Newcastle United hierachy meet fans and on agenda – Move from St James’ Park to new stadium? | OneFootball

The Newcastle United hierarchy held their latest supporters event at the St James’ Stack on Wednesday evening.

I was interested to get first hand any significant information to come from the senior club figures in attendance.

Sporting director Paul Mitchell faced many of the questions and he revealed a few insights into his first few months at the club.

First off, he was fairly open about his experience of joining the club part-way into the summer transfer window. Unsurprisingly, he was strongly of the opinion that he wouldn’t do it again, come into a club with the transfer window already ongoing.

Mitchell went on to comment on the challenges the club faced surrounding PSR in the summer. He was effusive in his praise for how the club had managed transfer dealings in June, making some brave/tough decisions. He recognised it was a big blow for the club to lose two talented young players in Anderson and Minteh but, in doing so, the club had given him a strong platform from which to build.

From here his mission is to push the club forward and to continue to build on the foundations of the past few years. Mitchell joked that it’s his aim to make the rest of the NUFC hierarchy’s job as difficult as possible, to push recruitment for the club at all levels.

Paul Mitchell and Eddie Howe

Next on the agenda for Paul Mitchell was the status of his relationship with Eddie Howe.

He made it pretty clear that he found the speculation around their relationship over the summer amusing.

He stressed that the reality of their relationship is that it is one that is flexible depending on the agenda at any given time.

Paul Mitchell went on to praise Howe as an elite coach and as such, he’s not over Howe’s shoulder on a daily basis, his role is to support Eddie to make his job easier. He also pointed out that while most people focus on his role with the first team, he also has responsibility for the development squads and the women’s team.

Ultimately, he stressed that his relationship with Eddie Howe is good and as sporting director he doesn’t have final say on all transfers, the recruitment is a collaboration with Eddie and the scouting department.

Finally, Mitchell told everyone in attendance that when all is said and done there are two main points of focus for the sporting director role. The first is to enhance the first team through player recruitment and trading and the second is to shape the future of the playing staff and build the club into perennial contenders.

Stay at St James’ Park or move to new stadium (nearby)?

Also on the agenda at the event was the topic of the stadium feasibility study.

Darren Eales stressed that the focus of the study is to see what is possible and furthermore what it would take to bring that into reality. Everyone was in agreement that whatever the decision, there is a huge responsibility on them to get this right, especially with the amount of investment at stake.

There was recognition that the St James’ Park reputation and status as a leading stadium in the Premier League should not be underestimated. Any potential move away would be carefully measured against this fact. However, there seemed to be a considered approach to the potential for a move away from SJP.

For everyone present it was made clear that any move away would not be far from the current location and this is a key factor in their decision-making process.

Interestingly, they made clear that while developing St James’ Park had the potential to significantly increase revenue, a move to a new stadium could generate up to twice as much revenue for the club.

The survey sent to fans in the past year regarding the development of St James’ Park and a potential move, showed an overwhelming desire to stay at SJP. With 71% of respondents saying they wanted to remain at our traditional home. Interestingly though, in a snap poll of the room, it seems as though opinion on this is shifting in the wake of the PSR revelations of June.

Eales wrapped discussion up on the stadium by stressing the owners are fully behind the project but want the club to conclusively put their case forward before committing the necessary funds.

Overall, there were plenty of positive words from Mitchell and the board throughout the event but… now it’s time for them to deliver on those promises.