“THERE’S nothing keeping me awake at night - well maybe Rafa Benitez not getting enough money to spend on transfers.”

Davey Laws has a twinkle in his eye.

It was perhaps inevitable an interview with a former football referee, who lists matches at Wembley and Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium on his CV, would make mention of the Beautiful Game.

However, far from being a throwaway line, Mr Laws’ nod to a desired loosening of Newcastle United’s purse strings is a reflection of his outlook on life.

Mr Laws is a man at ease in his new surroundings. Last year he stepped down as chief executive at Newcastle Airport after 37 years’ service, with his announcement coming as a genuine shock to staff and the wider regional business community, which he spent two years championing as North East England Chamber of Commerce president. The ex-fireman once took a pay cut to join the corporate team, such was his desire to climb the ladder, and was at the helm during numerous years of passenger number growth.

He helped bolster those figures with new holiday and city services alongside Emirates’ blue-chip Dubai flights, and spent millions on a refreshed departure lounge too.

Now, however, the scene is different. Sitting at the end of a table in his new office, Mr Laws, who took on an advisory role with Newcastle Airport shareholder AMP Capital in the immediate months after his departure, leans forward to explain his vision.

He wants to improve Leeds Bradford’s terminal and take passenger numbers to five million over the next three years, adding he hopes to increase choice for people living across County Durham and Teesside.

That will come, he said, by revitalising the airport’s European and international services, and the work has already started.

In September our sister publication, The Northern Echo, revealed bosses had agreed a new German deal to continue Dusseldorf flights.

At the time, Mr Laws said those services, taken on by Flybe after Jet2 ended a long-running agreement, would be a catalyst for greater commercial demand at the site thanks to the city’s status as a global business and financial centre.

But, such is the ambition of the man, who once had to play peacemaker when Gordon Strachan got a little hot under the collar during Alan Shearer’s testimonial at St James’ Park, that he has refused to rule out potential new domestic flights, as well as further routes to Germany, Italy and Scandinavia, as he embarks on improving the base’s offering to commercial and holiday passengers.

He has now secured an operator deal with Thomas Cook, which will provide new routes to Turkey, Tunisia, Cyprus and Spain’s Balearic Islands.

Mr Laws said Cook’s arrival will be a major fillip for the airport and travellers following the recent collapse of carrier Monarch, which ran services from Leeds Bradford.

He has also thrashed out an arrangement with Jet2 to deliver thousands of seats for winter holidays to Tenerife, with Ryanair and Tui agreeing to provide further services.

To help him on his quest, Mr Laws has recruited aviation development director Chris Sanders, with the duo well acquainted after years together at Newcastle Airport. “It’s about raising the awareness of the airport and there is a phenomenal catchment area here,” said Mr Laws. I knew it had potential but I didn’t know just how much. Leeds is the third biggest city in the UK and right next door you have got Bradford, a city in its own right too.

“We’ve had great backing from the councils too. At Newcastle, I got 1.2 million people through the Metro and the opportunity here for the trains is immense too. If you can create the right infrastructure, why would people want to go across the M62 to Manchester?

“The next thing is to review the strategy and that will include me working with Chris, who is one of the top people in the UK when it comes to working with airlines.

“He knows Yorkshire by working with GNER and we’ve got someone here now who the airlines trust, which is a real bonus. We have started on the customer journey, which starts when they enter the airport.

“We have reduced security times and we are going to change the culture here as well. We want people to be relaxed when they are going through the terminal and enjoy their time in the airport, and we are on the road to change that for the better.

“I want us to roll out a new identity and approach to how we treat customers and that will include better security processes with more lanes and scanners.” That terminal work, will, said Mr Laws, take at least two years.

However, once finished, he said it will give travellers a new experience, with bigger and better lounges and areas deliberately demarcated for families, couples and party-goers to enjoy in their own ways.

“That will get people feeling that the airport is moving in the right direction,” he said.

“We want a terminal building that can cope with seven to eight million passengers a year.

“We fly to more than 70 destinations but there are lots of areas that are untapped.

“We are not doing any real long-haul flights, and we have to be selective but there is no reason why we cannot do a Pakistan flight or the Middle East flight and Orlando.

“But there is a lot to do in terms of Europe too. There should be scope to go to demarcated for families, couples and party-goers to enjoy in their own ways.”

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“That will get people feeling that the airport is moving in the right direction,” he said. “We want a terminal building that can cope with seven to eight million passengers a year.

“We fly to more than 70 destinations but there are lots of areas that are untapped. We are not doing any real long-haul flights, and we have to be selective but there is no reason why we cannot do a Pakistan flight or the Middle East flight and Orlando. But there is a lot to do in terms of Europe too.There should be scope to go to Scandinavia and more scope to go further in Germany and Italy.

