Alan Dickens joins coaching set-up at Newcastle Falcons
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Alan Dickens joins coaching set-up at Newcastle Falcons
Newcastle Falcons are delighted to announce the appointment of Alan Dickens as senior coach of the club.
Dickens joins Steve Diamond’s coaching team from Leicester Tigers, where he spent the 2023/24 season as their attack and backs coach.
Prior to his role at Leicester, the former scrum-half was head coach of England Under-20s, holding the position for four years.
Most notably, Dickens spent over a decade as part of the coaching team at Northampton Saints, including roles within the club’s academy programme, attack and defence.
The 48-year-old also enjoyed a distinguished career as a professional player, featuring for Sale Sharks, Leeds Carnegie, Saracens and Northampton Saints.
Speaking on the latest addition to his coaching team and his former colleague, director of rugby Steve Diamond said: “I’m delighted to welcome Alan to Newcastle Falcons.
“His extensive experience in both playing and coaching in the Premiership will be invaluable as we strive to compete at the highest level.
“Alan embodies the mentality we are instilling throughout the club, from the coaching staff to the players, and more importantly, understands the challenge that lies ahead.
“His commitment to hard work will be crucial in helping us achieve our goal of becoming a highly respected Premiership team.”
Relishing his move to Tyneside and a link-up with Diamond once more, Dickens said: “I've known Steve since around 2001 when I first became a professional rugby player, and since then we’ve had a handful of opportunities to work together.
“He’s somebody that I hold in high regard, and when he approached me for the position it was a no-brainer. It’s certainly an exciting time for the club.
“I’ll be taking on the role of a senior coach at the Falcons, overseeing both attack and defence.
“I know there’s a strong group of coaches at the club who are very loyal, such as Micky Ward, Mark Laycock and James Ponton, who are local people to the club, and then there’s Tom Williams, an enthusiastic young coach. So it’ll be great to get settled in and work with them for the new season.”
Reflecting on last year’s league campaign, Dickens remained optimistic about what lies ahead.
He said: “I think when you look at the results in their entirety, yes, they were disappointing, but a lot of those, certainly at home, were close, hard-fought games; they just came out on the wrong side of the results.
“From what I saw of the Falcons last year they were very competitive, certainly at home, and weren’t far off getting the results they worked so hard for.”
Delving into his previous role of England U20s and the importance of player development, Dickens added: “It’s well known that Newcastle produces a lot of quality players through their academy, and when Dimes spoke to me about bringing those players through and giving them the chance, it’s certainly something that I’m looking forward to.
“I really enjoyed my role with England U20s, it was extremely rewarding and the fact that Dimes wants to encourage younger players by bringing them through the academy and mould them into first-team players, is really pleasing to see.”
Despite the poor results, one constant at Newcastle Falcons was the incredible support from the fans, which didn’t go unnoticed by the club’s latest addition:
“I came up last year and watched the Quins game, and the overriding feeling I had when I left to catch the Metro was the number of fans and supporters that the Falcons get from the local people,” said Dickens.
“It’s pleasing to see Newcastle do so well in that area and that it’s not just the players on the pitch, it’s the whole club that the supporters clearly want to get behind.”
Signing off with comments on what to expect over the next few weeks of pre-season, Dickens added:
“From my point of view, everything that we’ll work towards will be team-focused and that’s very much what Steve is looking for as well.
“From the coaches to the playing squad, we all want to be working towards and building an even more close-knit environment, aligning everything so that it’s reflected in a full team performance on the pitch.
“I’m very much a team player and I think that’s vital for us if we want to be successful.”
The appointment of Dickens follows several personnel changes for the club from last season, including 11 new signings in Brive centre Sammy Arnold, Glasgow flanker Tom Gordon, Edinburgh prop Luan de Bruin, Gloucester wing/centre Alex Hearle, Sale Sharks centre Connor Doherty, Leicester Tigers fly-half Kieran Wilkinson, Sale Sharks flanker Cameron Neild, Doncaster Knights back Jack Metcalf and England Students trio Max Pepper, Callum Hancock and Connor Hancock.
Five talented local players also step up to the senior academy with the signings of centre Rhys Beeckmans, scrum-half Joe Davis, fly-half Junior Newton, back-rower Reuben Parsons and fellow back-rower Charlie Turnbull.
