‘Guns were everywhere’ – Steve Diamond on ‘single most extraordinary day’ in his rugby life, Worcester sadness and Newcastle Falcons’ future

Newcastle Falcons’ director of rugby Steve Diamond during the Gallagher Premiership match at Kingston Park, Newcastle upon Tyne. Picture date: Friday March 29, 2024.

What Steve Diamond remembers first is the revolver wedged into the pocket of the driver on the team bus. Oh, and the machine gun in the overhead locker.

In the warm-up, balls sailed into the crowd from goal kickers getting their eye in. None came back that hadn’t been punctured by knife-wielding opposition fans.

Then came the national anthem, and the sight of the entire stadium turning its back on the pitch and starting to wolf whistle.

At Kingston Park this Friday the boss of winless Newcastle sends his team out against play-off chasing Bath, less than three weeks after Falcons were hammered out of sight, 85-14, by Bristol.

Extraordinary day

The potential for the scoreline to again turn ugly is obvious yet Diamond is not about to quake in his boots. Not when he has seen what he has.

“That game against Georgia when I was coach of Russia,” he says, casting his mind back to what unfolded in the ‘neutral’ Turkish city of Trabzon only months after the two nations had been at war.

“It was, without a shadow of a doubt, the single most extraordinary day of my rugby life. Guns were everywhere. The only Russians in the stadium were my team and staff.

“As the whistles drowned out the Russian anthem I turned to my backs coach, Jos Baxendell, and yelled, ‘Keep your British passport with you at all times!’”

Compared to that even the chastening prospect of a 17th successive Gallagher Premiership defeat for Newcastle rather pales. Particularly in a league with no relegation.

Diamond, 55, knows the meaning of hardship in a club rugby context, having been at the helm when Worcester Warriors went bust in 2022 with the loss of countless jobs. That was true pain.

Finn Russell back for Bath against Newcastle while George Ford and Handre Pollard to face off

“When I went there I didn’t realise the club was haemorrhaging as much,” he says. “I didn’t realise the seriousness of behind the scenes, which came to fruition 12 months later.

“What most bothered me was what happened to the staff, who didn’t earn a lot of money, who were based in Worcester and whose obsession was that rugby club. The way those people were, basically, forgotten about.

“30 of the players found another route, as did coaches, but the cleaners, the ticket office, those people were left high and dry. That for me was the sad bit.”

For all the talk of Newcastle being the club most likely to follow Worcester, Wasps and London Irish down the road to nowhere, Diamond has welcome news.

Revealing ‘deep conversations’ he has had with owner Semore Kurdi, the Mancunian reveals: “I’ve convinced him it can be a good product.

“I’ve convinced him that with the investment he and I have agreed, which is under the salary cap, we can have a highly competitive team and go back to having nights like they’ve had at Kingston Park in the past.”

Diamond acknowledges that “like every other owner, he was fed up putting money in after Covid”. He adds that “everything has a price” and “I’m sure he would sell if the right person came in”.

But his gut feeling is that a club which last won the Premiership in 1998 will continue – and he fully intends to be there to drive it in the right direction.

Believes in Newcastle

“I really believe in the project here,” Diamond says. “I believe in the northern aspect. I believe that England rugby has been successful in its entirety because more than 60 per cent of those who have pulled on the national jersey have come from the north.”

Don’t expect the tide to turn in the remaining week of Newcastle’s car crash of a campaign which has brought the grand total of five losing bonus points.

“It’s very difficult to motivate people when 25 per cent are leaving and you’re in the last throes of a season with all those negatives,” he concedes.

“I’ve got an under achieving team that’s not been coached well, that has not been led well. But the owner is passionate about the club and I think I can make a difference, even if we’re not going to spend up to cap.

“You don’t need money all the time to get these places running right. I proved that at Sale for a long time, with only 60 per cent of what others were spending on salaries.

“Over the years I’ve got a reputation for being abrasive which, at times, has rubbed people up the wrong way.

“But you need a bit of that when you’re in an underdog scenario. You’ve got to be fighting with the players. You can’t be on the field with them but you can have the same intensity and mentality.

“I sometimes wonder if one day I had a bit of money to work with, how far could I take a team? Then I think, actually I’m one of those guys that with money maybe wouldn’t get it right.

“I’m so used to working with no resource and down at the lower reaches of this competition, I certainly know how to get teams competitive, to get them onside, to get them believing.”

Saudi ‘miscommunication’

Across Toon, Newcastle United have powered their way out of the doldrums helped by Saudi investment and the astute leadership of Eddie Howe. There was understandable excitement therefore in March when a couple of headlines linked Falcons with Saudi money.

“Look, Semore has some connections out there,” Diamond says. “And there was some communication about the Saudi sporting authorities being interested in rugby.

“But I think it was more setting rugby up in Saudi as a base for various things. Possibly there was a bit of miscommunication coming out of the club that we’d gone there to bring an investor in.

“That wasn’t the case. Though it’s not to say that won’t happen in future.”