Kieran Maguire makes ‘absolutely critical’ Newcastle claim as St James Park plan revealed
It is “absolutely critical” for Newcastle United to increase their matchday revenue at St James’ Park given the new financial and sustainability rules being introduced.
That is the opinion of finance expert Kieran Maguire, who spoke exclusively to Football Insider about Newcastle’s plans to upgrade and expand St James’ Park.
It was reported by The Times (8 March) that Newcastle has agreed to buy back a plot of land called Strawberry Place behind the Gallowgate End of St James’ Park.
Former owner Mike Ashley sold the plot for £9million to Helios Investment Partners and the Doncaster firm Marrico Asset Management in 2019, and Newcastle are now expected to pay a smaller fee to repurchase the land.
Owning the land provides Newcastle with opportunities to expand the capacity of the ground or build a fan zone area around the venue.
Maguire believes matchday revenue is becoming increasingly important to football clubs due to Uefa’s financial and sustainability rules which are set to cap spending 70 per cent of a club’s revenue by 2025/26.
“The new plot could be used for a fan zone which could generate additional revenue as we move into the new financial and sustainability rule regime, which is likely to be replicated by the Premier League,” Maguire told Football Insider.
“Under these new rules, increasing your income as much as possible is absolutely critical if we expect to see a soft wage cap which is linked as a percentage of revenue.
“So therefore anything which can help to increase revenues in the short term through extra retail or extra catering income is significant.
“But ideally there is a long-term strategy for Newcastle in terms of increasing the capacity of St James’s park, which could easily host 60 or 70,000 fans.“
In other news, Newcastle United well placed to sign Southampton star James Ward-Prowse with fire sale on the cards