Newcastle have agreed 'smart' £60m deal amid Everton reveal - Keith Wyness
Newcastle United's new front-of-shirt sponsorship deal with Knox Hydration could lead to a long-term relationship between the two parties.
That is according to former Everton chief executive Keith Wyness, speaking exclusively to Football Insider, who sees potential parallels between the Magpies' new deal and the Toffees' previous 13-year association with Chang.
Newcastle have struck a deal worth £60million for Knox to feature on all of their official kit for the next three seasons, with the South African brand growing constantly.
Wyness believes that the North East outfit have struck a "smart" deal given the new ban on gambling companies as front-of-shirt sponsors, and feels that the partnership could extend beyond the initial three years.
Newcastle will receive £10m from the deal this season, due to the fact that their home kit has already been released without a sponsor in place.
However, they will net £25m in each of the following two campaigns, with Knox then set to reap the full benefits of the agreement.
Newcastle 'disappointed' by £15m hit for 2026-27
Everton’s former chief Wyness – who served as CEO at Goodison Park between 2004 and 2009 and now runs a football consultancy advising elite clubs – believes that Newcastle will be "disappointed" to have missed out on the additional £15m for this season.
Nevertheless, he has encouraged the club to view Knox as a potential long-term partner, and he expects extended partnerships to become more common now that the gambling ban is in place.
Speaking on the latest edition of Football Insider's Inside Track podcast, Wyness emphasised that Knox are an "interesting" company for Newcastle to work with.
"It's not spectacular, but it's solid in terms of the valuation. It's a depressed market with all the betting companies gone, so overall I would say it's a smart deal," he said.
"They'll be disappointed not to have had that extra £15m this season and get it up to £25m. So that's still a big question mark as to how that could have happened.
"It looks like it's a company that wants to have a long-term relationship with Newcastle. And that's what I've really got to encourage clubs to be doing, is looking at having that long-term relationship with sponsors and really understanding their business plan.
"You've really got to try and build that relationship and trust and keep them going as long as you can. At Everton, I had the privilege of one of the longest-running sponsorships in the Premier League with Chang beer from Thailand, and we really got to know the Chang business.
"That saved us so many problems of having to go out and renew sponsorships every few seasons, and so it's so valuable to be able to do that. I hope that Newcastle can do that with Knox because it's an interesting company and they're well placed to be able to do something with them long term."
Finance expert moots Newcastle ownership problems
Former Manchester City financial advisor Stefan Borson told Football Insider last week that there is an issue behind the scenes at Newcastle at the moment.
He suggested that players are seeing growing concerns towards the club's PIF ownership, which he believes is evidenced by the fact that several are trying to engineer exits.
Borson made it clear that the Magpies have "lost their momentum" from previous seasons, and feels that "something is going on" with their ownership.
He noted that the club's Saudi Arabian chiefs have begun to pull back their investment, and feels that is effecting the footballing side of things.