THIS has not been an auspicious start to the year for North-East sport, with Newcastle United’s takeover going nowhere, Sunderland boss Chris Coleman admitting his club does not have a penny to spend and Hartlepool United on the brink of administration. However, away from the football field, one of the region’s clubs is penning a success story that shows no signs of stopping. Indeed, if anything, the best could still be to come.

Last weekend, Newcastle Falcons beat reigning champions Exeter Chiefs to move back into the top half of the Aviva Premiership table. In front of a crowd of more than 7,000 at a rocking Kingston Park, Dean Richards’ side recorded their sixth straight win in all competitions. They are the in-form team in the country, with their brand of expansive, attacking rugby winning admirers across the land. It might be a different sport, but the ‘Entertainers’ have returned to the banks of the Tyne.

The North-East might be portrayed as a football-obsessed region, but Newcastle boasts a rugby pedigree to be proud of. Twenty years ago, Sir John Hall latched on to the possibilities of the professional game far quicker than any of his contemporaries, with his cheque book bankrolling a remarkable couple of years that saw Falcons win the Premiership title in their first season after winning promotion from the Second Division.

It was a rise that could not last. Other clubs, bigger and more established, began to outspend Newcastle, and with Hall quickly moving on after an initial burst of success, Falcons found themselves battling for survival.

They were relegated in 2012, but rather than being the beginning of the end, their demotion sparked a rebuilding project that has steadily driven the club to the position it finds itself in today. Dean Richards was appointed as director of rugby in 2012, securing promotion back to the Premiership at the first time of asking. Twelve months earlier, Jordanian-Geordie Semore Kurdi had taken over as chairman, buying a majority stake from former chief Dave Thompson. Together, the duo have transformed a club that can currently claim to be the most successful in the whole of North-East sport.

How have they done it? Through a combination of astute investment, bold decision-making and gradual growth that should be a template for others to follow. On and off the field, Falcons’ long-term approach to pursuing improvement has reaped impressive results.

Kurdi has been the key to their success, and as with so many other sporting investors, it is no exaggeration to claim that Falcons would almost certainly not exist in their current form had it not been for the businessman’s largesse.

There are no precise figures for the amount of money Kurdi has personally pumped into the club since taking control, but he probably wouldn’t have an awful lot of change from £10m. The most recent accounts released by Newcastle Rugby Limited – the company that owns Falcons and the Newcastle Thunder rugby league side - revealed an annual loss of £2.1m. Turnover had increased, largely thanks to an increase in attendances of around 40 per cent in the space of three years, but this remains a club that loses money. Kurdi plugs the gaps.

He works closely with Mick Hogan, Falcons’ managing director, but the pair are not simply tipping their money into a gaping black hole without a plan. Their most significant move was to buy back Kingston Park from Northumbria University and enter into a relationship with the university that has proved mutually beneficial, and the purchase of the ground has enabled a string of improvements that have been integral to Falcons’ recent success.

A new flagship 1877 Bar was built, with existing facilities undergoing major renovations, and supporters have been encouraged to buy in to the ‘community club’ ethos that Kurdi has been keen to cultivate. Free curries after a match-day, specially-themed cask ales in the clubhouse bar, players mingling with supporters after a game. Relatively small things, but all amounting to a renewal of the bond between club and fan.

Perhaps the most significant investment was the money that was ploughed into the installation of an artificial 3G pitch a couple of summers ago. Kingston Park used to be a barren, windswept place, with its rutted pitch mitigating against adventurous, running rugby. Now, the ground is one of the best in the country, with its artificial turf enabling Falcons’ players to take the ball in hand no matter what the wilds of the North-East weather are throwing at them.

That is where Richards comes in. The former England international might well have been dismissed in the two or three seasons after promotion, when Falcons were involved in a series of fraught battles against relegation, but unlike many football-club owners, Kurdi opted against a knee-jerk reaction. His faith has been royally rewarded.

Richards is widely-acknowledged to be one of the most astute coaches currently working in English rugby, and the 54-year-old has been the driving force behind Falcons’ improvements on the field in the last 18 months.

Newcastle have always boasted a productive academy, benefiting from a large geographical area that encompasses Cumbria and the Borders as well as the North-East and North Yorkshire. In the past, though, talented youngsters have flown the nest as soon as they have been linked with potential international recognition. Now, the likes of Will Welch and Mark Wilson are identified early and tied down to four or five-year deals that make them much harder to poach.

To supplement their home-grown talent, Falcons have successfully mined the international market, with a special focus on Pacific Island players, who do not tend to be called away by their countries during the domestic season. Sonatane Takulua is arguably the best scrum-half currently operating in the Premiership, while winger Sinoti Sinoti would grace any team playing in the Champions Cup.

Upheaval has been kept to a minimum, with the days when Falcons would have to change up to a dozen of their players during the off season thankfully long gone. Today, two or three carefully-selected summer additions are all that is required to supplement the squad. They might have the smallest wage bill in the Premiership, but Falcons are successfully punching above their weight.

Last season, they recorded their highest league position in 11 seasons as they finished eighth in the Premiership. This term, sights are set even higher, with Champions Cup qualification a realistic aspiration with nine more league games to play.

If you make the right decisions, you can achieve profound and long-lasting success. Where Newcastle Falcons are leading, it would be nice to think that other North-East sport clubs might follow.