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Whilst we are all still waiting for news on what Newcastle United are planning on doing, a new Manchester United update on their stadium plans.
This comes via an exclusive from The Athletic (see below).
They report that Manchester United are now working on plans for a 100,000 capacity stadium.
The idea would be to build a brand new state of the art stadium next to the current Old Trafford.
If going ahead with this idea, it would mean the new 100,000 seater stadium could be built with no disruption to the current Old Trafford site and capacity. Allowing for a smooth transition without fans experiencing problems in the meantime, such as a cut in capacity to allow rebuilding work on the current site.
This news only makes me even more convinced that Newcastle United needs a new 80,000+ seater stadium ASAP.
We are repeatedly told that the Newcastle United owners and senior staff are looking at/waiting for feasibility plans on expanding St James’ Park and/or a brand new stadium.
This just doesn’t ring true at all.
For anybody to believe that 34 months after buying the club, the Newcastle United owners are still waiting to hear what is feasible… is beyond belief.
I am totally convinced that by the time they started some five years ago the process of trying to buy Newcastle United from Mike Ashley, the then-prospective Newcastle United owners would have already known all the possibilities regarding extending St James’ Park and or building a brand new stadium on a different site.
To claim that they still don’t know what is and isn’t possible isn’t credible.
This is the Saudi Arabia PIF and the financial power they wield in terms of able to pay for the best possible advice and quickly!
Then their junior partners the Reuben family, one of the very richest families in the UK and their £25bn fortune mostly built on construction and property development projects, not least in Newcastle Upon Tyne and the region in general. At this moment in time, it feels like half of the city centre is getting redeveloped by the Reubens! Which is of course separate to what is happening with the football club.
You would need to be naive in the extreme if you believed that between them, they are still waiting for answers on St James’ Park.
My belief is that they have no intention whatsoever of redeveloping St James’ Park. To add only around 8,000 seats would cost a relative fortune and cause massive disruption.
My only hope is that whilst nothing has been made public, the Newcastle United owners have been secretly making big strides on plans to deliver a brand new 80,000+ seater stadium.
The Manchester United news today is just another push as to why we need a massive new stadium, that is if we want Newcastle United to have any chance of competing long-term AND for tens of thousands more fans able to see their team each home match.
I can’t comprehend how anybody can’t see the need for a much larger capacity and the belief that the fans couldn’t fill it.
Newcastle United fans filled a 52,000+ capacity St James’ Park across 23 home matches in the Championship and that was when Mike Ashley was still here, fans filled the stadium in that second-tier campaign simply because Rafa Benitez gave us a little bit of hope by staying.
Trying to get tickets match by match as members is nearly impossible on any kind of significant basis. I was just counting up earlier and of eight members I know who applied (for a number of tickets each in their application) for Southampton, only one was successful in the ballot.
Imagine if we were ever even reasonably successful???
How can any Newcastle United fan write off the hopes of the fans of the future ever getting to watch their team, unless they have family and friend connections who currently have season tickets?
As for the Newcastle United owners, for absolutely sure they must know they need a massive new stadium to compete. To get far more normal fans in, as well as new increased capacity purpose built state of the art hospitality facilities, that meet modern expectations.
We all know that the self-appointed six-club elite are already a massive distance ahead of Newcastle United financially and to close that, we need massive advance at NUFC. Success on the pitch AND successful moves off it.
Tottenham’s new stadium was a game-changer for them, without it there is no way they could have hoped to compete in the future. You can also say that with Arsenal and their Emirates stadium built years earlier. Plus those two have the added bonus of being based in London and charging London prices for hospitality and normal seats. Chelsea is the same in terms of London-based but they and Man City getting rich owners piling ridiculous money in before the rules suddenly changed when Newcastle United came on the scene. Liverpool have massively expanded their stadium and were already miles ahead of Liverpool, especially with finances.
All of the above happening at other clubs whilst Newcastle United had a wasted decade and a half of Mike Ashley doing anything but build for the long-term, well, apart from his personal bank balance!
I find it amazing that some fans who say we need to stay at St James’ Park no matter what the limitations on expanding capacity, are then also often the same ones kicking off because Newcastle United aren’t making numerous expensive signings. The desperate need to seriously grow the club revenues has been massively highlighted by the PSR shortfall that forced the £68m combined sales of young talent Yankuba Minteh and Elliot Anderson only last month.
The only way to ever properly compete with those who have enjoyed such a march on us, is to grow the Newcastle United revenues to a serious degree. A new 80,000+ seater stadium is key to this, in my opinion.
I have always seen Newcastle United as a club that can be a bit of a one-off, a Bundesliga/Premier League hybrid.
Take advantage of the kind of revenues that pour into the Premier League BUT also have the passion and numbers of fans that a club such as Borussia Dortmund get, they averaged 81,305 at home last season.
I don’t think an out of town new stadium is the answer and instead, like others have put forward, I am sure that with everybody (club, fans, council, the freemen, local businesses, local population in general) pushing together, a brand new 80,000+ stadium can be built just hundreds of yards north of St James’ Park, taking in part of Leazes Park and/or Castle Leazes.
I think the case would be overwhelming for such a massive new stadium to overcome any objections, in terms of for the overall good of the city/region, not just Newcastle United and the fanbase. Anybody living near Leazes Park/Castle Leazes made the conscious decision to live within hundreds of yards of Newcastle United and it would simply be a case of that gap closing for some.
The Athletic report on Manchester United now planning a new 100,000 seater stadium – 29 July 2024:
‘Manchester United working on plans to build new 100,000-seater stadium at Old Trafford
Manchester United will aim to build a 100,000-seater stadium should the club press ahead with plans to move to a new Old Trafford.
The six-figure capacity is seen as a realistic number designed to future-proof the ground given high demand for tickets.
The joint task force set up to explore options for Old Trafford has assessed redevelopment but is currently focusing attentions on what a new build might look like and how it could be financed, having concluded — initially at this stage — that is the best way to transform the fan experience.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s preference is also for a stadium built from scratch, rather than renovation, and United believe doing so on land owned by the club adjacent to the current ground is feasible, meaning the team could continue to play at Old Trafford through the construction work.
A crucial question to answer remains on financing. All possibilities are being considered, including Ratcliffe providing funding, naming rights for sponsorship, and the club borrowing money, albeit United are aware of the toxicity around debt after years of Glazer ownership.
There will be community engagement too on a project that United believe can regenerate the wider area.
United figures including chief executive Omar Berrada and chief operating officer Collette Roche, who is on the task force and has been leading on stadium plans for the last two years, are in Los Angeles and getting a firsthand view of how a new stadium can provide the catalyst for further development.
United believe there is also an opportunity to link Old Trafford and Wharfside with MediaCity on the other side of Salford Quays to create a major economic and social hub.’
