Kieran Maguire shares ‘£80m’ Newcastle United claim
It is ‘critical’ that Newcastle United expand St James’ Park as they currently earn around £80million less in matchday revenue than their top four competitors.
That is the view of finance expert Kieran Maguire, who spoke exclusively to Football Insider about Newcastle’s need to increase matchday earnings.
As per The Times, Newcastle are planning to expand the East Stand of St James’ Park to take stadium capacity to around 62,000.
An expansion to 62,000 would mean Newcastle have the third biggest stadium in the Premier League in terms of capacity, behind only Manchester United and Tottenham.
The Magpies are also looking at developing a new fan zone at Strawberry Place around the stadium, with club sponsors Sela involved in the building process after signing a £25million front-of-shirt deal.
Maguire revealed that Newcastle’s £28million matchday revenue pales in comparison compared to their top four rivals.
“I think it is absolutely critical and the reason for that is because matchday revenue ultimately is the number of matches multiplied by the stadium’s capacity multiplied by the average spend per supporter,” Maguire told Football Insider’s Sean Fisher.
“Newcastle made £28million in matchday revenue in 2021/22 which is excellent by the standards of the ‘other 14′.
“But compared to the ‘Big Six’, it’s half of Man City’s revenue and a quarter of Man United.
“So clearly there’s a lot of catching up to do.
“Newcastle are starting the season with £80million less than Manchester United, Spurs and Arsenal earn from matchdays – and Liverpool are also catching up with their expansion.
“Then £80million of revenue equates to £56 million in terms of wages.
“Newcastle want to be competitive with these bigger clubs so therefore it’s critical that expansion takes place.“
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