The talk of a Newcastle stadium expansion or building a new stadium has gone on for over a year now, but it seems a new plan has emerged if the club decide to stay at the iconic St James' Park.
We've reported that fan sentiment is starting to turn to moving to a new stadium close to St James' Park. The idea of staying at the ground has never really gone away.
Now, according to The Telegraph, plans are in place for a major revamp to the stadium's iconic Gallowgate Stand if the club does remain. The Gallowgate End, as it's more commonly known, is opposite the Leazes End, where the away fans sit.
While not as high as the stand opposite, the Gallowgate End is higher than the much smaller East Stand. Now, it seems that Gallowgate could be a key area for revamping if the club remains at St James' Park.
Gallowgate stand to get ‘black & white wall'
According to the report, Newcastle United are targeting the famous Dortmund ‘Yellow Wall' as inspiration for the revamp as they look to rival it for capacity. Currently, Tottenham's 17,500-seat South Stand is the largest single stand in the UK, but that is nothing compared to Dortmund's 25,000-seater one.
Currently, Gallowgate can hold around 11,000 fans, but the club wants to increase its total capacity from 52,000 to 65,000.
Not all of that will go into the Gallowgate, but it will likely rival Spurs' South Stand. It would, however, make St James' Park the second-highest-capacity stadium in the Premier League.
With upwards of 20,000 fans allegedly on the waiting list for season tickets, it's no surprise to see such a high-capacity figure talked about.
The East Stand, currently the smallest of the four stands, will receive most of the work. This club allegedly has been in possession of designs for a few months, and the true scale of the project is now becoming clear.
Any Newcastle stadium expansion will face headaches
Expanding St James' Park is not a simple process. The stadium's iconic location is also the reason Newcastle United will struggle to expand on it.
There is a Metro tunnel that runs underneath the Gallowgate Stand, while the East Stand has a listed building directly behind it. In fact, St James' Park's current design is such because of the lack of room behind the stand. Despite some reports to the contrary, 70% of fans, when surveyed, said they would rather stay at St James' Park.
As always, the club is exploring the option of moving to a new stadium in the city. However, they have once again stressed that remaining at the current site is their priority. A move is only planned if nothing can be done to increase the size of St James' Park.
While planning work will likely be an issue, it is understood that Newcastle City Council are keen for the club to stay at St James' Park.
Mostly they would be keen for the surrounding area also to be redevelopment, something Newcastle will no doubt need to do.
Sadly, the upgrade of St James' Park would mean moving into Victorian-era greenspace and local conservation areas. These will no doubt be met with backlash and legal challenges. It has also been noted that Amanda Stavely, who left the club in the summer, was a big player in plans to remain at St James' Park. Since she left, however, talk of moving to a new stadium has gained momentum.
We cannot keep losing iconic grounds
In the Premier League alone, in the past decade or so, we've lost Highbury, White Heart Lane, and now Goodison Park.
Old Trafford could well be next, alongside Stanford Bridge and likely many more. While the constant push for more capacity and more PSR wiggle room is a noble one, we are losing our identity as a football nation.
St James' Park is an iconic stadium because it appears as if an entire city was built around it, rather than it being placed within it. The stadium is the “castle on the hill”; it's an icon in the city, and losing it would be a loss for the city. While plans to move to the nearby Leazes Park would retain that central stadium feel, it won't be the same as it currently is.
“The first choice is to stay,” are the words of Brad Miller, Newcastle's chief operating officer, who is overseeing the project.
The big question is, how willing are the club to stay at St James' Park if no capacity increase can be done, or at best, a minor one? The East Stand is always going to be the biggest issue, but the club reaffirmed recently they want to write “one cheque”, with no plans to improve St James' Park now, and build a new stadium later.
Are the club willing to push the capacity up to, say, 55,000 or closer to 60,000 and be happy with it? Expanding is always cheaper than building a new stadium, and doing so should always be the last resort, not the first plan.
I'm a Newcastle United fan. I initially saw the logic in moving, and I still understand it. But I want the club to remain at St James' Park. Owners leave, managers and players move on, but the fans remain. I have supported this club my entire life, and my daughter will most likely do so as well.
I want her to visit this place many times in her life. I visited old Wembley. Now it's just a memory of what was, a picture on the wall. St James' Park doesn't need to be that, it can remain as iconic football stadium for generations to come.