Newcastle ‘begin formal process’ to expand St James’ Park from its current 52,300 capacity… as the club’s CEO reveals plans to bring in ‘world-leading agency’ to see what their options are

• The club have been to keen expand their 52,000 seater home since the takeover
• CEO Darren Eales provided an update at a supporter event at the stadium
• Trent and Bellingham can play together but can’t get in each other’s way – IAKO

Newcastle United CEO Darren Eales has revealed that the club have begun a ‘formal process’ to expand St James’ Park.

The club have been keen to expand their 52,300 seater stadium ever since their takeover back in 2021.

Demand for tickets has increased thanks to their upturn in form on the field, after finishing fourth in the Premier League last season and therefore qualifying for the Champions League.

Speaking at a supporter event at the stadium on Wednesday evening, Eales told fans of their plans to bring in ‘world-leading’ experts to see what is feasible, and that they plan to give fans a say ahead of any definitive move.

As per The Athletic, Eales said: ‘Given our demand for tickets what we are doing is a stadium feasibility and we are looking at what will be possible.

Darren Eales has revealed the club have begun a ‘formal process’ to expand St James’ Park

The club have been keen to expand their 52,000 seater stadium since their 2021 takeover 

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‘We started that fairly recently, a formal process. I learned quickly that everybody has a view on what could be done and everyone is an amateur architect.

‘Whoever you will talk to will tell you what you can do with the Gallowgate End or various parts of St James’ Park. 

‘What we want to do is get a world-renowned leading agency that deals with this and to have a blank sheet of paper and see what is feasible and what can be done.’

He then revealed that a supporter survey will go out as part of a feasibility study to get feedback from the club’s fans.  

Mail Sport revealed in February that the Magpies had bought the land directly behind St James’ Park with a view to further expansion around the stadium.

The land had previously been sold by prior owner Mike Ashley to private developers Helios Real Estate and Marrico for £9million four years ago and recently been in the hands of Reditum Capital

St James’ Park was last expanded back in 2000 when it had previously held an attendance of around 36,000.  

Eales added: ‘The whole concept is to look at the art of possible. We know we have this fantastic location here on top of the hill, cathedral on the hill but we know we have boundary issues and it’s not as simple as if we had a lot of space. So what can we do?

They will look to bring in ‘world-leading’ experts to see what their potential options are

‘We really want feedback. We need to understand demand. There will be hypothetical questions, they will ask, for example: ‘Imagine if there was a brand new stadium built on this site, what would you think?

‘That doesn’t mean we are doing that it is about building that construct and getting that information from fans on what we do going forward. 

‘I am really excited about it, there has been a lot of talk for the last 30 years. So this is our way to have a look. There is more consultation but the first thing is to see what is possible.’

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