Newcastle United edges closer to St James’ decision

The ongoing debate as to whether the club should renovate its much-loved stadium or build a new one appears to have swung in favour of constructing a £1.2bn, 70,000-seat venue next to the current site.

According to Telegraph Sport, while a final decision has not been made by the club’s Board on what to recommend to the club’s owners, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, there seems to be a growing appetite for the new stadium plans.

If the new stadium went ahead, it would be the second-largest club stadium in the country, following Manchester United’s Old Trafford – which is itself leaning towards constructing a new 100,000 seat venue.

Plans seen by the Telegraph show the new stadium’s perimeter overlapping with some of the existing site, leaving most of Leazes Park untouched.

The other option, to expand St James’, would be approximately half the cost of building a new one, although following on from a speech given by Chancellor Rachel Reeves, where she cited the redevelopment of the area around Old Trafford as an example of Labour’s pro-development approach, there have been murmurings around why St James’ wouldn’t receive the same government backing and attention.

The option of building a new stadium on ground the club already owns, overlapping the current site, seems a good compromise for those who were afraid of losing the city centre location but also wanted to expand the club’s capacity in terms of both seats and financial revenue opportunities.

It would also allow Newcastle United to continue to play at St James’ Park while the new stadium is constructed around them, with estimates citing a build-time of six to seven years.

The club has said it will consult fans before making a final decision.