New Newcastle United stadium will be built in Leazes Park – Report | OneFootball

It has now been reported that the brand new state of the art Newcastle United stadium will be built on Leazes Park.

Recently, The Telegraph said that their information was that the club planned to build the new ground with a slight overlap on the current site.

That report detailed a new Newcastle United stadium was intending to be built with a capacity of around 69,000, starting with an overlap on part of the current Leazes end, towards the Milburn stand side, then heading diagonally north-west to cover land where currently there is a club multi-storey car park, then encroaching just a little bit into Leazes Park.

Now though, The Mail state their sources have told them that the intention is to build the brand new Newcastle United marginally further north-west, which would see it built totally within what is currently Leazes Park land.

This reported new location would still allow Barrack Road to stay open and untouched but with no overlap at all on the current St James’ Park, this plan would allow the 52,000+ SJP to stay fully open until this claimed new Newcastle United stadium is ready. However, The Telegraph report that they understand this planned stadium would only have a 65,000 capacity.

Obviously it will be years until any new Newcastle United stadium is completed and plenty of boxes to be ticked getting the necessary planning permission and so on. However, I think a lot of common ground in these slightly varying media reports.

The main common theme appears to be that the Newcastle United owners have almost certainly decided that a brand new Newcastle United stadium is the way to go, rather than redeveloping the current St James’ Park. The dual intention is obviously to get a lot more fans into matches and seriously boost revenues, a completely new state of the art design will certainly help the latter far more, with a new stadium specially designed so that it is perfectly set up to host music events and other sports. The other very common theme to the reports is that Newcastle United will retain their city centre location.

The Government has made clear that it is prepared to back major developments that bring investment and jobs, so as long as Newcastle City Council, The Freemen, other local partners and of course the vast majority of people in the region are backing a brand new Newcastle United stadium, it would be a massive shock if the Government didn’t give their support and ensure the plans were approved.

Reacting to this report from The Mail, former NUFC defender John Anderson had this to say to BBC Radio Newcastle about the reported 65,000 capacity this claimed new Newcastle United stadium would have:

“I think a lot of people would say it’s not going to be big enough.

“I think the fact they have decided they want to go forward with this new stadium is what people want.

“If it is true, and you would think there is foundation for it, an awful lot of people would not think that stadium is big enough.”

I would very much agree with John Anderson on this.

My personal preference would be a far more ambitious 80,000 capacity new Newcastle United stadium. The demand is now outrageous for tickets and that is without even being full on successful on the pitch. The 52,000+ St James’ Park was full every week in the Championship only eight years ago and that was with the hated Mike Ashley still in control. Fans filling the stadium only due to Rafa Benitez giving a little hope by signing a new contract after relegation.

However, surely the Newcastle United owners should be aiming for at least around a 70,000 capacity.

Newcastle United fans and media might look at 65,000 and think 13,000 more fans will get into matches. However, for the rank and file supporters, it would be far less new seats available than an extra 13,000. I reckon it would be probably more like only 8,000 extra seats for ‘normal’ NUFC fans, with probably around 5,000 more hospitality seats to help drive the revenues as much as possible.