Huge Manchester United Tuesday announcement – Makes new (*)80,000 Newcastle United stadium even more essential | OneFootball

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 official statement (see below) from Old Trafford on Tuesday morning.

Manchester United working on plans for a massive new 100,000 capacity stadium.

This ground only part of an overall regeneration plan for the area around Old Trafford.

Public money to be committed to the overall local infrastructure plans.

This news only makes me even more convinced that Newcastle United needs a new 80,000+ seater stadium ASAP. Talk is that if/when the Newcastle United owners do finally announce plans for a brand new stadium, it will be more like a 70,000 capacity, just under.

It isn’t a case of needing to necessarily have as big a stadium as Manchester United.

More a case of helping the countless Newcastle United fans who struggle to get into St James’ Park AND at the same time help our club to compete on and off the pitch long-term.

I see no reason why Newcastle United can’t be like a hybrid of say Borussia Dortmund and the Premier League. The finances that being a Premier League club can help produce AND our NUFC fanbase capable of matching the 80k capacity that Dortmund fans fill week in week out.

We are repeatedly told that the Newcastle United owners and senior staff have been 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 over 41 months after buying the club, the Newcastle United owners are still waiting to decide what is feasible… is beyond belief.

They need to crack on with their stadium plans and inform the Newcastle United fans what is going to happen.

I am totally convinced that by the time they started over 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.

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.

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 and/or a brand new stadium.

The Manchester United news today is just another push as to why we need a massive new stadium ASAP, 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 (2016/17) 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.

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 brand new state of the art 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, as the recent 2025 Deloitte Football rich list reaffirms (see HERE) and to close that gap, we need massive advances 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 NUFC, 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 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 summer.

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 mentioned Borussia Dortmund, they averaged 81,305 at home last season.

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 next to the current 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.

This new Government when elected, made clear that economic growth was at the heart of their plans AND that they would back as far as possible major investment and development plans around the country, to boost jobs, local regeneration and generation of revenues/taxes.

This includes, a readiness wherever possible to back plans around the country, despite the opposition of some locally. If significant overall benefits, especially economically, can be shown, then the Government making clear that if that can be shown, then they will back those plans despite the opposition by a minority.

I have no doubt that for various reasons, there will be some local opposition to these regeneration plans in the Old Trafford area, but clearly the overwhelming case has been made why any protests have been overruled. Especially with the local council and other public/private bodies supporting the plans.

Just recently, our old mate Mike Ashley was given the local council go ahead (with Government backing) for a huge new Fraser Group (formerly known as Sports Direct) HQ, despite a significant amount of green belt land to be built on.

Spurs got the backing of Enfield Council to build a big new training centre for their women’s team set-up, this to be built on existing parkland but Tottenham providing additional investment to improve the overall area.

I am absolutely confident that if indeed the current Newcastle United owners are ambitious, if they commit to a brand new 80,000+ state of the art stadium in the Leazes Park/Castle Leazes area. That if it has the backing of Newcastle City Council, The Freemen and the people of the region (with the exception of a relative handful of protestors), then the Government will give their backing to help make it happen, as well as committing public funds to help pay for things such as the transport infrastructure to support a brand new stadium development for Newcastle United.

Manchester United official announcement – 11 March 2025:

Manchester United has thrown its support behind the Government’s growth agenda by announcing its intention to pursue a new 100,000-seater stadium as the centrepiece of the regeneration of the Old Trafford area.

The stadium, and wider regeneration project, have the potential to deliver an additional £7.3bn per year to the UK economy which brings large-scale social and economic benefits to the community and wider region, including the possible creation of 92,000 new jobs, more than 17,000 new homes as well as driving an additional 1.8 million visitors annually.

Conceptual images and scaled models of what the new stadium and surrounding area could look like were unveiled on Tuesday by Foster + Partners, the architecture group appointed to design the stadium district. These will provide a masterplan for more detailed feasibility, consultation, design and planning work as the project enters a new phase.

Sir Jim Ratcliffe, co-owner of Manchester United, said:

“Today marks the start of an incredibly exciting journey to the delivery of what will be the world’s greatest football stadium, at the centre of a regenerated Old Trafford.

“Our current stadium has served us brilliantly for the past 115 years, but it has fallen behind the best arenas in world sport. By building next to the existing site, we will be able to preserve the essence of Old Trafford, while creating a truly state-of-the-art stadium that transforms the fan experience, only footsteps from our historic home.

“Just as important is the opportunity for a new stadium to be the catalyst for social and economic renewal of the Old Trafford area, creating jobs and investment, not just during the construction phase, but on a lasting basis when the stadium district is complete. The Government has identified infrastructure investment as a strategic priority, particularly in the north of England, and we are proud to be supporting that mission with this project of national, as well as local, significance.”

Omar Berrada, chief executive of Manchester United, said:

“Our long-term objective as a club is to have the world’s best football team playing in the world’s best stadium. We are grateful for the feasibility work done by the Old Trafford Regeneration Task Force exploring options for the future of Old Trafford.

“We have carefully considered its findings, together with the views of thousands of fans and local residents and concluded that a new stadium is the right way forward for Manchester United and our surrounding community. We will now embark on further consultation to ensure that fans and residents continue to be heard as we move towards final decisions.”

The most successful manager in English football history, Sir Alex Ferguson, said: “Manchester United should always strive for the best in everything it does, on and off the pitch, and that includes the stadium we play in. Old Trafford holds so many special memories for me personally, but we must be brave and seize this opportunity to build a new home, fit for the future, where new history can be made.”

Lord Norman Foster, Founder and Executive Chairman, Foster + Partners, said:

“This has to be one of the most exciting projects in the world today, with incredible regional and national significance. It all starts with the fans’ experience, bringing them closer than ever to the pitch and acoustically cultivating a huge roar.

“The stadium is contained by a vast umbrella, harvesting energy and rainwater, and sheltering a new public plaza that is twice the size of Trafalgar Square. The outward-looking stadium will be the beating heart of a new sustainable district, which is completely walkable, served by public transport, and endowed by nature. It is a mixed-use miniature city of the future – driving a new wave of growth and creating a global destination that Mancunians can be proud of.”

Lord Sebastian Coe, chair of the Old Trafford Regeneration Task Force, said:

“Today marks an important step forward in what I firmly believe can be the biggest and most exciting urban regeneration project in the UK since the 2012 London Olympics. I am proud to have helped lay the groundwork as chair of the Old Trafford Regeneration Task Force over the past year and would like to thank my fellow members for their contributions.

“Our exploratory work is now complete, and we will hand over responsibility to Manchester United for delivery of the stadium, and the Mayoral Development Corporation to drive forward the wider regeneration.”

Andy Burnham, mayor of Greater Manchester, said:

“Our common goal on the Task Force has been to try to unlock the full power of the club for the benefit of its supporters and for Greater Manchester as a whole – creating thousands of new homes and jobs. If we get this right, the regeneration impact could be bigger and better than London 2012. Manchester United could, and indeed should, have the best football stadium in the world.

“To me, that means a stadium that is true to the traditions of the club, affordable to all, with nobody priced out, and a stadium that sets new standards in the game globally. I believe this vision can be realised, and if so, the benefits for Greater Manchester, the north west and the country will be huge.”