Interested to see these costings for a brand new stadium or redeveloped St James’ Park | OneFootball

A few issues have cropped up that have caught my attention in recent weeks and as a Newcastle United fan, made me feel appalled, excited, confused, frustrated and proud in turn.

I dealt with the “appalled” when I had my rant about the match day thread negativity – especially as directed towards Sean Longstaff – a couple of weeks ago.

I’m pleased to say that it seems to have been the low point of the fledgling season and, even despite the poor result at Fulham, things have steadily improved since. Especially with the performance against Manchester City.

This brings me to the “excited” bit.

Not just because of the eventual performance on the pitch, but the long awaited first start in almost a year for our “Italian Stallion”, Sandro Tonali. Rarely has a Second Coming been so eagerly demanded and anticipated and the lad didn’t disappoint.

Strangely, Mrs Lass and myself had a sort of premonition of his arrival whilst on holiday in his homeland last month. We were waiting for a ferry to cross Lake Garda from Sirmione to Desenzano and it was late! A huge queue was building up behind us and one or two people were becoming fractious (sound familiar?). It wasn’t actually 10 months in the waiting but it certainly seemed it. Suddenly, a dot appeared on the horizon and tensions began to ease. Then the premonition.

As the boat came nearer Mrs Lass suddenly grabbed my arm and said, “My God – look at its name!”. Yes, “steaming up” to save the day for everyone was the SS Tonale! (Well, the signwriter obviously couldn’t spell)

Tonale saves the day….

Like it’s compatriot and (almost) namesake, the boat may have been late arriving but when it did then, like Sr Tonali, it did its job perfectly, was very quick and soon had everyone relaxed, happy and enjoying the journey.

That evening we watched Italy against Israel and our boy played the full 90 minutes and was everywhere. He turned in an immense performance for the national team (again) and was unlucky to have a goal chalked off for offside. It was so close that I could only imagine Liverpool not sweating over it. I commented to Mrs Lass that he should have cut his toe nails, her laconic reply being, “Did you mean his toe nalis?”

Eddie Howe eventually complied with popular demand (no doubt only because that was what he’d planned to do anyway) and started Wor Sandro against Man City at the weekend and his was one of the many admirable performances (alongside the likes of Flash, Hall, BDB, Trips, Schar, Murphy and Joey).

One of the most impressive displays amongst the many individual match-ups must have been that of Big Dan up against Man City’s Scary Viking, Erling Haaland. That boy has been breaking records for fun since his arrival in England and this season is no exception. So much so that the admirable @MickyQuinn, an adopted Geordie if ever there was one, felt moved to comment in his X account:

“FFS I wish Roy Keane would have tackled his Dad in his bo..ocks and I would have still had five Premier League records left.”

The big man from Blyth hardly gave him a sniff – again!

One thing has confused and frustrated me in equal measure, though. This is what someone referred to me as the “elephant in the room” – action by the Newcastle United owners regarding both the new training facilities and St James’ Park and/or a brand new stadium. So far, despite regular leaks and updates by people who seem to know only as much as I do, it’s been more a case of inaction.

I noticed some comments cropping up in the comments section recently that show an increasing unease amongst the fanbase about the lack of concrete information. For example:

“How many years after the takeover with zero progress on stadium or training facilities do we give it until we become concerned? Serious question. Wasn’t there an imminent announcement touted a few month’s back?”

I think everyone knows these things take time. Feasibility studies need to be very detailed and in-depth if they are to be of real use in informing decisions involving, potentially, billions of pounds. We also appreciate that the club is now a highly professionally run entity that plays its cards very close to the chest in all spheres of activity.

Who knows what sort of negotiations may be going on in the background to prepare the ground (literally?), what government officials may be indicating about changes to planning laws and how Manchester City’s litigation regarding related party sponsorship may influence the financial and legal landscape we can operate within? All factors that could cause the owners to delay their final decision on a massively expensive where they have only one chance to get it right for the next few decades.

How expensive? The most recent update was given by The Telegraph this week and reported on The Mag by Jim Robertson (‘Newcastle United owners now deciding on expanded St James’ Park or brand new stadium – Cost comparison’).

“The Telegraph have put costings on the two alternatives, putting forward estimates of between £800m and £1billion, with a St James’ Park redevelopment, whilst they give an estimate of between £2billion and £3billion for a brand new stadium on a new site.”

Mouthwatering amounts and so far removed from a trip to Argos for a couple of inflatable paddling pools and a wheelie bin that it’s difficult for the Ashley-blighted mind to comprehend.

Hopefully, this latest update is more than just a bored journalist deciding to revamp old news with some invented financial stats and a decision is imminent. Jim, however, clearly thought the new build figures were excessive:

“Personally, I think these sound excessive, especially the brand new stadium option.The state of the art Tottenham stadium cost £1.2billion to build, whilst the new Wembley cost £80om, which equates to around £1.5billion in today’s money. Any major project on a brand new site in Newcastle Upon Tyne, such as where Leazes Park and/or Castle Leazes is, would surely cost less than an equivalent getting built in London. So even allowing for inflation, I wouldn’t have thought a new Newcastle United stadium would cost more than £1.5billion.”

However, I would point out two things in reply to Jim.

First of all, as far as I know, he has no idea what the actual design involves or how much the land could cost. We have recently seen images of new stadia in Saudi Arabia which are so cutting edge that they make Jack Grealish’s hair look as modern as short back and sides or a crew cut. Who knows what engineering marvels the owners could be considering?

Secondly, without wanting to kick off a political squabble, absolutely everything has become way more expensive over the last couple of years as a result of the rising prices of fuel and raw materials of every kind. I know how this has affected my own small domestic renovations, so the impact on multi-million pound investment projects could easily explain and justify the claimed PIF’s projections. We all know that vast engineering projects ALWAYS run over costs, anyway.

My attitude to the dilemma – new build or renovation – has always been that I have favoured renovation. This is solely because I have always assumed that a new build would inevitably take place on some out of town site such as Gosforth Park, or the Team Valley, and I just feel that the location of St James’ Park in the heart of the city is just too iconic and perfect to give up.

However, if Leazes Park/Castle Leazes really is a possibility, then I would be strongly in favour of a new build. The advantage would not only be the increased capacity in a state of the art venue but there would be no need to look for a temporary home during the build. Thoughts of ground sharing with our “cousins” on Wearside have been sending shivers up my spine. Imagine the AA changing their signage to “For football follow Sunderland”. They’d have to have brand new signs created!

Matters around Tuesday night’s hastily rearranged cup tie against the Wombles of Wimbledon are what made me feel proud of the club this week. Not only were we instantly amenable to helping out the fan-owned outfit by switching the tie to St James’ Park but the club also made an immediate cash donation of £15,000 to their appeal fund.

To further boost their funds, the match was a sell-out (despite the dire prognostications forecast by one celebrated regular on The Mag comments pages). The Wombles guaranteed 45% of the gate receipts after deductions for our costs. This was made possible because of the massive demand we have for tickets for every match but possibly heightened by the very reasonable pricing of tickets at £20 for adults and £10 for children.