Stefan Borson: Newcastle set for financial blow as 'expensive' St James' Park plan laid bare
Newcastle United and PIF have "no obvious solution" when it comes to redeveloping St James' Park without missing out on revenue.
That is according to former Manchester City financial adviser Stefan Borson, who exclusively told Football Insider that the location of St James' Park makes the situation far more difficult.
Despite hopes of adding to the stadium's capacity of over 52,000, plans have been pushed back, with senior figures focusing on long-term sustainability over speed.
The green light had been given for the Magpies to start making changes, but other clubs have shown the difficulties of attempting to do so without leaving the ground.
Aston Villa are currently missing out on revenue due to closing a stand, while Tottenham Hotspur chose to move to Wembley Stadium while building the new Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Of course, Spurs' new stadium has quickly become one of the most prestigious in Europe, and other clubs in the Premier League will have hopes of replicating it.
Newcastle United's 'expensive' stadium plans
Speaking exclusively to Football Insider, Borson has revealed just how difficult it will be for Newcastle to follow suit with St James' Park.
"It just depends where the current picture is on funding from largely Saudi Arabia because global interest rates have ticked up," he said.
"It's going to make projects like this more expensive, quite materially more expensive overall. And so I think a lot of it's going to depend on where the funding situation sits with PIF.
"Maybe they're also involving considerable amounts of residential housing or maybe there's a commercial angle.
"It's obviously located in the place where you would think that they're in the sweet spot of the Reuben family. So maybe that will help bridge the gap on the funding side.
"But it's very difficult situation for them because, obviously, they don't want to close the ground at the close. It's not like Tottenham's situation where they can go 10 minutes up the road to Wembley.
"There's no obvious solution for where Newcastle would play in the absence of having a fully functioning stadium.
"So they'd have to do it piece by piece, either as a separate stadium or kind of behind one part of the stadium, but without ever closing St. James's Park properly."
PIF show ambition with Woolsington Hall purchase
There was significant concern that Newcastle's owners were lacking ambition, and may even consider selling to new investors.
However, with the Magpies agreeing a £190million deal for the Woolsington Hall training complex, those worries have been put to bed.
The main worry was due to the number of major exits during the summer window, including Bruno Guimaraes, Anthony Gordon and Sandro Tonali.
Instead of replacing them with experience, the club have gone in a completely different direction, investing in youth and potential windfall further down the line.