League, a lot of young people they can't get into the stadiums because of the season ticket waiting list or because the price is too high.
"In Aberdeen they created an area and called it 'The Red Shed' and they tried to make it the area where the young people go to. They did a great job and they sold out in six months. All that was, was saying what is the problem here or what are we trying to find a solution where we might have disenfranchised supporters and how can we create it.
"They were just thinking about that and it's just a small example of thinking through the lens of the supporter. I think you can realise, not only a better atmosphere and a better relationship with the supporter base but also it makes more business sense. That ultimately is the best learning I've got from the United States, if you take that approach it's a win win for everybody."
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