Newcastle United backed to unveil new stadium after ‘unprecedented’ development – pundit
Newcastle United may have no choice but to build a new stadium that is bigger than St James’ Park.
That’s according to former Aston Villa and Scotland boss Alex McLeish, speaking exclusively to Football Insider about the club’s long-term plans.
On Wednesday (22 June) Newcastle announced a small number of season tickets will go on sale before the start of the new season following an “unprecedented” level of renewals from the 2021-22 campaign.
The same day, The Chronicle’s Lee Ryder reported 30,000 people have tried to buy the small number of season tickets, which he understands to be 1000.
As per Newcastle fanzine, The Mag, who spoke to club representatives in 2020, between 35,000 and 40,000 season tickets are sold every season.
With the demand for tickets currently exceeding the 52,405 capacity of St James’ Park, McLeish claims moving to a new stadium is something the club has to consider.
“Firstly, I think the focus will be consolidating what they did last year,” McLeish told Football Insider correspondent Ben Wild
“The rise they had after the new manager came in, they need to push on again this season.
“If they can reach the giddy heights of the top-six, that would be the indication to start putting plans into place about moving stadiums.
“If the demand is there and they can’t expand it then it might be the only way to get everyone in.”
In February, Amanda Stavely and Mehrdad Ghodoussi told The Athletic they will “definitely look at expanding” St James’ Park.
This may prove problematic however as Newcastle’s smallest stand (the East stand) backs onto Grade 1 listed houses that cannot be knocked down.
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