St James' Park

[BoSelecta]

For me the biggest draw of a new stadium is building it around acoustics with a fuck off massive standing section. The ground to me is just a building we all get inside, it’s the atmosphere I’m there for. I have zero sentimental attachment to SJP. Feels like some  people would rather stay to the detriment of all else because of sentiment. Fuck that.

 

*Has to be existing site or Castle Leazes. The match day atmosphere in the city is just as important as inside the ground. 
 

That’s just my thoughts. 

[Abacus]

If I'm following all of this correctly, so as not to inconvenience commuters, season ticket holders, students, planners, architectural buffs and conservationists the only viable solution is to take SJP, the road, the Metro station and Leazes Terrace all together all brick by brick to Beamish, whilst we use the new space in town to build a gigantic underground go-karting rink for Rihanna.

 

 

Edited March 20 by Abacus

[AyeDubbleYoo]

7 hours ago, cubaricho said:

I figured it probably felt pretty brutalist kind of energy? Seems like it. 

It’s just an empty concrete space with some tiny food and drink outlets. Can’t even be compared with any venue I’ve been to in the US. 
 

It’s almost like providing facilities and food and drink is something they actively object to

[Gottlob]

I've only been to one American stadium and the experience compared to St James' Park was night and day. Open interiors and walkable concourses rather than cramped corridors littered with betting slips and spilled beers, snaked by queuing punters who wait desperately for a slot at the steel urinals as the stench of hot piss fills the air. A plethora of food and drink options, retail opportunities and enough time and space to enjoy it all in a casual, even carnivalesque sort of atmosphere where the sport was the focus but not the be-all and end-all.

 

Newcastle absolutely needs a new stadium with more eating options. I'd personally opt for a taco bar as well as some of the more traditional 'Geordie' options like Craster Kippers and pease pudding, and I'd also like the stadium to include one of those shoot-to-win basketball arcades.

[AyeDubbleYoo]

If it’s not catered by Greggs I’m not going. 

[ponsaelius]

All the talk of improving offering inside the ground is ignoring the fact that anybody who doesn't just go through the door at 2:50 and to their seat at a footy ground is a nonce. And we shouldn't be catering to nonces, for obvious reasons.

[RS]

Inspector Clouseau levels of processes of elimination. 

[LFEE]

If anyone thinks we are going to extend the current SJP by 6-7000 and thinks those tickets aren’t going to be corporate I feel are being slightly naive.

 

I also question why they think it would be sufficient. We’ve currently got 32-35k ST holders approx. On top 70-90k memberships with only 20% success rate per game approx. Only 2.9k away fan allocation. As it stands the club its between phase 1-2 and demand is already exceeds a 65-70k stadium before we are anywhere near buying any superstars. 

 

To quote Field of Dreams… “Build it and they will come”. It’s a once in a generation decision so make it as big as possible. You don’t have to fill the top tier every game. Football aside you’ve got a whole load of music artists who could fill it on their World tours.

 

Extending it will only benefit the corporate waiting list we currently have who want boxes. Don’t have the figures but they will be prioritised over £37 members for sure. Fans forget players are that rich now they’d probably buy a box each for their families alone before local and international businesses waiting lists get shortened.

 

For decades of me following NUFC I’ve always been of the mindset that the owners have always held this club back. Now we have the most ambitious owners in my lifetime its quite ironic it’s  the fans that seem to be the shortsighted ones.

[Interpolic]

11 minutes ago, ponsaelius said:

All the talk of improving offering inside the ground is ignoring the fact that anybody who doesn't just go through the door at 2:50 and to their seat at a footy ground is a nonce. And we shouldn't be catering to nonces, for obvious reasons.

 

[ponsaelius]

The only time I'd go in early is if it's a stadium I've not been to (so was keen to have a look around a bit) or if it was in the middle of nowhere surrounded by a car park and I'd misjudged/over allowed timings for arrival.

