New report suggests PIF may not cough up the money required for Newcastle United's new stadium plans

Newcastle United supporters are waiting patiently to find out what the next steps will be with regards to St James' Park with a wishy-washy date of 'Early 2025' being thrown about last year.

There's a growing belief that the club are leaning, and trying to push fans towards a new stadium rather than a St James' Park redevelopment.

The feeling is that building a new stadium, probably on Leazes Park behind the current ground, would be a much simpler, and likely more of a revenue-generating plan to execute.

There will obviously be resistance due to the storied history of St James' Park and its iconic placement within the city, but there's a feeling that fans are softening based on how difficult it will be to expand St James' Park as is.

There are several issues that need to be sorted before we learn about the new stadium plans

Now that we are in 'early 2025' fans are waiting for another update, but a report from The Athletic has suggested that we may be in for a longer wait than we'd have hoped.

The report claims that talks have yet to commence between the club and key stakeholders, which suggests that they're some way off from communicating anything to the public.

There are issues surrounding whether or not Newcastle United can sell the land on which St James' Park currently sits as the land is managed by the Freemen of Newcastle.

Club insiders fear that the PIF will not allocate the funds required for a new stadium

Those issues are minor compared to the fact that whatever Newcastle choose to do, they will be on a very tight deadline if they want the ground to be used for the 2028 European Championship as the stadium must be ready six months before the commencement of the competition. That gives them three years to go from where we are now - which essentially feels like nowhere - to built and operational. That's a tall ask.

However, the most pressing issue right now is that there's a belief inside the club that the PIF will not be willing to commit the funds required for the renovation/new build.

Those higher up at the club still insist that they will, and we're more inclined to believe those who are in contact with the PIF than those who merely work in some capacity at the club who have heard things while walking the halls.

However, with stories like this coming out now, fans are going to become increasingly anxious, and with that Euro 2028 deadline hanging over the club, the longer this drags on, the less chance there is of making the deadline.

It's time for some leadership, some direction and more importantly, some communication.