The £1billion St James' Park question - To go or not to go?

Last week saw news coming out of Barrack Road surrounding the ‘once in a generation’ ground proposals that PIF, the Reubens, and the Executive Board are currently considering.

From the i paper it is understood that ‘the first phase of the feasibility study will now remain private due to commercial sensibilities’ and the project options have been presented to a fan advisory board as significant steps forward have been made.

Following on from the Telegraph's claims that a St. James Park redevelopment could cost the club up to a £1billion, there is also an article on the club website regarding the issue. In an interview with COO Brad Miller, which was light on detail but stuffed with effusive ‘need’ to progress due to PSR and ‘investment returns’, we certainly seem to be entering the endgame with regards to the future of the where the club will play its football.

St. James’ Park has been Newcastle United’s home for its entire existence. What was originally a patch of sloping grazing land, only bordered by the Georgian Leazes Terrace, it has become the eighth largest stadium in England (down from third) which multiple generations of fans have strong emotional ties too. You can sense the history around the place: six-times FA Cup winners, Inter-Cities Fairs Cup winners, the Champions League, Shearer and Bobby’s statues, and The Strawberry, in situ since 1859, just across the road.

There is a sense of pride in the cross generational sense that you are watching football in the same place as Joe Harvey, Jackie Milburn and Kevin Keegan did. Add to that the turf has been graced by Paul Gascoigne, Peter Beardsley, Tino Asprilla, and John Anderson amongst hundreds of others and the history is thick, proper and proud.

Redeveloping St. James’ Park would allow all of that history and more, as well as every fans personal history to remain part of the experience, and the journey forward. Throw in the prime city centre location, and if money is truly no object, then personally I would move heaven and Earth to remain on the current site.

Practically however, the site presents many challenges to architects, challenges which can be overcome using modern technology and techniques but infinitely more expensive than the alternatives.

A New Ground in Leazes Park is often floated as a potential solution to Newcastle’s problems but Leazes Park is a public space, and those sorts of amenities shouldn’t be removed from public use. Green spaces are already a dwindling commodity in major cities and the very same proposal was met with 30,000 objections when Sir John Hall proposed the same idea in the’90’s. If some sort of hybrid stadium surrounded by a huge green public space, which offered community assets, solution could be found, that would be ideal, but I personally really can’t campaign for the removal of green city spaces.

A location down by the River Tyne has also been mooted as a potential solution for United although there clearly aren’t many sites available which would be particularly suitable to the club’s needs.

There has also been Twitter/X talk about United needing to build a 100,000-seater stadium. That is an absolute nonsense. Building a stadium that size would far outstrip demand at modern day football ticket prices. Perhaps, if there was a Yellow Wall style stand that seats 40,000 and all the tickets are £20 a pop then definitely, but I just can’t see that being an option the club would consider, although I would love to see them be a trailblazer in this matter, as pricing out younger fans is starting to become a real issue in football.

Ultimately, I feel that 65-70,000 seats would be plenty, and I would want the club to remain on the St. James’ Park site. Call me old fashioned, or a typical season ticket holder, but I would hate to see all that history dumped. Spurs have shown the way with how to stay on the site of your historical home and build a modern super stadium. Architects have said there are ways and means to build a super stadium on the current site, whether it’s rotating the pitch or sinking the bowl around it, it mainly comes down to a matter of cost and the will to make it happen.

No matter what happens, one thing is absolutely clear to me, there is no way to keep everyone happy.