 

I don't see why as a regular you'd want to go into SJP to eat overpriced/commercialised food and booze when there's hundreds of pubs/bars/restaurants/cafes in the city to take your fill of. And you certainly shouldn't be wandering around during the game to go and eat/drink which seems the norm in other sporting cultures. It's bad enough that people can't hold a piss in for 45 mins.

 

I guess if it's up on Castle Leazes there may be slightly more incentive to get up there earlier, but not in the current location. I guess the model is designed entirely to squeeze tourists for their cash.

[RS]

The owners have always told us that this is a slow build project. I assume this means they’ll be planning on staying at SJP for the medium term as a minimum. 
 

I believe that when (if) we become a permanent top 6 fixture with regular trophies and tens of thousands of fans locked out they may have to look at alternatives. 
 

Until then it’s just the dream of a section of the fanbase. Same folk who want a super club manager instead of Howe etc etc. 

 

I’m not even sure we could fill an 80,000 stadium more than 3 times a year without giving away teams 15,000 tickets. 

[Fezzle]

1 hour ago, madras said:

But we may not be booting people out re Anfield Road extension.

 

 

 

ok

[Superior Acuña]

36 minutes ago, ponsaelius said:

All the talk of improving offering inside the ground is ignoring the fact that anybody who doesn't just go through the door at 2:50 and to their seat at a footy ground is a nonce. And we shouldn't be catering to nonces, for obvious reasons.

Shit, the only time I used to like to go in early was to watch the players train when I was a little kid.

 

 

[TBG]

Would need to lax the rules when it comes to drinking at your seat, but this sort of seat service would be class 

[LFEE]

10 minutes ago, RS said:

The owners have always told us that this is a slow build project. I assume this means they’ll be planning on staying at SJP for the medium term as a minimum. 
 

I believe that when (if) we become a permanent top 6 fixture with regular trophies and tens of thousands of fans locked out they may have to look at alternatives. 
 

Until then it’s just the dream of a section of the fanbase. Same folk who want a super club manager instead of Howe etc etc. 

 

I’m not even sure we could fill an 80,000 stadium more than 3 times a year without giving away teams 15,000 tickets. 

I want Howe here as long as he has a pulse so you can’t claim that. There may be some of course but I personally think it’s mainly fans who have the believe and vision that this area can be as big as any in footballing terms. It would certainly silence those who say we are just a wee club up north when trying to convince players to sign when you’ve the biggest ground in the division regardless if you only fill it to capacity a dozen times out of 19-30+ games a season.

 

You don’t have to fill it every game like I stated but you’d fill it more than 3 times a season. Football in general is only getting more popular. The amount of female friends and kids alone I have wanting to go who can’t compared to our last half successful/popular period (SBR) is incomparable. You’ve just got to look at playing fields at kids games etc how much more interest there is in football.

 

Same with music these days. If someone as average as Sam Fender can sell out SJP 2nights and people demanding a 3rd night! We’ve no music venue big enough in Newcastle for the biggest artists hence why we get overlooked so much on their tours. All the while other clubs are laughing all the way to the bank each closed season.

 

If SJP stays at 55-60k it’s the inevitable prices that will kill the demand for some and send them elsewhere instead of encouraging them in.

 

Lets see what happens but hoping we have a new ground ready for 2028/29 season with SJP signing off with their 2028 UEFA commitments.

[Conjo]

39 minutes ago, madras said:

Years ago under Hall and Shephard they said it was doable engineering wise but financially not worth it. Engineering has moved on since then and we have deeper pockets.

 

They're probably not wrong.

 

Hypothetically speaking (just pulling numbers out of my ass here), if we only expand with 7000 seats and nothing else is done:

The cost for upgrading is £50m.

