'If I can't turn Falcons around, nobody will' - Diamond

Newcastle Falcons consultant director of rugby Steve Diamond says he is the only person capable of 'turning around' the club's fortunes.

The Falcons lost all 18 of their Premiership matches last season, finishing bottom by 27 points.

"Let's be perfectly blunt and honest, if I can't turn it around, nobody will," he told BBC Radio Newcastle.

They begin the new Premiership season at home to Bristol Bears on Friday 20 September.

Diamond arrived at Kingston Park in February, but the rot had long since set in and he was unable to stop the team from suffering a season whitewash.

However, plans were being put in place to make things better for the new campaign.

The squad has been streamlined and in Diamond's mind made more competitive as the former Sale Sharks and Worcester Warriors director of rugby aims to improve the club's fortunes.

"The most important thing we've done is reduce the squad size from 50 to 38 for various reasons," he said.

"For one, cost if I'm honest, but we don't need a squad that big. You can only play 23 players in a game and I felt we were carrying too much dead wood.

"The facts are brutally honest, 22 players have left and only three have got a Premiership club. We got that bit right.

"The seven or eight that have come in, I wouldn't say they are superstars but they have come with a pedigree of being dominant players in the Premiership and the competitions they have come from.

"And then we have promoted 10 kids from the academy."

In last year's Premiership, there was little to separate most of the teams as they fought for the four play-off spots.

Newcastle were the outlier. The immediate challenge is to ensure that the nine other Premiership sides no longer regard the Falcons as a soft touch.

And it is that mindset that Diamond has been working on during pre-season.

"The attitude of what we've done behind the scenes is, we've managed to gel these lads together," he said.

"We know we're in for a hard season. However, in 32 years of playing and coaching, I've won twice in Newcastle.

"It's a very difficult place to come to if you're highly competitive and that's all I can ask them to be. But I'm pretty sure we will be."