Huge Manchester United Sunday 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 Sunday morning.

Manchester United working on plans for a massive new stadium.

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

Public money to be committed to the plans.

Part of the official Manchester United announcement this morning stating:

‘…with the development of a world-class stadium for Manchester United at the heart of the project.

While Manchester United would be responsible for the stadium development, support from public bodies would be needed to unlock the wider regeneration opportunity, including improved transport infrastructure and housing.’

So the bottom line is that whilst Manchester United will be paying for any brand new stadium, public money will be committed to help support the overall regeneration, such as the transport infrastructure.

This news only makes me even more convinced that Newcastle United needs a new 80,000+ seater stadium ASAP.

We are repeatedly told that the Newcastle United owners and senior staff are 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 almost 40 months after buying the club, the Newcastle United owners are still waiting to hear what is feasible… is beyond belief.

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.

To claim that they still don’t know what is and isn’t possible isn’t credible.

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. At this moment in time, it feels like half of the city centre is getting redeveloped by the Reubens! Which is of course separate to what is happening with the football club.

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.

My belief is that they have no intention whatsoever of redeveloping St James’ Park. To add only around 8,000 seats would cost a relative fortune and cause massive disruption.

My only hope is that whilst nothing has been made public, the Newcastle United owners have been secretly making big strides on plans to deliver a brand new 80,000+ seater stadium.

The Manchester United news today is just another push as to why we need a massive new stadium, 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 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 new 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 this past week’s 2025 Deloitte Football rich list reaffirms (see HERE) and to close that gap, we need massive advance 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 Liverpool, 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 this transfer window. 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 have always seen Newcastle United as a club that can be a bit of a one-off, a Bundesliga/Premier League hybrid.

Take advantage of the kind of revenues that pour into the Premier League BUT also have the passion and numbers of fans that a club such as Borussia Dortmund get, they averaged 81,305 at home last season.

I don’t think an out of town new stadium is the answer and instead, like others have put forward, 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 just hundreds of yards north of 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.

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 statement – Sunday 26 January 2025:

‘Manchester United has welcomed the announcement of government support for the project to regenerate the area around Old Trafford.

In a statement on Saturday evening, The UK Treasury said Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, was championing the Old Trafford project as “a shining example” of the government’s plans to promote economic growth.

Manchester United is working with Trafford Council and the Greater Manchester Combined Authority to develop plans for the regeneration of the Old Trafford area, with the development of a world-class stadium for Manchester United at the heart of the project.

While Manchester United would be responsible for the stadium development, support from public bodies would be needed to unlock the wider regeneration opportunity, including improved transport infrastructure and housing.

Reacting to the Treasury statement, Omar Berrada, CEO of Manchester United, said: “The delivery of a world-class stadium can be the catalyst for major regeneration of an area of Greater Manchester which requires new investment to thrive again.

“We cannot achieve that wider aim on our own, which is why we welcome the announcement by the Chancellor and the ongoing support of the Mayor of Greater Manchester and Trafford Council. If we work together, there is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to create a landmark project around Old Trafford that the whole region can be proud of.”

Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester, said: “With our devolved powers we’re mobilising the whole Greater Manchester system to lock in growth for the next decade and reap the rewards for our city-region and UK plc.

“The project around Old Trafford represents the biggest opportunity for urban regeneration this country has seen since London 2012 and is a key part of our 10-year plan to turbocharge growth across Greater Manchester. We look forward to working with the Government on moving freight away from the site around Old Trafford to new locations to open up capacity for our rail network and unlock massive regeneration potential – delivering benefits across the whole of the North.”

Last week the Old Trafford Regeneration Task Force revealed an initial options report which included findings that showed that the project can deliver an extra £7.3bn gross value added to the UK economy and more than 90,000 employment opportunities.

The Task Force determined that a redeveloped Old Trafford could increase the capacity of the existing stadium to 87,000, whereas a new build stadium would allow capacity to reach 100,000. Both options remain under consideration, with the club set to decide on the preferred approach ahead of the summer.

In the week ahead, Trafford Council and Greater Manchester Combined Authority will discuss the benefits of establishing a Mayoral Development Corporation (MDC) to help drive the project forward.

An MDC is a statutory body which can drive the delivery of large-scale development, including mixed-use regeneration, transformational urban extensions, and new settlements. It can take on powers to acquire and develop land and bring forward new infrastructure – laying the groundwork for an ambitious regeneration project aligned with Greater Manchester’s wider growth mission.’