New report suggests Newcastle United are leaning heavily towards building £1.2bn stadium next to St James' Park

 · February 4 2025, 17:30
New report suggests Newcastle United are leaning heavily towards building £1.2bn stadium next to St James' Park
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While Newcastle United fans are still waiting for any official word on the next steps surrounding what the club plans to do with St James' Park, details are starting to leak out from the club.

No decision has been made yet which is something the report in The Telegraph is keen to preface their write-up with too, but it does seem like there are two options ready to be discussed.

Those options are to expand the Gallowgate End of St James' Park at a cost of somewhere between £600m-£800 million. That would see the Gallowgate stand extended over where the Strawberry Place road and the problematic East Stand would be left, creating a ground with three large stands and the small east stand.

The other option, which it seems is more likely to get the go-ahead, would be to build an entirely new stadium on Leazes Park which cuts into the existing footprint of St James' Park.

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The two options reportedly being considered by Newcastle United

An expansion would be cheaper and quicker but a new stadium would be better in many other ways

Building a new stadium would move the ground away from the Grade 1 listed buildings allowing it to be built higher than the existing stadium. However, with it moving to Leazes Park, it may prove tricky to acquire permission, but the feeling is that, with the plan only taking up part of Leazes Park, it should grease the wheels with the council.

The new stadium would become the second largest club stadium in the country behind Old Trafford and will set the PIF back a whopping £1.2 billion, twice as much as the St James' Park expansion.

Despite the hefty cost, it's expected that the club will opt for the new stadium, and fans are likely to lean towards that option too as the new ground will remain within the city and will actually dominate the skyline even more than St James' Park does now.

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Hopefully, we will hear something official from the club i

The downside with the new build is that it would be expected to take six or seven years to get done. There's also the question of what will happen to St James' Park during the final stages of the build where the ground intersects with the existing footprint.

Whether the stadium can still be used at a reduced capacity while the Leazes End is demolished and rebuilt is something they will have to work out. The idea of being rehomed for a while has been floated, but the only viable option would be to use Murrayfield Stadium in Edinburgh, which would mean a 120-mile trip for a home game.

With all of these details coming out it does suggest that we may hear something more official soon despite rumours that the 'early 2025' date had been pushed to nearer the end of the season. Fingers crossed we get some official word soon.

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