Dusseldorf is one of them and we have got to get to Berlin and Frankfurt. For the financial side to prosper, we need more than Dusseldorf.

“Jet2 have done us a great favour in doing Paris but we have to look at how we strengthen our commitment to services like that. There are also some UK destinations missing. It’s all about getting out there with businesses and understanding what they are doing and what is coming up so we can work with them to bring some of these additional routes. Yorkshire is a very affluent area, so you’ve got to be catering for that side of the market too. I have been in the aviation industry for a long time but I’ve never been as excited over what can be achieved here.

“Having did what we did at Newcastle, if we can do the same for Leeds Bradford, I think everyone will be delighted.”

That legacy runs deep and Mr Laws is quick to play down suggestions it may be undone if Leeds Bradford increases its presence as a potential rival.

He said: “Why would I want to do that? I spent 35 years-plus of my life there.

“My competition is from Manchester. We have got to start looking at why people are going there. People don’t want the old seven or 14-day holidays like they once did; they want eight, nine, ten, eleven days.There is a real willingness to engage with us. What a great position to be in; you can turn left or right on the A1 and you will have a good choice. Yorkshire goes all the way up to Yarm, people are going to be spoilt for choice.

“Newcastle will continue to develop and if we can get Leeds Bradford to come out of the shadows, everyone will be delighted.”

His confidence is infectious, but for someone once charged with making the big decisions on a football field as players and the crowd scrutinised ever toot of his whistle, it shouldn’t come as a surprise.

He’s known Alan Shearer for years, but he was close to Sir Bobby Robson and Brian Clough, with his time in the middle also putting him in contact with World Cup referee George Courtney.

A hip injury put paid to hopes of being a footballer, but, as he recovered, Mr Laws did his referee exams at 14 and got his FA coaching badges soon after. Work with Manchester City came from the latter, as did the beginnings of soaking up managerial practice and advice, which he still uses to this day.

He said: “I wanted to play football, but my hip injury saw to that. I did my coaching, spending a lot of my time with Cloughie, taking youngsters down to Nottingham Forest. I got to know him and his backroom staff and witnessed first-hand some of his styles, which were forthright to say the least.

“Sir Bobby was another, though he had many strings to his bow. He was a gentleman and could tell when he needed to be forthright, when he needed to put an arm around someone or when someone needed to be cajoled.

“I remember a time at the airport when Craig Bellamy was getting upset. Sir Bobby saw this and asked if they could go airside. The three of us did so and went to the place they’d be flying from. He was telling him ‘you are going to score the winning goal’ and things like that. It was all about getting Craig onside; it was a lot harder for him to go home from there.

“It was brilliant what Sir Bobby did; he was an unbelievable person and a big influence on me. I always remember too when I got on the national list of referees. George Courtney, who used to call me Lawsy, said to me: ‘Now you’re on the list, don’t change. You’re here on the back of what you’ve done. I went through the local leagues fairly quickly and I’m proud I came up through the Northern League.

“Within that was Mike Amos, Northern League chairman, and I remember my times in the league with him. These people are North-East icons.”

Being a referee, says Mr Laws, also helped when learning how to deal with people and create a team atmosphere. In that role, it wasn’t just the professionals he kept in check. Alongside an appointment to be fourth official at Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium in 2001, when Bolton Wanderers defeated Preston North End 3-0 in the Division One play-off final, he was the man in the middle for the last FA Vase final at the old Wembley, in 2000, as Deal Town beat Chippenham Town.

Fascinating football-related tales pour out of him, such as his memory of being the fourth official at Shearer’s testimonial against Celtic.

He added: “My thing with players was communication; if I had used my yellow card I thought I’d failed.

“I always tried to be preventative and if there was a decision a manager didn’t like I’d always go and have a look at it again. If I’d got it wrong, I’d call them on the Monday morning and apologise. It gave me credibility and they knew I was honest.”

Sometimes, however, there was a need to bend the rules ever so slightly.

“I was fourth official at Alan’s testimonial at St James’ Park,” said Mr Laws. “He’d been injured the week before in a tackle with Sunderland’s Julio Arca.

However, we agreed with Gordon Strachan (Celtic’s manager at that time) that Alan could come on in the last five minutes, that there would be a penalty and that he would take it.“But on the night when Celtic were winning, Gordon came marching up to me - he wasn’t too keen on the idea anymore!”

He may be referring to his time on the football field, but he is equally confident off it.

I have been there and I have done it,” he added.

“Being able to tap into my vast experience and my previous ability to deliver will help us here at Leeds Bradford.

“I would rather come to an airport that needs working on than one that is perceived to be finished.

“I love nothing more than getting my hands dirty and getting stuck in, and that is very much what I intend to do here.

“There are a lot of things ahead but there’s nothing that is keeping me awake at night, well maybe Rafa Benitez not getting enough money to spend on transfers.”