Newcastle issue St James' Park update - 'This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity'

Newcastle United's chief operating officer Brad Miller has offered an update on the club's  “overwhelming commitment" to expand St James' Park - or build a brand new stadium elsewhere - and our owner's "ambition to invest."

In his first major interview following his appointment in June, Miller confirms that the club are “working through the last couple of questions" of a feasibility study, which looks into the practicality, cost and possibility of expanding at St James' Park, along with our options if we opted to move elsewhere.

It's believed Newcastle's 'overwhelming preference' is to expand our current 52,000-capacity stadium, but all options are being explored as the listed buildings around our current home present real challenges.

Miller admits that a decision on our next steps is imminent and apologises to fans for the delay, but insists this is a "once-in-a-generation opportunity" and a decision the club are determined to get right before writing big cheques.

Speaking to the i's Mark Douglas, our new COO said: “Darren [Eales, chief executive] has gone on record previously to say ‘Look it’s imminent’ but it really, truly is in terms of next steps [and] what direction we’re going to be taking.

"There's a lot for us to think about and that's why we are, maybe frustratingly for people, taking our time to make sure that our next steps are going to be the right ones.

"Whilst we've got the ability to invest and the commitment and the ambition to invest from the ownership, we only want to write that cheque once. We want to make sure we get it absolutely right for everybody that's involved with the Club.

"We're still working through the last couple of questions. It’d be remiss of me to go early and cut across that but what I will say is that [Stack] is just an indication of the ambition and the commitment and the dedication that the ownership and everybody within the club has got, not just to Newcastle United, but to the region as well.

“We hope it’s representative and a little bit of a hint to what we’re hoping to achieve into the future. The stadium investment is genuinely a once-in-a-generation opportunity and we want to make sure that we get that right.

“I think we’re doing that against the backdrop of, in the UK, we haven’t got a great track record of delivering really big projects, delivering [them] on time, successfully and making sure they work right from the absolute outset.”

Miller then discussed PIF’s huge ambitions and commitment to invest: “What I can definitely say is that one of the reasons that I joined the club is because there seems to be such an overwhelming commitment and ambition to invest.

“To give a cast iron guarantee that [the stadium] definitely will happen, it is not my cash. So all I can say is that I’m not putting myself in comparison to the fans because they are so emotionally invested and I’ve only just started to move to the area so I don’t want to cut across all of that history and that heritage.

“I want to be respectful of it, but I’m changing my life and my family’s life, and we’re moving to the area and we’re really committing. So if that’s any indication, that’s how I feel about it personally, and the ownership and the board’s ambition about what they want to do in terms of investment, I hope that gives a little bit of a reflection of what I see.

“Now, when we get on with it, it is going to be a really big cheque that’s going to be written, so they want to make sure that we are doing it correctly and that it’s doing the right things, whether that be supporting the football, doing the right thing by the fans.

“Have we got the ability to uplift the capacity? Is it going to actually make a return so we can continue to invest in the club?”