The adjacent steelworks had closed two years earlier, with it went a workforce and the lifeblood of the licensed club. The future appeared bleak.

Now, it’s a thriving leagues club and entertainment precinct with a major hotel, state-of-the-art gym and aquatic centre as well as the Knights’ headquarters.

The facility is a hive of activity. Money-maker.

That is what Wests do. They take over businesses that are on the bones of their backside and make them successful.

The Knights are on track to collect a third consecutive wooden spoon, the lowest ebb in a proud 30-year history that delivered premierships in 1997 and 2001. 

They have been treading water since the National Rugby League assumed ownership in 2014 after the demise of Nathan Tinkler.

But if Wests’ proposed takeover of the Knights is endorsed by its members, club supremo Phil Gardner is confident – garnering the expertise of the licensed club juggernaut combined with a $13 million annual grant from the NRL  – that the battlers can again fly high.

The ingredients for success are there. The Knights boast the fourth-highest average home crowd (16,606) in the competition, despite winning just four games in two years, and have a developing roster with plenty of tomorrows.

The Wests blueprint is proven. The group, which consists of six major businesses and employs more than 1000 staff, made a profit of $23.2 million last year.

They also have a strong and proud history in rugby league and have supported the Knights to tune of about $17 million since 1998.

Gardner, who has been Wests’ chief executive for 22 years, is adamant the Knights can be a “break-even” operation within five years.

Regardless, there would be no “downside” to Wests’ 120,000 members. Beer prices won’t all of a sudden go up and Wests will continue to support other sporting and community projects.

“Part of our ethos is that we put ‘x’ amount of our profit into sport or charitable groups,” Gardner said. “The long-term view is that we want to do more. We are hoping the members will see this as a great benefit to the community. People who aren’t rugby league supporters can still see the benefit of the Knights to the town.

“Cities need to have a flagship. You need a hero to cheer for and villain to boo at. If Newcastle was to lose the Knights it would diminish Newcastle as a city.”

Wests will not pay a license fee to the NRL or any outstanding debt, however they have committed $10 million towards a Centre of Excellence at District Park, which is likely to be matched by the state government.

“No money Wests puts in will be going out of Newcastle,” Gardner said. “Newcastle has always needed a top-end sporting facility. It would be home to the Knights and also be used by sports across the region. It would be a legacy facility for the whole community.”