Dickens desperate to serve Newcastle fans with win

Alan Dickens first joined Newcastle as senior coach in July 2024

Newcastle Red Bulls head coach Alan Dickens is desperate to lead his team to a Prem victory to pay back the loyalty of the club's supporters.

Their most recent Prem win was against Saracens on 29 November, 2024 and they have since lost 17 successive games in the competition.

Newcastle host Leicester Tigers at Kingston Park on Friday (19:45 GMT), hoping to avoid an unwanted calendar year of defeats.

"The appetite is certainly here from the supporters who want us to do well," Dickens told BBC Sport.

"The players talk about owing the supporters and giving back to them and they're really in tune with the level of support they get from people up here."

Newcastle's most recent Prem win was against Saracens in November 2024

The arrival of Red Bull as the club's owners has seen Newcastle play in front of two sell-out crowds of more than 10,000 at Kingston Park and another bumper attendance is expected for the visit of the Tigers.

That shows the potential is there if the north-east club gets it right on the pitch, but Dickens wants to reward the loyalty of fans who have endured some very lean times over the past few years.

Stretching back to March 2023, Newcastle have won only two out of 44 Prem fixtures and have been marooned at the bottom of the 10-team league.

Life has been tough for players and supporters, but it is the strength in adversity and the character shown that Dickens has admired most since he moved to Newcastle 16 months ago.

"The club has gone through some tough times over the past five years, which have been well documented," he said.

"Newcastle have gone through their troubles and I take my hat off to the players, certainly last year.

"I know we had some tough games and we think about it being nearly a year since we last won and last year, it was getting on for two years.

"Then we got the wins against Exeter and Saracens at Kingston Park and the emotion that came out there, not just with the players but with the crowd and the staff.

"I take my hat off to the lads who've been here a long time. It could sometimes be too easy to shrug your shoulders and accept it but they don't."