Average income pr. additional seat £30

Average of 23 home games every season (and assuming full capacity in all games)

 

That's an additional £4,8m every season, meaning it would take 10+ years before we have recouped the outlay, before taking the loss of revenue due to reduced capacity during the expansion period, increased maintenance & running costs and inflation into account. In reality closer to 15 years.

 

It's a different matter with our current owners if the exercise is just to please fans and report a bigger revenue in order to increase our ability to spend more money on buying players within the FFP constraints, and the actual profitability to the business doesn't really matter that much. To Hall and Shepherd it naturally made more sense to just increase the ticket prices

[bobbydazzla]

At what point in history (to the nearest 6 months) did filling your cakehole with overpriced cheap n nasty bait become an essential part of a match day stadium experience ?

 

How come people can't go for 2 hours without scoffing shite. No wonder we've got an obesity crisis.

 

 

 

 

Edited March 20 by bobbydazzla

[AyeDubbleYoo]

1 hour ago, ponsaelius said:

All the talk of improving offering inside the ground is ignoring the fact that anybody who doesn't just go through the door at 2:50 and to their seat at a footy ground is a nonce. And we shouldn't be catering to nonces, for obvious reasons.

 

To be fair I go in mega-early but I just go straight to my seat.

[Bellis80]

People wanting to play in a not full stadium yet moaning about the current atmosphere doesn’t make much sense.

 

How many concerts do other clubs have? Spurs have three listed this summer and can’t remember other clubs having more than that. Also got the rugby union european finals which St James had recently. Is only the nfl in addition to that and probably no more of those games to go around.

 

If concerts are such a big draw and money spinner why are they building the new arena near enough the same size as the old one?

[Yorkie]

50 minutes ago, ponsaelius said:

And you certainly shouldn't be wandering around during the game to go and eat/drink which seems the norm in other sporting cultures. It's bad enough that people can't hold a piss in for 45 mins.

 

 feel this is a bit unfair and doesn't belong in this discussion. 

 

Yours, 

 

Someone with a very small bladder. 

[ponsaelius]

Ok I am excusing all those with genuine medical conditions and/or soft cunts.

[LFEE]

9 minutes ago, Bellis80 said:

People wanting to play in a not full stadium yet moaning about the current atmosphere doesn’t make much sense.

 

How many concerts do other clubs have? Spurs have three listed this summer and can’t remember other clubs having more than that. Also got the rugby union european finals which St James had recently. Is only the nfl in addition to that and probably no more of those games to go around.

 

If concerts are such a big draw and money spinner why are they building the new arena near enough the same size as the old one?

A new stadium with purpose built acoustics not full will create a better atmosphere than a sold out SJP. I’ve witnessed that personally last summer in USA.

 

They are building the new arena similar size due to land footprint. Lack of funding. Target audience of bands they are trying to attract which they could fill on a daily/weekly basis(medium) as they don’t have football as there main source of income.

 

Its the bigger artists SJP could scoop up with a better acoustic and light set up during the early summer. Not to mention host various high profile sporting finals.

 

 

Edited March 20 by LFEE

[AyeDubbleYoo]

According to a lot of people our season is over and I've still had 3 ballot failures each for West Ham and Everton in what could be considered fairly unattractive fixtures. 

 

For me it really depends on season tickets, how many more we could sell. I'm thinking you could probably sell 20 or 30k, then you have to have some for corporate and general sale. So that would take you to 80k ish.

 

It probably won't always be full for early league cup fixtures, but that's about it.

 

 

 

Edited March 20 by AyeDubbleYoo

[TBG]

Two or three drinks in and my bladder has gone like.

 

Actually bring that up at the next fan event. Not being able to choose my seat means I can't pick a seat on the end making it easier to go for a piss.

[Yorkie]

Just now, TBG said:

Two or three drinks in and my bladder has gone like.

 

Actually bring that up at the next fan event. Not being able to choose my seat means I can't pick a seat on the end making it easier to go for a piss.

 

Genuinely always try and get as close to the end as possible for this reason.