At the start of 2023, Newcastle were gaining momentum under head coach Dave Walder. The Falcons had won four of their last six Premiership games, with stability and cohesion improving. But chaos was waiting around the corner.
By the end of the season Newcastle had lost two of their top three front row players (George McGuigan and Trevor Davison) as well as Walder. At the start of the ongoing campaign, there had been a significant change in the squad. Under new head coach Alex Codling, the Falcons currently sit bottom of the league without a win to their name.
The winds of change had arrived in Newcastle. The club said wind was necessary for survival. This was, of course, a season in which three Premiership teams (Worcester, Wasps and London Irish) hit the wall. Financial sustainability and cutting the fabric to fit the budget became not only the club’s goal, but also a vital issue.
Such shaky measures are bound to inevitably create unrest. After all, professional rugby is a cutthroat business with huge amounts of money and contracts at stake.
But in the end, financial obligation intersects with treating those in the club with the respect they deserve, not as pieces of meat.
Telegraph Sport spoke to various sources (some of whom wished to remain anonymous) who accused the club of significant failings in this regard. One of them was hard-hitting rower Carl Fearns, who left Newcastle at the end of the previous season and announced his retirement from the sport last week after a stint in Carcassonne.
Fearns, 34, felt the need to speak out about Codling’s post-match interview following the defeat at Leicester earlier this month. The Falcons’ head coach has publicly questioned the club’s direction following a difficult run of results with a relatively weak squad in his first season in the North East.
Fearns spent two seasons at Kingston Park, recruited by former director of rugby Dean Richards. Over coffee at the Twin Farms pub near the Falcons’ stadium, Fearns revealed he had received a verbal contract offer from the club’s head of recruitment, former hooker Matt Thompson. He said it was then kept in abeyance for two months without clarity on his future and without any contract offers being made.
Fearns says he doesn’t mind having to leave. He understood the budget changes taking place at the club, but his indecisiveness and change of heart left him worried about his livelihood and providing for his family. This account was also confirmed by another unnamed player at the club and Telegraph Sport saw the communication between Fearns and Thompson.
“I met Matt Thompson face to face over coffee around January 6th and he told me he wanted to keep me at the club,” Fearns told Telegraph Sport. He said that I was an experienced player, that a younger squad would be formed next season and that he wanted my experience. He said he wanted to keep me in the team and would send me a contract by next week. So it’s over.
“A week or two went by and I asked him if he had a contract for me. He said: ‘No, sorry, nothing right now.’ He continued, and the next week I asked again. “Not right now, not yet, I’m sorry,” he said again.
“I sent a message at the end of January asking if the position had changed. I had a family, I needed to plan, I might be ending my career, I needed to find a job, I had a mortgage. He didn’t respond until I texted him again in March.
“I’m not a stupid guy. I’m an old pro. I knew what the problem was. After the third week of saying ‘not yet’, I knew exactly what was going on.”
“I think this guy is a coward. You have to treat people the right way. I was pretty good about that in the messages. I understood if the club was in financial shape and the situation around me could change. “It could have been a bad thing for me to hear but I needed to know yes or no.
“In March I told him what I thought and he thanked me for his message and said the club was looking for a new manager. That’s all I really had. I never got a clear answer.
“I felt like something was wrong. If I were a young actor, I might have left at 12 o’clock with no job and no family.”
Telegraph Sport have since met with both Thompson and Newcastle owner Semore Kurdi, with the pair admitting failures in communication over Fearns’ non-renewal and explaining that the club is in a transition period based on sustainability and a long-term project. was a goal centered around a core of young talent; But the treatment his former backrowers received should not have happened.
“We were sorry to hear last week that Carl would be retiring from playing professional rugby, but looking back he could have had a great career,” Newcastle said in a statement to Telegraph Sport.
“Looking back, we accept that communication regarding his contract situation could have been handled more clearly, but we thank Carl for his service and wish him all the best in his life after rugby.”
Fearns explains that coach Scott MacLeod’s departure from the club was another example of mistreatment. With the arrival of Codling, whose specialty was left out of the squad, MacLeod was informed by Thompson at the end of last season over the phone that his services would not be required at the club for the following season.
An hour later, unaware that the former coach’s contract had not been renewed, Codling called MacLeod and asked what he would bring to the coaching staff next season. Newcastle did not want to respond to Fearns’ statement on MacLeod’s departure but it is understood the club has apologized privately.
Fearns adds: “I sympathize with Alex because, as I said, I know what’s going on at the club.” However, if he had done the necessary research before arriving, he would have been able to understand what was going on at the club. But maybe Thommo had promised her things she could never get, like he did to me? Maybe this happened? All he had to do was do his due diligence; The path the club was taking was clear, getting rid of all the experienced forwards in the group.
“If they want to cut their clothes accordingly, that’s within their rights, but you have to treat the actors like people and treat them well.
“We’ve had one of the best squads under Scott MacLeod for years and he’s a great coach. There was no point in getting rid of him.”
The departures of McGuigan and Davison were notable; Not just because the pair have been named in the England squad or have been in talks about international call-ups, but also because they arrive mid-season, effective immediately, within three months of each other, with both players heading to Premiership rivals. A source, who asked not to be named, told Telegraph Sport that Davison broke down in tears on the training ground.
“The way George left the club… We came on Monday and George stood up in a team meeting and said: ‘Guys, I’m going to Gloucester.’ Some coaches didn’t even realize it,” says Fearns. “When things like this happen, the entire team that relies on being a close unit with less funding begins to question why we’re doing this if people are being treated this way.
“Trevor was going to Northampton but he didn’t go. I think he was told the deal was off, then the day came and Thommo told him he was going to Saints tomorrow. It seemed as if the moves were imposed on both George and Trevor.
“In the end I felt sorry for Dave and all the staff who stood in front of us and gave us messages about being ‘true north’ and being tight as a group, but every week it could have been something else. They cut their legs out from under them. If I were Dave I’d leave.”
Newcastle did not want to comment on the departures of McGuigan or Davison when approached. Both players refused to speak to Telegraph Sport. However, it is understood that factors beyond the club’s control and external contract negotiations are part of the reason for the immediate departure of both players.