Everton nearly made catastrophic ‘mistake’ – Newcastle now must avoid it, says Wyness
Former Everton CEO Keith Wyness warned Newcastle United that they must not move their stadium too far away from St James’ Park if they build a new venue.
Speaking on the new edition of Football Insider’s Inside Track podcast, the 66-year-old – who served as CEO at Goodison Park and now runs a football consultancy advising elite clubs – revealed that Everton scrapped plans to move to Kirkby while he was CEO.
As reported by The Telegraph, Newcastle’s Saudi owners are weighing up plans to build a new stadium to replace St James’ Park.
It has not been ruled out that Newcastle will instead stay at St James’ Park and expand the 52,000-capacity venue.
Wyness previously told Football Insider that Newcastle risk causing “disruption” at the club if they build a new stadium.
Newcastle United must avoid St James’ Park ‘mistake’ – Ex-CEO
“Without doubt, moving away from St James’ Park would have a big impact on the city,” Wyness told Football Insider.
“I think the St. James’ experience is fantastic – even for away fans who are stuck up near the roof.
“Apart from that, it’s a great location near the station and the city centre.
“It would all depend on where that new site was.
“Obviously, we’d have to see where that is but it’s always been a mistake to move too far away.
“I was part of an issue when Everton were looking to move stadiums.
“It was going to be too far from Goodison – and it is an issue for fans to have their matchday routines upset.
“Everton are now moving to the right location I think but we previously looked at trying to move the stadium to Kirby.“
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