There were, he says, “lots of moments” like that. It wasn’t a very nice feeling, having to worry about getting from A to B. It was just part of my world.
I had to be more aware of my surroundings and what I was doing.” Ameobi’s “A” was often the family home, situated within a few pitch lengths of Newcastle’s St James’ Park, and “B” was frequently the club’s then Benwell base, where he would head for academy training. The likelihood is that some of those he fled from while wearing a club tracksuit subsequently cheered him. Since July, Ameobi has been Newcastle’s head of corporate affairs, after seven years as the loans coordinator.
His role is to lead on “strategic external engagement” to ensure “we’re doing things that are valuable not only to us as a football club but to the region. We want to make this club the heartbeat of this city. But by being the heartbeat of the city, I think it’s making sure that we integrate well into everything the city is about, whether that’s civically, whether that’s through our sport or through our community engagement.” Ameobi’s job switch followed the 100-day review conducted by the CEO, David Hopkinson.
At the end of a preliminary discussion, Hopkinson told Ameobi to take the weekend to consider things. But Ameobi, while grateful for the “level of trust and commitment”, pushed back, wanting to consider what the role would look like in practice. Six months and plentiful discussions later, he accepted.
For Ameobi the leap to an executive position was not as huge as it might appear. He started his previous role in the Mike Ashley days and built that department “from nothing”, he says. Its successes include implementing the No Room for Racism action plan in 2021 – this weekend marks the second of two match rounds this month dedicated to the initiative – and the pilot launch of the player to executive pathways scheme in 2022.
The scheme is designed to help those from underrepresented groups into executive roles and Ameobi was part of the initial seven-strong cohort. That gave me a little bit of confidence, if I’m honest, more than anything, to go: ‘Actually, a lot of the things I’m already doing actually translate into that world.’ “One of the biggest things was working in a pressurised environment, which is what I’ve done for 20 years, and learning how that can really help you in those moments when things get a little squirrelly, when they aren’t going as planned.” Completing the programme fuelled a fire in Ameobi that had flickered for two decades. In November 2006, having struggled with a hip injury for several years, he had career-saving surgery.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
